Crusty Bread

I'm sorry for the lack of posts last week.  My family and I made our way across the country to Oregon.  Pictures coming (maybe tomorrow). 

Anyway, before we left I made this bread for the second time because we are totally in love with it.  Not only is it super easy it is also just as good as you'd find in a bakery.  The leftovers make a totally delicious toast.  I could easily make this bread every other day and never get sick of it!

Did I mention this is another Pinterest find? 

Four simple little ingredients and this is what you get.  Sort of a sticky not so pretty mess.  Believe it or not this is perfect. Cover with plastic wrap and leave on the counter overnight. 

This is what it looks like the next morning. Preheat your oven and your Dutch Oven as instructed below.

While your oven and dish are heating, dump the dough onto a well floured surface and cover with plastic wrap.  Let rest for about 30 minutes.

After your Dutch Oven has heated you plop the dough into the center of it and put it back into the oven (covered) for 30 more minutes.  Then remove the cover and finish without the lid for another 10-15 minutes.

Just look at how incredible this bread looks.  I mean really!!!

The flavor is to die for.  The crust is perfect on the outside and the inside is chewy and so flavorful.  You can experiment with ton's of different flavors if you choose too.  The link below has some great ideas and you can make up your own when you get the hang of making the bread.

Let me know what your favorite flavors are, I'd love to try some new one's!

**Some of my Montana family has attempted to make this and it didn't turn out very well so I've linked some instructions for high altitude yeast bread baking**
Taste of Home high altitude bread

Crusty Bread

Recipe found at Simply So Good

Ingredients

• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 3/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp yeast
• 1 1/2 cup water (you might not use all this water, add little by little until it's a tacky dough). I usually end up using all but about 2 Tbsp's of the water. 

Cooking Directions

1. Mix the flour, salt and yeast in a large bowl. Slowly add water until the dough becomes tacky. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap for 12-18 hours on your counter (DO NOT REFRIGERATE).
2. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Once preheated, put a dutch oven and the lid in the oven for 30 minutes to heat.
3. While the pot is heating, dump the dough onto a well floured surface, form into a ball and let sit under plastic wrap for 30 minutes.
4. Drop the dough ball into the hot dutch oven and place the lid on top, bake for 30 minutes.
5. After 30 minutes, remove the lid and bake an additional 15 minutes.
6. Remove the bread from the dutch oven (I used a spatula) and let cool on a cooling rack.