beginners luck?

Hi all,

So I've been browsing this site for a month or so now, while I start trying to teach myself some baking skills. Prompted by winning a Kitchenaid Stand Mixer in a contest in December, I wanted to get into making my own bread. I picked up Peter Reinhart's Artisan Bread Every Day and have made a couple of recipes from it. A couple of weeks ago, I began the sourdough starter from his book (60-70% it looks like?) and it was ready to use this past weekend. I decided to take some advice and made the Norwich Sourdough that everyone suggests. Couple changes: I cut the recipe in half, and didn't have any rye flour so used KA White Whole Wheat instead. Also, since my starter is dryer than the recipes I added 20-30g extra water. Baked in a dutch oven for 45 minutes, first 20 with lid on. I don't know what I was expecting to result, mostly just hoping it would be edible, but:

and the crumb after 2 hours cooling:

I'm almost afraid to bake anything else, out of fear that it won't be as good! The taste was great to me - I'm not really sure what everyone means when they say creamy, but I certainly enjoyed it for toast this morning. Not a lot of sour yet, but it's a very young starter so I'm not surprised.

Anyway, just wanted to share my experience. Also a thank you to everyone on this forum - it's really answered every question I've been able to come up with!

David