Classic Country Bread

Ingredients

3⅓ cup of flour + a bit more

A heaping ¼ teaspoon of instant yeast

2 teaspoons of salt

Method

Combine flour, yeast and salt. Add 1½ cups of water. Cover the bowl and let the dough slowly ferment overnight at room temperature.

Sprinkle a work surface with flour, and fold the dough over on itself a couple of times. Cover again and let rest for about 15 more minutes.

Shape dough into a ball. Generously coat a cotton towel with flour, and place dough seam side down. Lay another cotton towel on top of the dough, and let rise for about 2 hours.

Preheat your oven to 450 degrees. Place a covered pot in the oven as it heats.

When the oven is ready, place the dough into the pot (seam side up). Bake, covered with the lid, for 30 minutes. Remove the lid and bake another 20 minutes. Cool on a rack.

Adapted from Sullivan Street Bakery's Jim Lahey and my grandmother's recipe.