@mirabilis maybe some sauces need the arrowroot last? Though I’ve had similar experiences. I now raise my bread in a warm oven and then just turn the oven on to baking temperature, which is much much easier than the usual instructions, but I get good spring and crumb and crust so... I don’t know if NB standards are low or everyone is wrong.
@clew Tonight I did it the "right" way and it was just a whole lot of extra effort for no reason, as far as I could see.
Back in the days when I baked bread, I did exactly what you describe. 😃