Instructions

1. Mix all the ingredients together in a bowl or with a heavy-duty mixer with a dough attachment. If the dough won’t come together into a dough, add a little more water. Keep adding in water until a dough forms.
2. Knead the dough by hand or with a mixer for about 20 minutes. When the dough has been kneaded enough, you should be able to stretch the dough and see through it (like pizza dough) and it shouldn’t break easily (see video above). This is when you know that the dough is ready for the next step.
3. Split the dough in two equal portions and place in a greased bread loaf pan (I found this to work best with this recipe and for beginners) or you can place it into a floured banneton. To form the dough for a loaf pan, fold the edges in and then roll the dough and pinch the ends together. This will resemble the loaf pan slightly. Place pinch side down in loaf pan.Cover with a greased piece of plastic wrap and lay a light kitchen towel on top of the pans. If making a round loaf, pat out slightly into a circle and fold edges into the middle. Flip over and make the dough into a circle as shown above. Put the smooth side down and the seams up.
4. Allow to proof (or rise) for 4-8 hours or until the dough doubles in size. This time can vary greatly depending on the weather.
5. Preheat an oven to 450 F.
6. If using a banneton, flip your bread out onto a La Cloche Dome Baker. If using a 9″x5″ bread pan, just leave it in the pan.
7. I find it best not to score the top of the dough on this particular recipe. This dough is a wet dough and when scoring, it tends to deflate or fall a bit.
8. Reduce the temperature of the oven to 400F and put the bread in.
9. If using a La Cloche Dome Baker place the lid on. After 20 minutes remove the lid to allow the bread to brown.
10. Cook for 30 minutes or until the internal temperature of the bread reaches 200F.
11. Allow the bread to cool completely before slicing. This is very important because if you slice into a warm loaf, your bread will be gummy in texture. Resist temptation and allow it to cool.