Kitchen Adventures: French Bread: Redux

I'm going to amend the original post. First, there is no harm in letting the dough rise for a few extra minutes. Second, be sure you merely brush the dough with cold water. Do not saturate it. Third, do not place rising dough too close to the heat source; it will dry out the dough. This time, I placed it in the warmest room in the house. Finally, use butter, as called for in the original recipe. The second time around, I used a vegan butter. My original loaf was fine, but my second loaf was closer to real French bread. Using real butter is probably the best, but I did not have it on hand.