Hello! I'm so glad I found this site!

Hi! I've been lurking on this site for the past couple of months, and I just wanted to introduce myself and say thanks to everyone for all the information and inspiration I've found on this site, and special thanks to Floyd for putting it together. It's a really fantastic community and a great resource. Collectively, you have helped me get my starter going (or more precisely, stay calm and not throw it out when my starter seemed dormant for, like, forever after a bad bout of leuconostoc - thanks, Debra Wink!), explained what was wrong with my first sad loaves (Mini Oven, Dmsnyder, Dabrownman and many others - you were helping other people but I was listening!), recommended some fantastic books and basically got me to the point where I am starting to turn out some loaves I'm really proud of.

I'm posting pictures of my latest bake (I call it Sparky 7, after my starter) because, well, I think it turned out really well and I couldn't have done it without your help. It's an oat porridge loaf from Tartine 3. I pretty much followed the recipe as written in the book, although I suspect my porridge had significantly less oats and more water than intended due to a porridge scorching incident. As mentioned by others on the site, the 1:2 oat:water ratio suggested in the book seems unrealistic given how absorbent oats are, but I'll have to try it again to make sure. Even so, it's a great recipe: five days after baking, the loaf still didn't seem stale, and the oat flavour was lovely.

Here's a crumb shot:

Thanks again, and happy baking!