I'll share with you.

There are some recipes that are just way too good to keep to yourself. This bread recipe is one of them. I first received it from my dear friend, Wendy, and I have loved it since the first baking. It is so good and so easy. Don't shy away from it just because it's a home-made bread. There are only four ingredients. You don't have to knead it. You only stir and watch the magic happen.

There is one piece of equipment required that some people might not have. You need a dutch oven with a lid that can go into the oven at high temperatures. I have a Le Creuset enamel/cast iron pot. These pots are totally expensive. I think mine retails at about $220.00 but I got it used off eBay for $50. Well worth it. But if you have any plastic on your pot handles or lid, you will want to remove it before using this recipe. I know that usually the little handle on the lid can come off easy enough with a screwdriver but not so sure if your actual pot has plastic handles.
Here's a pic of my well-used, well-loved pot. It has a plastic knobby handle on the lid but it can withstand the 500 degree oven that this recipe requires.

First, you need to start this recipe at about 7 or 8 pm. It rises all night long and you can begin to work with it at about 9 am the next morning. It's a perfect lunch bread. You can also leave it alone all day and start working with it at about 2 pm to have for dinner. It's very patient bread.

So...
At 7 pm at night, mix together the following ingredients in a large bowl:
3 cups of white flour
1/4 teaspoon of yeast (I know, its a tiny amount but it works)
1 and 1/4 teaspoon of salt
1 and 1/2 cups of water (tepid) sometimes you need a dribble or two more water

Mix the dry ingredients and then pour in the water. The dough should be totally shaggy and sticky...almost like you need to add more flour...but don't. It's supposed to be like that. Cover the bowl with a piece of plastic wrap. Now go and watch tv for the rest of the night. You're not back on duty with this bread until tomorrow!

The next morning, the dough will have risen quite a bit. In the pic below I increased the ingredients 1 and 1/2 times to get a bigger loaf....and it rose so much it almost came over the top of the bowl:
It's wet and bubbly. Basically the dough needs to rise for about 12 to 18 hours.

For lunch bread, dump the wet sticky dough onto a floured surface at about 9 am. Pat it with well-floured hands, squeezing out the air and roll it around till its sort of a ball. Also, take a piece of parchment paper, spray it with Pam, and set it in a good sized frying pan with the buttered side up. Carefully lift the dough ball and set it in the parchment paper. Lightly spray the top of the dough with some more Pam and put the piece of plastic wrap back on top. See pic below:
Let the dough rest for another 2 hours. (It should be about 11 am when you come back to it.)

At about 10:30 am (or 1/2 hour before you want to bake), turn your oven to 500 degrees and put your dutch oven, with lid on, in the oven to heat it up. Put it on the rack at the lowest position in your oven.

Let the pot heat for about 30 minutes till it's good and hot. Take the pot out of the oven, remember it's super duper hot. Remove the lid and lift the dough with the parchment as a sling, and place it carefully in the pot (without burning your hands). Let any extra parchment hang over.

Turn the oven down to 425 degrees. Put the lid on the pot and place pot in the oven. Use oven mitts. :) Bake covered for 30 minutes. You should start to smell the wonderful scent of home-made bread shortly after that. After thirty minutes, open the oven door, take the lid off the pot and bake the bread for 10-15 minutes longer till it browns on top.


Lift the bread out of the pot by the parchment paper and set on cooling rack. It should be noon by now...happy lunch time!!