First go at baguettes and crust question

Thanks to all the wise bakers who have been so generous with their advice to me as a novice bread baker. I've picked up Reinhart's The Bread Baker's Apprentice and want to read it all the way through before I start with the recipes. In the mean time, I've been working through some recipes in Malghieri's How To Bake and Baking with Julia (as in Child of course). I've made a country bread from Julia's book and today I tried baguette's from Malghieri's book. Both turned out pretty well overall but I have one question. The crust on both was almost too much. Maybe just this side of chip-a-tooth. I like a hearty crust, but these crusts were a bit too thick and hearty. Both breads involved a sponge that involved eight hours of retardation. The baguettes also included an additional overnight of retardation for the dough as well. Both involved pouring water in a pan to create steam in the first few mintues (as Reinhart also describes). Both baked on a stone. What creates a too-thick crust and what can I do next time to dial it back just a wee bit? I haven't seen anyting in the Reinhart book yet that addresses this. Pics of both breads below. As always, many thanks for your wisdom and advice.


Today's baguette interior shot


Baguette external shot


Country Bread from Julia's book from a few weeks ago

Basically, too much steam.

Here are two tools for creating a crust that's crusty but not hard enough to withstand a drop from an airplane:



La Cloche is a clay oven thing that traps the dough's own steam and uses it to produce the crustiness. I use it for the first 21 or 22 minutes of baking, then take the top off for the remaining 21-22 or so.

http://www.breadtopia.com/store/round-la-cloche.html

Or there's this high-tech tool for precisely dispensing a calibrated amount of water onto the sides of the oven when you first begin baking:

I agree with Mike - too much steam. But there are two parts of the steam equation: the first is to expose the surface of the dough to high levels of steam at the beginning (for baguettes I do about 5 minutes). The other part is to remove the steam from the oven so that the crust has a chance to dry out and become light and crispy. Different ovens vent out the chamber at different rates. When you open the door to remove the pan of water, you may want to leave it cracked open a bit to let out as much moisture as possible.

Bill/SFNM