Time:
Feeds: 2-3 people per loaf (recipe makes 2 loaves)
Ingredients:
- 3 3/4 cups (450g) all purpose flour
- 1 1/2 cups (340g) water, lukewarm
- 1/2 tablespoon (7g) kosher salt
- 3/4 tablespoon (7g) instant yeast
Directions: The flour/liquid ratio is important in this recipe, so measure carefully. Your best bet is to weigh the flour; or measure it by gently spooning it into a cup, then sweeping off any excess.
Combine all of the ingredients in a large mixing bowl, or a large (3-quart), food-safe plastic bowl. The water should be about 105°F in order to activate the yeast appropriately.
Mix and stir everything together to make a very sticky, rough dough. If you have a stand mixer, beat at medium speed with the beater blade for 30 to 60 seconds. If you don’t have a mixer, just stir-stir-stir with a big spoon or dough whisk until everything is combined.
Next, you’re going to let the dough rise. If you’ve made the dough in a plastic bowl, you’re all set — just let it stay there, covering the bowl with a lid or plastic wrap; a shower cap actually works well here. If you’ve made the dough in a bowl that’s not at least 3-quart capacity, transfer it to a large bowl; it’s going to rise a lot. There’s no need to grease the bowl, though you can if you like; it makes it a bit easier to get the dough out when it’s time to bake bread.
Cover the bowl or bucket, and let the dough rise at room temperature for 2 hours. Then refrigerate it for at least 2 hours, or for up to about 7 days. (If you’re pressed for time, skip the room-temperature rise, and stick it right into the fridge). The longer you keep it in the fridge, the tangier it’ll get; if you chill it for 7 days, it will taste like sourdough. Over the course of the first day or so, it’ll rise, then fall. That’s OK; that’s what it’s supposed to do.
When you’re ready to make bread, sprinkle the top of the dough with flour; this will make it easier to grab a hunk. Grease your hands, and pull off about 1/2 of the dough — a 400g to 540g piece, if you have a scale. It’ll be about the size of a softball, or a large grapefruit.
Plop the sticky dough onto a floured work surface, and round it into a ball, or a longer log. Don’t fuss around trying to make it perfect; just do the best you can.
Place the loaf on a piece of parchment and cover with a clean kitchen towel to let rest before baking. At this point, you can go ahead and prep your Dutch oven for baking. Put the dutch oven in a cold oven with the lid on and then start preheating the oven to 450°F. I set a timer when I turn on the oven for 30 minutes and that gives the Dutch oven plenty of time to heat up and is enough time for the dough to rest as well.
Once the dough has rested and the oven preheated, score the dough with a very sharp knife in two places about 1/2” deep. Now you can transfer the dough to the Dutch oven but be extremely careful as the Dutch oven will be very hot. Put the lid back on the Dutch oven and put in the oven, baking with the lid on for 10 minutes. Once those 10 minutes have passed, remove the lid from the Dutch oven and finish baking. I usually take mine out when another 10 minutes have passed equaling 20 minutes of total baking time as we don’t like our crusts to get too crunchy and dark but it’s totally personal preference!
Remove the bread from the oven, and cool it on a rack. Store leftover bread in a plastic bag at room temperature.