French Bread

I decided to bake up some homemade French Bread yesterday.  It was good, but needs some improvement.  It was slightly too dense and would not rise as the recipe said.  I assume this problem was because it was raining outside and extremely humid in our house.  I also should have let it rise in the oven as recommended by other bakers.  I wanted to share the picture because I'm still very proud I even accomplished an edible loaf of bread (actually 2)!!!  I made one plain loaf with just melted butter on top, and the other with melted butter, garlic powder, and ground black pepper.  My family enjoyed the plain one best...warm out of the oven and slathered with honey butter.

Any experienced bread bakers out there, please forward me some tips and tricks for bread making.  I would love some recipes to try too.  I do own a bread maker that my Mom bought me a few years ago.  Our favorite bread is sourdough, but I have no idea how to create the important "starter".