Prep Time- 10 minutes + 8 to 12 hours Rise + 45 minutes Cooling | Cook Time- 45 minutes | Makes 1 loaf
I make a loaf of this bread every week (sometimes more). M.G. and I easily prefer this over store bought bread!
Ingredients:
- 3 Cups AP Flour + extra for surface dusting
- 1 1/2 tsp Active Dry Yeast
- 1 tsp Salt
- 1 1/3 – 1 1/2 Cups of Warm Water (about 105°F- 110°F OR 40.5°C – 43°C)
* See notes at the bottom for ingredient alternatives and other ideas!
Instructions:
1- Gather all ingredients, a Dutch oven (or any pot with lid that is able to be in a super hot oven), a large mixing bowl, and rubber spatula- do not use a whisk.
2- Mix the dry ingredients together (the first 3 ingredients). Create a hole in the middle of the dry mix and add the warm water– I add just shy of 1 1/2 Cups and then add more if the dough is not moist enough. If the dough is too moist and sticky, add a little more flour. Mix the water into the dry ingredients until fully incorporated- Do not kneed the dough.
3- Form the dough into a ball inside the bowl and cover with a kitchen towel then top it with a large plate- I do not use plastic wrap because I noticed that this traps the moisture on top of the dough. The towel and plate method prevents the dough from drying out while also absorbing a small amount of moisture which would otherwise accumulate on top.
4- Set this aside to rise in a warm-ish area for 8-12 hours. It should double in size.
5- Once the dough has risen, gently scrape it out onto a well floured surface- do not kneed the dough. Set aside a piece of parchment paper with some flour dusted on it. Set your oven to 450°F (or about 232°C) and put your pot with lid into the oven to heat up as well. Please be sure your pot and lid are both heat resistant to up to the oven temperature so that they don’t get destroyed.
6- When looking at your blob of dough, imagine the North, South, East, and West sides. Sprinkle some flour on top, then fold the West side over top to the East side. Then, sprinkle a little more flour on top, and fold the North side over top to the South side. You should have only folded your dough twice.
7- Set the folded dough onto the floured parchment paper and cover with the mixing bowl upside down so that the edges of the dough do not touch the rim of the bowl. Allow this to rest for 30 minutes while the oven and pot heat up- your oven may reach the temperature before the 30 minutes is up, but this time allows the pot to get super hot and allows the dough to rest a bit.
8- Very carefully with thick pot holders- remove the pot from the oven and close the oven door so that not too much heat escapes. Remove the pot lid, gently place the dough and parchment paper into the pot, cover the pot with the lid, and place it all back into the oven. Bake for 30 minutes (set a timer).
9- When the 30 minutes is up, carefully remove the lid and bake for another 15-20 minutes until the top is golden brown- make sure to warn all household members not to touch the pot lid if you leave it out on the stove!
10- Carefully remove the pot from the oven, and very carefully remove the bread from the pot- you can pull up the parchment paper or just dump the bread onto the (clean) counter.
11- Let the bread cool for about 45 minutes- 1 hour before slicing into it.
OTHER ADD INS– This is a super basic bread recipe that you can do a whole lot to: you can add/cover the dough with seeds like pumpkin or sunflower, you can add spices like rosemary, and you can experiment with different ratios of flours like buckwheat or rye (do your research first!). I tend to just make it plain because I love a simple bread.
I am going to try this one out. It was very Yummy, even for someone like me who has been Spoiled by German Bakers lol