no-knead artisan bread

oh my GOODNESS this bread is so fantastic! and so easy! and so awesome because it only has four ingredients! hooooooly cow we loved this. my friend libby gave us the recipe and we L-O-V-E-D it.

it's interesting because you bake it in the oven in a casserole dish, cast-iron skillet, Pyrex bowl, or whatever--Tommy used our Dutch oven to make it. the bigger the dish you use to bake it in, the flatter it'll be and probably the less time it'll need to cook. i'm sure you could use an actual bread-loaf pan too--we didn't even ask about that though! it sounds like something you just can experiment with and play around with and make in any way you like.

3 cups all-purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon active dry yeast

1 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 cups warm water

1. Combine and cover with saran wrap and let it stand overnight or 8-12 hours. (Note: We let it rise for almost 21 hours because we made it at an Enrichment activity but couldn't finish it until we got home from school the next day. It was fine! But it needs to rise for AT LEAST 8 hours.)

2. Stir down in bowl and dust with flour. Let it rise 1.5-2 more hours in a skillet sprayed with Pam or a bowl greased with oil. (Libby showed us how she would just pour a tablespoon-ish of vegetable oil in under the dough after she stirred it again, and then just left it there.) Leave it covered while rising.

3. Grease dish you're going to bake it in and preheat it in a 450 degree oven. When the temperature of the oven hits 450, dump the dough into the dish. (Libby baked hers with the lid on, but it'll be good either way.)

4. Bake for 30 minutes. If you want to top to be more golden brown, remove the lid after 30 minutes and continue baking 5-10 more minutes. Remove from oven and let cool slightly before slicing.