I make this bread twice a week - so easy, so cheap and soooooo good! A pizza stone helps this bread crust up. Prep time does not include the rise times.
Measure water, salt and yeast into a large plastic container with a loose fitting lid.
2
Stir in the flour. Sometimes it is stiffer than others but it should be a wet looking mess when you are done stirring. Do not knead.
3
Put the lid on loosely and let rest for 4 - 6 hours on the counter. Refrigerate loosely covered overnight or up to 10 days. The longer it rests in the fridge the more flavor it develops.
4
On baking day, put a piece of parchment onto a pizza peel or flat baking sheet and flour it and sprinkle cornmeal on it.
5
Next heavily flour the dough and cut into halves or quarters. Each quarter will give a one-pound loaf. I bake two pound loaves because we devour this bread. Scoop the dough into a long or round loaf and put onto the parchment. I cut the dough in half with a bench knife while it is still in the dough bucket and get a nice oval shape that way.
6
Preheat your oven and pizza stone to 450 degrees. Put a broiler pan under the stone. Let the oven heat for 20-30 minutes. Heavily dust the top of the loaf with flour.
7
Slash the loaf with a very sharp knife or lame. If your bread is round slash a tic tac toe pattern into it and for a long loaf slash it 3 or 4 times diagonally. This helps the bread pouf up during baking. Now slide the bread and parchment onto the stone. Immediately pour 1 cup of hot water into a broiler pan and shut the oven door for 10 minutes. Toss a couple of ice cubes into the oven after the first ten minutes if you are baking a 2 pound loaf.
8
Bake one pound loaves for 40 minutes and two pound loaves for 45 minutes.
9
Cool on a wire rack and please try to resist cutting it until it is totally cool or it will not be crispy on the outside and chewy in the center.
Delicious, easy to make and simple ingredients. It's a trifecta! I first heard about this refrigerator dough several years back in Mother Earth News and thought it was a brilliant idea. Now that I've finally tried it, it's beyond brilliant! The first day the bread flavor was bland but it had great texture. Also, bland or not, it was fresh and homemade bread--it's hard to beat that. Two days later I cut a fist-sized lump from the refrigerator dough and baked it and the flavor was better. I didn't let the dough come to room temp, just tossed it in a little flour and threw the whole lump into the hot skillet and used kitchen shears to slash the top. The result was delightfully airy and very close to a perfect sandwich bread. Both times I baked my bread in a cast iron skillet that pre-heated along with the oven. This amount of dough/bread will easily supply our 2 person household for a week or more. Even though this isn't a whole grain bread, it still feels wholesome to make your own "daily bread". If you're looking for a good bread recipe to try, look no further!
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