CRUSTY BREAD RECIPE

Submitted by Trisha Thornock

3 C. all purpose flour or bread flour

1 1/4 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. yeast

1 1/2 C. water

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together flour, salt and yeast. Add water and mix until a shaggy mixture forms. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and set aside for 12-18 hours, overnight works great. If you forget and leave it a couple hours longer, it's still okay.

12-18 hours later...

Remove plastic wrap from bowl and set aside. With wet hands, pick up dough, it will be very wet, so you will have to scrape it from the sides a little bit. Then put it back into the bowl and cover again with the plastic wrap. Leave it to rest for 2 hours. Again, if you forget and leave it longer, it will still work.

1 hour and fifteen minutes into the resting time, place a cast iron pot with lid in oven. Heat oven to 450 degrees, allowing the oven 30-45 minutes to preheat so that both the oven and pot are very hot.

When the 2 hour resting time is over, remove the pot from the oven. Remove the lid. With wet hands, move the dough from the bowl to the hot pot, don't worry about it sticking, the bread should not stick to the pot once baked. Cover the pot and place in oven. Bake for 25 minutes, after 25 minutes, remove the lid and bake for an additional 7-10 minutes. Remove bread from oven and place on cooling rack. The bread really shouldn't stick to the pot, if it does, it is probably because there is still too much moisture in the bread, so bake it a few more minutes uncovered.