Crusty Bread

Doesn't this picture just say it all? I couldn't help but try this bread out. It's really simple and worked like a charm. Just follow the directions. I made my dough lickity split one night before bed, let it sit all night on the counter, cooked it off in the morning, and it was great! I think this would be perfect for soup or panini sandwiches. I will say, in my brand new oven, it did seem to cook maybe a touch too quickly on the outside, so I am going to lower the temp next time to 400-425. It is also VERY crusty, so it was just a slight challenge to cut with a standard bread knife fresh from the oven. I might try my butcher's knife next time to see if it cuts any easier. The original recipe was on simplysogood.com, here.

Crusty Bread

Ingredients:

• 3 cups unbleached all purpose flour
• 1 3/4 teaspoons salt
• 1/2 teaspoon Instant or Rapid-rise yeast
• 1 1/2 cups water

Directions:

1. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together flour, salt and yeast.  
2. Add water and mix until a shaggy mixture forms.  
3. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and set aside for 12 - 18 hours.  Overnight works great.  Heat oven to 450 degrees.  
4. When the oven has reached 450 degrees place a cast iron pot with a lid in the oven and heat the pot for 30 minutes.  
5. Meanwhile, pour dough onto a heavily floured surface and shape into a ball.  
6. Cover with plastic wrap and let set while the pot is heating.  (You can place the dough ball on a piece of parchment paper if you want, so you can just pick up the paper and drop the dough, paper and all, into your pot.) 
7. Remove hot pot from the oven and drop in the dough.  
8. Cover and return to oven for 30 minutes.  
9. After 30 minutes remove the lid and bake an additional 15 minutes.  
10. Remove bread from oven and place on a cooling rack to cool.  

Marsha's Notes:

In my oven, it DOES work best for me to cook things at 400 degrees (on convection) for 30 minutes covered, and then only 8 minutes uncovered. I also found it helpful to spray my pot with non-stick spray to get the bread out easier if I am not using parchment. I LOVE adding a generous handful of shredded cheese to my dough. I have also found that if the bread is difficult to cut, sometimes it slices easier after sitting for day or if I use an electric carving knife. Sometimes using a regular bread knife takes so much pressure it can smash the bread when it's freshly out of the oven.

I also found this 9 inch silicone mat from Amazon that I am going to try instead of parchment. I'll let you know how it turns out. (click here)

Here is a picture of the Dutch Oven (6 qt.) I use. You can also find these on Amazon, but I got mine on sale at Shopko.

Here is a loaf from my very own oven.