The Personal Website of Jeremy Boles

Ingredients

• 400 grams bread flour
• 8 grams salt
• 1 gram dry yeast
• 300 grams cool water

Method

1. Stir together flour, salt, and yeast in a bowl. Stir in water until you have a wet, sticky dough. It usually takes about 30 seconds. The dough should be really sticky to the touch. If not, mix in another tablespoon of water.
2. Cover the bowl with a plate, lid, or plastic wrap and let it sit at room temperature, out of direct sunlight, until the surface is dotted with bubbles. It usually takes 12–18 hours.
3. Dust your counter with flour and then scrape the dough out in one piece. The dough will cling in long, thin strands and it will be loose and sticky. Lift the edges of the dough in toward the center, tucking them in to make a round.
4. Place a tea towel on your counter and generously dust with flour. With floured hands, gently transfer the dough onto the towel with the seam side down. If the dough is tacky, dust the top lightly with flour. Fold the towel loosely over the dough and place it in a warm, draft-free spot for another hour or two. It’ll double in size or get close to it.
5. Before the end of the second rise, preheat a covered Dutch oven on the rack in the lower third of 475°F oven. When the dough is ready, remove the preheated pot and uncover it. Unfold the towel, lightly dust the dough with flour, and quickly-but-gently invert it into the pot, seam side up. Cover the pot and put it back in the oven to bake for 30 minutes.
6. Remove the lid while keeping the pot in the oven and continue baking until the bread is a deep chestnut color. It usually takes 15–30 minutes. Carefully lift the bread out of the hot pot and place it on a rack to cool.