I tried this bread also, but found it to be delicious. Your oven may be hotter than mine and perhaps the baking time was too long as posted in the recipe. Try baking it for a shorter amount of time...and don't forget to put lots of melted butter on top before letting it rise the second time. When I've eaten it at Macaroni Grill on some occasions, the outside is usually crusty, but not hard ...so similar that I could barely tell the difference. I served it with the copycat recipe for