Lynn, your question on the cornmeal is the easy one to answer. Just
BURY your peel (or whatever) with cornmeal -- maybe an eighth of an
inch thick. You shouldn't see any part of the supporting object
peeking through. Spread it wider than you think you'll need. When
ready to toss the loafin the oven, you can brush away excess corn
meal that's in front of the loaf, and there will probably be some
remaining on the peel after the loaf is scooted into the oven, you
can put all that right back in the corn meal container for next time.
Anything less than this glorious excess results in the dough touching
the peel which, as you already know, results in it sticking.
As for how slack the dough should be ... mine produced a nice loaf,
here's how it handled. The dough in the bowl in the frig was
perfectly flat on top, no "dome" from rising as a knead-able bread would have.
I used my plastic dough/bowl scraper to cut out about a quarter of
it, the dough immediately started sagging (though not flowing). I
quickly pinched the cut edges together on what would be the bottom,
and plopped it onto the tons-o-cornmeal on my peel. There it did hold
its round shape, rose nicely and made a lovely,
crusty-on-the-outside/creamy-on-the-inside loaf.
So I'd suggest first being sure your cornmeal is spread in advance.
Then think through the physical steps you'll execute -- grabbing part
of the dough, pinching into a ball, inverting onto the cornmeal -- a
few times as mental practice. Then focus on speed in the execution
... it's going to rise in the end, and rising evens out lots of
aesthetic flaws from earlier in the process.
And, in all good humor, even if the darn loaf comes out looking
utterly mangled -- slice it! It'll taste great and any bold diner who
criticizes can certainly volunteer to apprentice with you the next time!