Quote:
the 1g-yeast bread was actually better

I've since gotten a hardcore bread-making book for Christmas and have been reading up on the chemistry behind bread. Apparently, if you've got extra yeast, then you'll eventually reach a situation when the yeast run out of sugars to digest, so they start turning on each other (yeast cannibalism!), and give off ammonia as a result. The book recommends using the minimum amount of yeast, whenever possible, for exactly this reason. This is also part of why other breads have you punching down the dough after the initial rise. It gets rid of the accumulated gas, but it also equalizes temperature in the dough and gets the yeast back in touch with more sugars to digest.

Also, I didn't realize that yeast doesn't actually contribute to the flavor of the bread. The flavor comes entirely from the enzymes breaking down the starches into simpler sugars. Part of what makes the no-knead bread work so well is that the long, slow rise also gives more chance for the enzymes (already in the flour) to crunch away at the starches.

With regard to the moistness, I had that issue with loaf #2. For loaf #3, I tried increasing the baking time after the lid came off, which worked, but ended up deeply toasting the crust. For loaf #4, I changed the baking temperatures to 480 degrees for the initial 30 minutes, and then down to 400 for a subsequent 45 minutes. That pretty much nailed it.

Note: you have to resist temptation and let the loaf cool for at least 30 minutes. This gives the crumb time to set up and also helps drop the moisture level.

Loaf #4: