Crusty white bread
Bread is simple - flour, water, salt, and yeast are all you need. We add time to those ingredients to obtain this white bread that is crusty on the outside, chewy on the inside, and perfect to dunk in soup. The crusty exterior comes from baking in a dutch oven though any lidded container you can pre-heat will do. This recipe takes at least 5½ hours, preferably several days. The active time is very minimal, so plan ahead and give the dough plenty of time to do its thing.
white bread ingredients
350 ml warm water
454 g flour (all-purpose, bread flour, or a mix - I'm using half all-purpose, half bread flour)
2 teaspoons salt
2 ¼ teaspoons yeast
Mix the salt and water together in a large bowl. Sprinkle yeast over the water and leave it for a few minutes to let it foam (if you're using instant yeast, you can skip the wait time).
Add the flour and mix everything thoroughly (no kneading required). Cover with plastic wrap and leave at room temperature for 2 hours. Then move to the refrigerator. The dough needs to sit in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours, but overnight is better. You can leave it in the fridge for up to a week. The longer it rests in the fridge, the stronger the flavor of the resulting bread will be.
When you're ready to make bread, line a container with parchment paper. Choose a container that is close to your dutch oven in size (or smaller). Remove the dough from the fridge. Oil your hands and shape the dough into a ball. Place the dough ball on the parchment.
Cover and leave at room temperature for an hour. Place your dutch oven in the oven and pre-heat to 450°F.
Once the oven and dutch oven are heated, remove the cover from your dough ball. Using a sharp knife, cut some slits in the top of the dough.
Remove the dutch oven from the oven and, working quickly, transfer your dough ball to the dutch oven. Place the lid on top and put the dutch oven back in the oven. You can use the parchment to helpt get the dough out of its resting vessel easily or, particularly if your dutch oven is dark in color, place the parchment in the dutch oven with the dough.
Bake for 25 minutes. Remove the lid and bake another 5-10 minutes until you get a nice color on top of the loaf. Remove the dutch oven from the oven. Carefully remove the bread from the dutch oven and transfer to a wire rack to cool.
slits in dough