JIM LAHEY BREAD RECIPES

Steps:

• In a large bowl combine flour, yeast and salt. Add 1 1/2 cups/345 grams water 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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 OK. 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.

Steps:

• In a medium bowl, stir together the flour, salt, and yeast. Add the water. Use a wooden spoon or your hand to mix until you have a wet, sticky dough—about 30 seconds. Make sure it’s really sticky to the touch; if it’s not, mix in another 1-2 tablespoons of water. Cover the bowl and let set at room temperature, out of direct sunlight, until the surface is dotted with bubbles and the dough is more than doubled in size (about 12-18 hours).
• When the first fermentation is complete, generously dust a work surface with flour. Use a rubber spatula to scrape the dough onto the surface in one piece. When you begin to pull the dough away from the bowl, it will cling in long, thin strands (this is the developed gluten), and it will be quite loose and sticky—do not add more flour. Use lightly floured hands or a bowl scraper or spatula to lift the edges of the dough in toward the center. Nudge and tuck in the edges of the dough to make it round.
• Place a cotton or linen tea towel (not terry cloth, which tends to stick and may leave lint in the dough) or a large cloth napkin on your work surface and generously dust the cloth with wheat bran, cornmeal, or flour. Use your hands, a bowl scraper, or wooden spatula to gently lift the dough onto the towel so it is seam-side down. If the dough is tacky, dust the top lightly with wheat bran, cornmeal, or flour. Fold the ends of the towel loosely over the dough to cover it and place it in a warm, draft-free spot to rise for 1-2 hours. The dough is ready with it is almost doubled. If you gently poke it with your finger, making an indentation about ¼-inch deep, it should hold the impression. If it doesn’t, let it rise another 15 minutes.
• Preheat the oven to 475 degrees F 30 minutes before the end of the second rise, with a rack in the lower third position, and place a cast iron dutch oven in the center of the rack.
• Using pot holders, carefully remove the preheated pot from the oven and uncover it. Unfold the tea towel, lightly dust the dough with flour or bran, lift up the dough, either on the towel or in your hand, and quickly and gently invert it into the pot, seam side up. (Use caution—the pot will be very hot). Cover the pot and bake for 30 minutes.
• Remove the lid and continue baking until the bread is a deep chestnut color, 15-30 minutes more. Use a heatproof spatula or pot holders to carefully lift the bread out of the pot and place it on a rack to cool thoroughly. Wait until it cools to slice or tear into it, about an hour.