Bread bakin'

I love to cook. I hate to bake. Baking does not work out well for me. I follow recipes to a T and instead of chewy soft cookies I end up with fluffy flavorless cookies. I have slowly been building up my baking repertoire though with things that are simple and offer a little forgiveness. The fire has been burning in me to bake some bread, so this last week I've tried out a few recipes and this was definitely the winner. Super crunchy outside and soft on the inside, perfect for lots of butter and some strawberry jam. Damn delicious. You can find the original recipe here.

Ingredients:

3 cups all-purpose flour
1 packet of rapid rise yeast (if using regular yeast, proof in 1/4 of warm water + 1tsp sugar. Let sit for 10 mins until doubled in volume. Honestly, rapid rise will work the best though.)
1 tablespoon salt (use kosher salt or something similar in "coarseness". If you use regular table salt at this measurement it will be way too salty. Trust me.)
1 1/2 cups water

Directions:

Mix flour, yeast and salt together and whisk. Add in water and stir. It will be VERY, VERY, sticky. Scrape the side of the bowl as well as you can and cover with plastic wrap (not airtight). Leave on your counter for 12-18 hrs. There is NO need, well...to knead. That is what makes this so easy. You simply let it sit (I did mine overnight). After time is up, heat your oven to 450 degrees. When the oven is at temp. put your dutch oven (or something oven safe with a lid) into the oven for 30 mins so that the pot is nice and hot. Flour a surface liberally and plop out your dough. Flour your hands and shape into a round ball. Now, take out your dutch oven all the while being very careful as it is scorching. Carefully put your dough in the dutch oven (no need for oil) and slide that sucker back in. Bake for 30 mins with the lid on and another 15 mins with the lid off. Voila. Fresh baked bread.