The loudest loaf

I have never been aware of this before, but when I took this loaf out of the oven it sounded like a bowl of Rice Krispies. I've never read anything about this happening, and I certainly don't remember another loaf sounding like that. The noises have stopped (for now!) but I'm still curious about what was going on. I like how the slashes turned out. I'm curious about how it would have looked if I had steamed the oven.

I made this following the recipe for Pain Ordinaire, except I substituted in a half cup of semolina flour. I spent a lot of time in the kitchen today; I also mixed up a starter a semolina recipe, and "old dough" for a sourdough. The semolina is next on my list of breads, so the faux-old dough is in the freezer. I'm not exactly sure from the recipe, but I think the sourdough needs a starter in addition to the dough pieces, so I should mix that up as we eat through the semolina. This crackling beauty should be gone fairly soon, as Mo and I are bringing it to a potluck.