Hi Elly - I’m with you and Shirl! That crusty, chewy, full-of-holes bread is so wonderful. I, too, decided to take a serious try at making my own good bread about 2 years ago.

What I learned is more along the line of why it IS so difficult to make that fabulous bread at home, and has given me an insight as to why it’s so expensive to buy it. Not to say you can’t make a fabulous loaf at home, of course. After research and some trial and error baking, I have been able to make some darn good bread. Plus, the ingredients are pretty inexpensive, so a little trial and error won't break the bank.

As Shirl mentioned and from my experience, adapting the home oven to better bread baking is the key.

~If you don’t own an oven baking stone of some sort, it would be a worthwhile purchase (the stone intensifies the heat to aid in the crispy crust - a professional’s bread oven gets hotter than a home oven).
~A little moisture in the oven is also important to the chewiness of the loaf (professional ovens often have automatic misters that add humidity at a few intervals). While I have seen and read many methods on adding humidity to the oven, my own experience is this: the spray bottle of water that is sometimes suggested to be spritzed just as you add the bread and then spritzing another 2 or 3 times defies the logic of needing a very hot oven and constant temperature. The time it takes to impart enough moisture through spritzing in the open oven allows all the heat to escape. I now prefer placing a small, shallow oven-proof dish (a custard cup works for me), in which I've place an inch of water, on the floor
of the oven as it’s heating and while the bread is cooking.
~Placing the oven rack on the lowest rung available and placing your baking stone on it works better (in a conventional electric oven). I would guess that using the next rung higher would be better if you don’t have a stone.
~I have also become MUCH more likely to make my bread now that I have my KitchenAid mixer with the dough hook -- obviously not necessary, but..!
~One last (but non-oven related) tip is that a longer rising time at lower temps allows the
flavor and that chewy, full-of-holes texture to develop. The 2 hour rise will not do it!

Here are some links that I found especially interesting and helpful. If you have some time
to read them -- I think you’ll find them helpful, too:

The website called The Artisinal Loaf (www.outlawcook.com/Page12.html), has some very interesting and somewhat detailed pieces under both “Theory” and “Practice” that talk about the chemistry of what’s happening with the bread, especially for sourdough.

At the King Aurther Flour site (www.kingarthurflour.com), there are outstanding recipes (I can vouch for recipes called Baguettes II, Daily Bread, or French-Style Country Bread
as outstanding recipes, esp. for the beginner - and I still make these most often). Also on this site is “In Search Of The Perfect Rustic Loaf” -- a great piece on how to get the chewy loaf using an ABM to mix, ferment and knead the dough, but not to actually cook it.

I also found the combination of the books and PBS tv shows about bread baking (truly artisinal stuff!) from “Baking with Julia” enlightening and very educational. “Baking with Father Domenic” is also a PBS tv show that has been quite educational (he has a website and book, too).

Sorry for such a long post, but I certainly hope it helps!!