Bread is not on my meal plan.  There are 2 loaves of perfectly fine loaves of bread in the cupboard.  I have no idea why the bread making muse struck in the middle of a heat advisory.  The fact that I was too hot/tired/sticky to bother with kneading dough inspired me to make this particular bread (granted this would have told normal people that it was not the time to make bread).  Here’s the basic recipe:

3 cups flour
1 1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp yeast
1 1/2 cups water

Mix everything together until it’s a sticky dough.  If you need to add more water, do it a few tablespoons at a time – it should level out in the bowl, not hold it's shape.  Put this in the oven or on the counter and leave it there for 18 –24 hours.

Generously flour the counter and plop the wet but now bubbly dough out onto the flour, and use a spatula or bench scraper to fold it into an oval.  Just flip the edges towards the center until there is enough flour  incorporated that you can pick it up and move it.

Put the dough on a well floured towel and let it rise for 2 hours.  Nowhere in the directions did it account for forgetting an orthodontist appointment.  I came back 3 hours later and the dough was stuck to the towel.   I just scraped it off, re shaped it, added more flour, and carried on.  I’m way too practical to get wrapped up in directions.

The directions DO say that 30 minutes before the dough is done rising you should preheat the oven and an enameled dutch oven to 475.  Doesn’t this sound innocent?  The knob on my dutch oven snapped off.  So once it was molten, I had great fun trying to remove the lid.   Coincidentally, I figured out which of my oven mitts needs replacing…

I put the dough in the dutch oven and replaced the lid (again, not so easy without the handle), and put the whole thing in the oven for 30 minutes.  After 30 minutes, per instructions, I removed the lid (Grrr!) and the bread baked another 15-30 minutes.  How’s that for arbitrary?  This is where experience comes in.   I had to factor in how wet the dough was with the desired color of the bread.  I went for 15 minutes, partly due to the constant yammering of boys who smelled fresh bread.  Of course, you can always use a thermometer – but mine melted and we are not discussing it.  The temperature of finished bread should be about 200 degrees.

When the bread was done, I let it cool for 30 minutes.  It really needed an hour.   I really needed the boys to stop bugging me.  Because the dough for this bread is wet and heavy – the long cooling period is actually the end of the cooking process.  However,  you can’t reason with boys who are holding knives and butter.   You can tell them that a sourdough type bread will be better later, but they.just.don’t.care.

They do know I like to take pictures so you can see the results.  Here’s what they left:

This is a view from the top.  It’s very rustic looking, I think.

This bread is tasty, has a crispy crust and a moist interior, but I’m not about to go fiddling with that big heavy hot dutch oven again.  Ciabatta is just as good, so I may try this recipe with that method.  It’s only cheap ingredients and time, right?