crusty italian bread, parte due

I made another batch of King Arthur Flour's Crusty Italian Bread, this time with a (light) sprinkling of sesame seeds. Here's the biga yesterday morning, about 12 hours after mixing:

(The biga is just flour, water and yeast. Note the lovely bubbles!) After adding additional water, flour, yeast and salt, and a nice kneading, the dough rises for an hour and a half, turning after each 30 minute period. Here is the dough before the third turning:

After the third turning, I divided the dough into thirds and braided it, and then left it to rise for another hour. Here it is following that rise, before the egg wash and sesame seeds were added.

And finally -- the finished bread!