First Adventure in Breadmaking

I've done lots of baking in my life (cakes, cookies, muffins, etc.), but had never made anything that used yeast. With everything going on right now, I bought some yeast a few weeks ago so that I could take a crack at bread making since there was no bread to be had at my local stores.

I'd heard a lot about no knead bread recipes, and I decided to follow this no knead recipe from Steamy Kitchen.  My first attempt wasn't without its mishaps.  I didn't have bread flour available to me, so I used all purpose flour.  I also didn't realize that there were different types of yeast and sure enough, I used active dry yeast when the recipe calls for instant yeast.  Looking into this to see how much of a big deal it was, basically I should have proofed the yeast in warm water before adding the other dry ingredients.  I mistakenly stirred the dry ingredients together, then added the water and stirred. There was an initial foaminess from the yeast, but that went away when I stirred everything together.

I panicked a little at 12 hours in because there was condensation on the plastic wrap, but the dough hadn't risen a significant amount. I did a bit of reading and asked around on reddit.  I was assured that my failure to proof the yeast shouldn't significantly impact my bread, but that the dough's failure to rise might have more to do with the temperature in my kitchen.  It was quite cold in my apartment and I don't have a window in my kitchen.  I ended up setting the bowl on a potholder on the stove while dinner was in the oven to warm it up a little, then put it on the counter on top of the dishwasher while it ran.  After seeing positive results from that, I left the oven on low with my dough on a potholder on the stove for the rest of the rise time.

I baked in my dutch oven on a piece of parchment paper as directed, and here's how the loaf turned out:

We had chicken alfredo for dinner and I was able to make garlic bread with my homemade loaf of bread:

Overall, I'm happy with how the bread turned out, though it was a little chewy.  I'm definitely going to try the recipe again and actually proof the yeast.  If I can get a hold of bread flour, I am also curious to try that.  I'm also interested in trying a softer, sandwich style loaf, so I'll be on the lookout for a recipe.  I have a kitchenaid mixer so I can make a kneaded dough recipe without too much hassle.  I'm excited to continue exploring breadmaking now that I'm not longer intimidated by yeast.