If you have about 16 hours to kill....

Reading blogs earlier in the week found me over at Mariliz's Musings and she had me salivating over some fresh bread she had just made.  She was kind enough to share the link to the recipe, which you can see here or just continue reading and I'll share how I did it and the results.

Now, as we all know I am not a cook.  But I do love to bake on occasion however, I've never made bread and as this particular recipe only has 4 steps to it and does not require kneading I figured I'd give it a go.  The only problem is that even though there are only 4 steps it takes forever!  It's not like you can whip it up and stick it in the oven - ah well, good things come to those that wait (I hope).

Ingredients:
3 cups all purpose flour or bread flour; more will be needed for dusting
1/4 teaspoon instant yeast (here's where I ran into the first problem.  Hubby brought home "RapidRise" yeast - but it turns out that is the same thing as instant yeast.  Whew! Crisis averted)
1 1/4 teaspoon salt
Cornmeal or wheat bran as needed (turns out I didn't need this)

1. In a large bowl combine flour, yeast and salt. Add 1 5/8 cups water (??? my math skills are awful and none of my cups had that measurement so I used 1 and almost 2/3 cup-I'm sure it's fine), and stir until blended; dough will be shaggy (???) and sticky. Cover bowl with plastic wrap. Let dough rest at least 12 hours, preferably about 18, at warm room temperature, about 70 degrees.

Does that look shaggy to you? Also let me apologize for the poor quality - using the cell phone again.  

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.

Looks ready for the next step....I left it for about 16 hours

Ready to be wrapped for the next rest

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. Generously coat a cotton towel (not terry cloth) with flour, wheat bran or cornmeal; put dough seam side down on towel and dust with more flour, bran or cornmeal. Cover with another cotton towel and let rise for about 2 hours. When it is ready, dough will be more than double in size and will not readily spring back when poked with a finger.

Final resting - it claims it will double in size.  I have my doubts.

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 towel and turn dough over into pot, seam side up; it may look like a mess, but that is 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 15 to 30 minutes, until loaf is beautifully browned. Cool on a rack.

Getting the dough from the towel and into the pan is a messy process....

Ready for the oven....and would you look at that - it DID double in size.

And now, we wait...

Finally!!!

Yum!  Looks good enough to eat!

The verdict?  It's delicious!  The family voted this recipe to be a keeper.

Thanks, Mariliz for getting me to try something new!