French Bread: Attempt #1

So I attempted my first batch of French Bread yesterday with some success. They came out golden with the characteristic crunchy crust but the taste was a bit on the salty side. The recipe is a Julia Child one and goes as follows:

3 1/2 cups flour
1 package active dry yeast
2 1/4 tsp salt
1 1/4 cups tepid water

I guess bakers normally use sea salt or kosher salt but I thought since it was only 2 teaspoons and she didn't specify kosher salt that I could use just normal table salt. I'm still investigating into this but I've looked at Chris Kimball's recipe for European bread (from Cook's Bible) and his proportions are just about the same. In fact, he calls for 1 tablespoon of kosher salt and 2 teaspoons of table salt if you don't have kosher.

The only other factor that I can think of is that I used King Arthur's Select Artisan Organic All Purpose Flour that has a protein level of 11.3%. Its supposed to be ideal for european breads which use an all-purpose flour lower in protein content than normal american all-purpose flour. If anyone has input on this problem, please let me know. I'll make another batch of the bread possibly tomorrow with kosher salt.

I also bought Chicago Metallic's French Bread pans for baking the bread and they worked wonderfully. The perforated bottoms gave it a real professional look.