THE EASIEST LOAF OF BREAD YOU'LL EVER BAKE
Seriously. This is the easiest loaf of bread you’ll ever bake…even if you’ve never made bread before.
How?
By following the simple instructions in this recipe from Jim Lahey (a well-known bread guy), you can start the dough the day before (about 18 hours or so, although in a chilly kitchen I’ve left this out for 24 hours and enjoyed the results) and have a fragrant and flavorful loaf the next day.
Here are a few extra tips to get you started:
A digital kitchen scale comes in handy for this recipe, but if you have measuring cups and spoons you’re half-way there. Just be sure to spoon the flour into the measuring cup rather than scooping it into the flour, which compacts it and adds more flour than is called for.
Bread flour is listed but you can use all-purpose flour if that’s what you have on hand. I like King Arthur All-Purpose Flour.
If you want to avoid the mess of coating a towel with cornmeal or flour, you can place the dough on parchment paper and shape it gently. Use the parchment as a sling to lower the loaf into the dutch oven when it’s time to bake, and carefully peel it off the bottom of the bread after baking.
Hard as it may be to resist, always allow bread to cool completely before slicing to avoid a gummy texture.
Oh! And it’s a good idea to have an oven thermometer so you can be sure to preheat at an accurate temperature.
Happy Baking!