Ok, I know, I’m a little late to the party. This recipe was published by the New York Times in 2006. I’ve only started making it recently, though, thanks to the ceramic dish that my mom made especially for this purpose. You don’t need a mom with a ceramics studio to try the recipe, though. Any heavy, oven-save dutch oven, soup pot, or casserole with a lid will do.
I’ve made bread many times in the past. It always tastes fantastic right out of the oven, but the next day it leaves something to be desired. It never could challenge artesain bread from a bakery–that crusty, chewy, loose crumb with a full wheat and yeast flavor and robust but not tough crust. I’m happy to say that this bread comes through, whether fresh or a few days old. And almost more importantly, making it fits really well into my schedule. Since I work standard business hours, I suspect it will fit with other’s too.
Combine 3 cups of flour (bread flour is best, feel free to add part whole wheat or to use all purpose flour) with 1/4 teaspoon yeast, 1 and 1/4 teaspoon salt, and 1 and 5/8 cup water. I find it hard to believe that that extra 1/8 cup of water above 1 1/2 cups makes a difference, but oh well. I do this after dinner/before bed.
Leave it in the bowl and cover with plastic wrap. When I get home from work the next day (20 hours later, more or less), I scrape out this very loose dough onto a well-floured counter. I sort of scoop in into more or less a ball and let it sit for 10 minutes as I wash the bowl.
Cover a towel with cornmeal, bring the dough into a ball and set it on the cornmeal. Lift the towel and set it in the bowl (using a bowl helps your final loaf rise higher). Cover with a little more cornmeal and another towel.
An hour to an hour and a half later, put your cooking vessel in the oven and preheat to 450. Let it heat for 30 minutes. Very carefully take off the now hot lid and with one hand under the towel, dump the dough in the pot. Replace the lid. Cornmeal might get everywhere, but that’s what brooms are for. Let bake for 30 min, take off the lid, and bake another 15-30 minutes. If you time it right, they’ll be fresh bread for dinner, or at least for toast in the morning and sandwiches the next day, because as I mentioned this bread really holds up well for a few days. I’ve never had it last any longer than 48 hours or so, but I imagine it would freeze well too.
I’ve been making about twice a week, and I don’t miss the delicious but expensive bread for Essential Baking Company or Tall Grass Bakery.
