Bread that's easy and delicious

What's more elemental than bread? People have been making great bread for thousands of years and yet most of us were raised on that spongy white stuff, sometimes with some spongy brown stuff thrown in for comic relief.

So why don't more of us make our own bread? We're too busy or it's too hard or we don't have time....But none of these excuses stand up in the face of a recipe that makes stunning bread with almost no attention and no kneading. (I hate kneading bread. Life is too short to stand around pounding dough.) It has a crispy crust and a lovely chewy texture.

You do need a heavy pan with a cover. Cast iron is perfect but a dutch oven works fine too. Start this bread the day before you want to eat it. It takes some time to develop but you don't have to be around for most of it. If you start it on a Friday night, you can have it for dinner on Saturday .

SO EASY NO KNEAD BREAD

Ingredients:
3 cups (430 grams) all-purpose or bread flour, more for dusting
¼ teaspoon instant yeast
1-1/2 teaspoons (16g) salt
1-5/8 cups (345g) tepid water

1. In a large bowl combine flour, yeast and salt. Add the water, and stir until blended; dough will be shaggy and sticky. Cover bowl with plastic wrap. Let dough rest 12-18 hours, preferably about 18 and up to 24, at warm room temperature, about 70 degrees. Warmer room use shorter time, cool room will take longer.

2. Dough is ready when its surface is dotted with bubbles. Lightly flour a work surface and place dough on it; sprinkle it with a little more flour and fold it over on itself once or twice. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rest about 15 minutes.

3. Using just enough flour to keep dough from sticking to work surface or to your fingers, gently and quickly shape dough into a ball. Dust a silpat or parchment paper with flour, wheat bran or cornmeal; put dough seam side down on silpat or parchment paper and dust with more flour, bran or cornmeal. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise for 2-3 hours (in cold weather can take up to 4). When it is ready, dough will be more than double in size and will not readily spring back when poked with a finger.

4. At least a half-hour before dough is ready, heat oven to 450 degrees. Put a 6- to 8-quart heavy covered pot (cast iron, enamel, Pyrex or ceramic) in oven as it heats. When dough is ready, carefully remove pot from oven. Slide your hand under silpat or parchment paper and turn dough over into pot, seam side up. It will look like a mess, but that's O.K. Shake pan once or twice if dough is unevenly distributed; it will straighten out as it bakes. Cover with lid and bake 30 minutes, then remove lid and bake another 10 minutes, until loaf is beautifully browned. Cool on a rack.