Mix it before you sleep.
In the morning, it is ready. Not because anyone watched it. Because that is what dough does when it is given enough time and left alone. The dough is not the difficult part. The difficult part is leaving it alone.
The bread sits on the bar wrapped in cloth. If it is gone, it was eaten. If it needs to be there, it will be there.
Half-Round Country Loaf 1 loaf. Cut thick.
- 3 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for shaping
- ½ teaspoon instant yeast
- 1½ teaspoons salt
- 1½ cups warm water
Mix the flour, yeast, and salt in a large bowl. Add the warm water. Stir until it comes together into a rough, sticky dough. It will not look finished. This is correct. Cover the bowl. Leave it for twelve hours, or up to sixteen. Do not look at it until the time is done.
When you return, the dough will be puffed and webbed with bubbles across the surface. Turn it out onto a well-floured cloth or surface. Fold it once — from the edges to the center, working around — and let it rest, seam-side down, covered, for two hours.
Thirty minutes before baking, put a cast-iron pot with a lid into the oven at 230°C (450°F). When the two hours of rest are done and the pot is hot, lower the dough in, seam-side up. Lid on.
Bake covered for thirty minutes. Remove the lid. Bake fifteen minutes more, until the crust is deep brown. Tap the bottom. Hollow means done. Cool before cutting. The bread finishes on its own time, like everything else here.