I've been making this bread for a while now, and I've just ordered myself some rye flour and high-gluten white flour, in addition to the wheat and regular, unbleached flour I'm now keeping around. My next adventure(s) will be doing proper rye and soughdough breads, both of which require the care and feeding of wild-yeast starters. That will be fun.

I wouldn't worry too much about variance between the different NYT recipes. I initially was particular to do everything by weight, but now I'm just doing it by feel, adding ever just so much water to get the dough to the consistency that I want (goopy/sticky, but just firm enough that it hangs together as a dough). I've been consistent in using ~3 cups of dry flour, 2+epsilon cups of water, .25 tsp instant yeast, and 1.5 tsp salt (slightly more than the standard recipe, but seems to taste better to me).

I haven't tried the tea towel. That just seems like a huge mess. I'd spend the bucks, buy a roll of parchment paper, and call yourself happy.