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Ingredients
- 3 cups bread flour
- 1 1/4 teaspoons table salt
- 1/2 teaspoon active dry yeast or instant
- 1 1/3 cups water Cool
- flour Additional, for dusting
Method
- Combine all dry ingredients in a medium bowl, add the water and mix using a wooden spoon until the ingredients make a wet, sticky dough (about 3 seconds). Make sure it is really sticky to the touch, I had to add 1-2 tablespoons of extra water so add more if need be. Cover the bowl with a tea towel and place somewhere out of direct sunlight (I used by hall cupboard), until the surface is dotted with bubbles and the dough has doubled in size. This takes approximately 12 hours but you can leave foe longer if desired.
- Once step one is complete, dust table or bench with a generous amount of flour. Use a spatular to scrape the dough onto the workspace in one piece. The dough will cling in long, thin strands, and it will be loose and sticky, do not add more flour. Using floured hands, light the edges of the dough and fold into the centre to make the dough round.
- Dust a tea towel with flour, gently lift the dough from the workspace onto the tea towel, seam side down. If the dough is sticky, dust with more flour. Fold the tea towel loosely over the dough to cover it and place in a warm, draft free spot for 1-2 hours. When the dough is ready it will have doubled in size. Gently poke the dough, it should hold the impression. If it doesn't leave for another 15 minutes.
- Half an hour prior to the dough being ready, pre-heat the oven to 200-220 degrees (this will depend on your oven, I know mine runs hot so I only heat to 200). Use a rack lower to the bottom, place covered dish in the oven to pre-heat. I use a round Epicurean Cuisine 5L casserole dish from the General Traders that I picked up in the sales. You can use an oval dish if that is what you have.
- Remove the dish from the oven and remove the lid. Uncover the bread in the tea towel, at this point the dough had spread and I decided to repeat the folding done after removing it from the bowl. Dust with flour. remove from towel and quickly place the dough seam side up into the pot, replace lid and place in oven for 30 minutes.
- After half an hour remove lid and continue baking for 15 minutes or until golden but not burnt. Remove from oven and using a wooden spoon or spatular remove from pot and place on cooling rack. Leave to cool for an hour before digging in!
