epic bread fail

about a year ago i got out of the habit of making bread.  it's easy enough to do i guess.  i still have my bread maker (to use for dough) but i just didn't.  don't have a reason except for pure laziness. $4.00 a month on bread is not a lot to spend so i'm not going to say making my bread saves tons of money but the ingredient list is a lot less scary on the stuff that doesn't come in a bag.
anyway i made some rockin' soup and i didn't want to go to the store and i had time so i thought i'd make some bread.
epic fail.
first off, i didn't start soon enough.  i thought i did but i didn't.
secondly, i used a new recipe from my friend because it was called 5 min. bread.
third, i didn't use my bread maker for the dough because i was going through skill guilt (you know, the guilt you feel for having a very expensive educated brain but your completely unable to do simple things yourself and are completely dependent on a grocery store to feed your being), so i decided to do it all myself.

well, at 9pm some very lopsided but tasty bread was ready for consumption (since i didn't make the dinner bell i didn't rush and let it rise extra long at certain points).
i'll try it again because it is very simple.  it's not the best sandwich bread because it's artisan's bread (which i'm convinced is just a hoity toity term stores use for bread that poor people ate a hundred years ago so you can be charged more or so people don't feel like peasants) but it works.  it's so simple it's almost lazy.  i was going to use a recipe someone else gave me but it was more steps, more bowls, more stuff, more time.  maybe another day.

here is the recipe and the link it came from:
2 1/4 tsp yeast
2 1/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 cup water
3 1/4 cup flour
corn meal

1. mix yeast, salt, and water.  add flour and stir to combine
2. let dough rise in warm place for at least 2 hours - until rises and collapses (can be left overnight too)
dough can be baked at that point or refrigerated.  to refrigerate cover the dough (not airtight) and place in fridge
3. throw a handful of flour on top of the dough (and flour your hands).  shape the dough by turning it in your hands, stretch the surface and tuck sides under.
4. generously (and i mean generously - i guess i wasn't generous enough and i got lopsided bread) dust a cutting board or something with cornmeal.
5. allow dough to rest in warm place 40 min. or longer.
6. 20 min before baking preheat oven and baking stone and empty shallow metal pan (on the bottom rack) to 450 degrees.
7. throw flour on top of loaf and slash top.
8. slide loaf onto pre-heated baking stone : carefully to avoid lopsidedness!
9. pour 1-2 cups of water in metal pan and close door to trap steam.
10. bake 30 min or til crust is browned and bread sounds hollow when you knock on it.

misshapen or not p & b attacked and devoured it over the course of two days.  maybe one day i'm move on to a more complicated recipe but not today.

p.s.

two days later we were in need of bread again so i got my druthers and tried again.  i was extra careful and it was all going beautifully...
then it came to step #8 and once again epic fail.  somehow in the sliding process i deflated the beautiful round risen loaf..... which is fine for dinner bread but not for sandwiches.  i need height martha stewart.
forget you and your warmed cooking stone and your cornmeal...
you can stick it (i'm not going to finish that sentence).  i'm gonna get all betty crocker up in here and show you what's what.
so that's what i did.  new batch.  only this time i greased a loaf pan with olive oil.  let the bread do #5 in there and then threw it in the warmed oven in said greased and un-warmed loaf pan.  30 minutes later i opened the oven and ta-da: bread shaped bread.

said bread, out of loaf pan

so now i am satisfied.  the laziest bread recipe in the free world shaped like sandwich bread, homemade by me.
note: i've noticed homemade bread can be really crumbly after 2 days so thick slices are required.