Bread

Serves 3–4.

Ingredients

Directions

Dough

  1. In a large bowl, combine the water, yeast and salt.

  2. Add flour roughly 1/2 cup at a time, each time mixing thoroughly with a wooden spoon, stopping when mixing gets tough and the dough starts forming a ball that doesn’t stick as much to the sides.

  3. Let the dough sit covered for about 15 minutes to autolyze.

  4. Keeping your fingers wet (e.g., dipping them regularly in a bowl of water), pick up a side of the dough, stretch it, and fold it over the rest. Repeat this, rotating a quarter turn each time, until it becomes too difficult to do, perhaps after 5–10 stretches.

  5. Let the dough rise in a covered container in the refrigirator for at least a day, possibly more. Beyond a few days, use your own judgement to decide if you can still bake it.

Baking

Bake the bread at least two hours before you want to eat it. Also, you will need a Dutch oven.

  1. Pre-heat the (non-Dutch) oven to 260 C, placing the lid of the Dutch oven inside to pre-heat it as well.

  2. Take the dough out of the fridge and repeat the stretch-and-fold procedure a few more times, until it once again becomes too difficult.

  3. Line the Dutch oven with parchment paper (it’s easier if you scramble the paper first), then put the ball of dough inside it. Let it proof for about 30 minutes.

  4. Depending on the amount of flour you used, the dough might be on the drier side. If so, I recommend scoring the dough right before baking, by slicing an X on it with four quick cuts of a serrated knife. It’ll help the dough expend.

  5. Carefully remove the lid from the oven, and place it onto the Dutch oven, covering the dough ball. Transfer the Dutch oven into the pre-heated oven and cook for 30–40 minutes, until the bread looks done. If you’re unsure, check the interior temperature with a thermometer, it should be at least 95 C.

  6. Remove the lid from the Dutch oven and lower the temperature to 200 C, then let the crust brown for ~10 more minutes.

  7. Take the Dutch oven out and carefully remove the loaf by pulling on the sides of the parchment paper. Let it cool most of the way down before cutting.

Sources