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A gift ready for a wonderful friend |
Ingredients:
3 cups flour (any kind is fine, but unbleached white gives the BEST french bread taste!)
1/4 tsp instant yeast
1 1/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups plus 2 Tbsp cool water (more or less as needed)
Cornmeal (or wheatbran) as needed
Directions:
- Combine the flour, yeast, and salt in a large bowl.
- Add the water and stir until blended; the dough should be shaggy, moist, and sticky. (I usually need to add 1/2 cup more water.)
- Cover bowl with plastic wrap and let rise for 12-18 hours at room temperature. (I usually make this the night before we want to have- around 8:00pm, and then the timing works out to have fresh bread for dinner the following day. I know this makes it sound like a lot of work or a high maintenance bread, but i assure you, its simple and only requires a few moments of your attention a few times over the 18 hour period. easy peasy!)
- Lightly flour work surface and place dough on it.
- Sprinkle with a little more flour, and fold it over onto itself twice.
- Cover loosely again with plastic wrap and leave 15 minutes.
- Generously coat a cotton or linen towel with cornmeal, wheat bran, or flour.
- Gently form the dough into a ball and place it seam-side down on the tea towel.
- Dust with a little more cornmeal and fold the sides of the towel over the ball so it is covered.
- Set the timer for 2 hours and let the dough rise
- When the timer goes off, leave the dough as is and preheat the oven to 450 F. Put a covered 6-8 quart heavy pot (cast iron, enamel, or ceramic) in the oven as it heats. Set the timer for 30 minutes.
- After 30 minutes, carefully remove the pot from the oven.
- Turn the dough over into the pot. If it looks like a mess that's okay - it will end up fine.
- Cover the pot with the lid and bake for 30 minutes
- Uncover the pot and bake for another 15 minutes or until the loaf is beautiful and brown.
- Cool on a rack and ENJOY!
wrapped in a tea towel for the final rise |
the finished product! |