No Knead to Stress About Bread-Making

My mother is French, so naturally I consume copious amounts of fresh bread. Unfortunately, freshly-baked bread isn't always the most convenient option. Until now.

No Knead Bread has quickly become one of my favorite recipes because it is one of the simplest. Prep takes about 5 minutes, the bread rises for over 12 hours and cook time allows just enough of a break from the kitchen to review for a Biology midterm or edit a French paper. All you need for this recipe is a cast-iron dutch oven (I got myself a deep skillet and cover for $40, and I've used it nearly every week since I got it!)

Ingredients:
3 cups flour
1 1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon yeast (I use Fleischmann's, but any Active Dry yeast works!)
1 1/2 cup water

Before you get started, preheat your oven to about 450 degrees, and place you dutch oven and lid inside to preheat the cast iron.

First, mix the flour, salt and yeast in a bowl. (I decided to make a whole wheat loaf, using half whole wheat and half regular flour. I also added about a teaspoon of fresh rosemary from my backyard!) I always add about a tablespoon of brown sugar because it tends to make tastier bread.

Next, add the water (lukewarm) and pull together into a ball with your hands.

This is the best part. Cover the bowl with a dish towel and stick it in a warm place for over 12 hours to rise. 

Flour up a surface, dump out the dough, flatten it and fold it into a ball. Next, sprinkle some flour or bran (raid some bulk bins) over your dough:

Drop it into the preheated dutch oven, cover and cook for about 30 minutes. Go study something. Uncover and cook for another 15-20 minutes, and voila! Beautiful, delicious, freshly-baked bread.

Just like every other aspect of cooking, baking bread takes a lot of practice. I had beginner's luck and made a perfect first loaf, but it took a few more tries to get it right again. As expected, I burned a few loafs.

Inspired by this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=13Ah9ES2yTU

Let me know if you have any questions, and good luck!