Bread, Glorious Bread!

Alright.  This bread.  This bread deserves it's own blog post.  Why?  Because for 12 years I have been baking bread and for 12 years I have been looking for THIS BREAD.  Crusty on the outside, chewy with big air bubbles on the inside.  The kind of bread I'd usually pay a lot of money for in the store.  The kind of bread that impresses company.  The kind of bread that you dip in olive oil, dipping spices, and balsamic vinegar and it is PERFECTION.  

I'm almost tempted to not share this recipe and to simply make this bread for my friends and family and let them think that I am a kitchen goddess and that this recipe requires the kind of baking prowess found only by a summer spent working in a kitchen in France.  But I love my friends and family more than my baking reputation and it just seems WRONG not to share such a simple recipe!  Thank-you, thank-you to Emily at FrugalLivingNW for sharing this recipe!  Click HERE to see her amazing post with step-by-step directions complete with pictures.  

The first time I opened the oven to remove the lid from the dutch oven, I literally squealed with sheer delight! That probably sounds a bit ridiculous to most people, but my fellow foodies will understand.  I then rounded up everyone in the house and made them come look at it and listen to it crackle on the counter as it cooled.  Yes, I am that much of a bread lover!

Seriously, is that BEAUTIFUL, or what??  Yes, that came out of MY oven! :)  It really is as easy as she claims it is, and don't worry about making it fall when you flop it into the dutch oven.  I've made it three times already, and was sure I killed it each time, and yet each time it turns out this pretty!  

Here's the recipe, though I HIGHLY recommend taking a look at the original post as it was very helpful when making it the first time.  I've been using one of Dad's old clunky camping dutch ovens and it works great but is really heavy.  I've now added one of these beautiful dutch ovens to my list of items I'm dying to have in my kitchen someday.

Basic No-Knead Breadslightly adapted from Jim Lahey’s My Bread

6 cups bread flour (recommended) or all-purpose flour, plus more for work surface
1/2 t. instant or active-dry yeast
2 1/2 t. salt
2 2/3 c. cool water

1. In a large bowl, combine the flour, yeast, and salt. Add the water and stir until all the ingredients are well incorporated; the dough should be wet and sticky. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap. Let the dough rest 12-18 hours on the counter at room temperature. When surface of the risen dough has darkened slightly, smells yeasty, and is dotted with bubbles, it is ready.
2. Lightly flour your hands and a work surface. Place dough on work surface and sprinkle with more flour. Fold the dough over on itself once or twice and, using floured fingers, tuck the dough underneath to form a rough ball.
3. Generously dust a cotton towel (not terry cloth) with enough flour, cornmeal, or wheat bran to prevent the dough from sticking to the towel as it rises; place dough seam side down on the towel and dust with more flour, cornmeal, or wheat bran. Cover with the edges or a second cotton towel and let rise for about 2 hours, until it has doubled in size.
4. After about 1 1/2 hours, preheat oven to 425 degrees. Place a 6-8 quart heavy covered pot, such as a cast-iron Dutch oven, in the oven as it heats. When the dough has fully risen, carefully remove pot from oven. Remove top towel from dough and slide your hand under the bottom towel; flip the dough over into pot, seam side up. Shake pan once or twice if dough looks unevenly distributed; it will straighten out as it bakes.
5. Cover and bake for 40 minutes. Uncover and continue baking for 10-15 more minutes, until the crust is a deep chestnut brown. The internal temperature of the bread should be around 200 degrees. You can check this with a meat thermometer, if desired.
6. Remove the bread from the pot and let it cool completely on a wire rack before slicing.