• Author: Jim Lahey, Sullivan Street Bakery
• Prep Time: 5 minutes
• Wait Time: 21 hours
• Cook Time: 1 hour
• Total Time: 22 hours and 5 minutes
• Servings: one 1 1/2 lb. loaf

Ingredients

• 3 cups all-purpose or bread flour, plus more for dusting (430g)
• 1/4 teaspoon instant yeast (1g)
• 1 1/4 teaspoons salt (8g)
• 1 1/3 cups water (345g)

Special Equipment

• 6- to 8-quart heavy pot with lid

Directions

1. In a large bowl combine flour, yeast, and salt. Add water and mix with a spoon or your hand for about 30 seconds until the dough is shaggy and sticky.

2. Cover bowl with a plate, towel, or plastic wrap and set it aside for at least 12 hours (preferably 18) at warm room temperature (about 72 degrees). Dough is ready when its surface is dotted with bubbles.

3. Generously flour a work surface and place dough on it in one blob using a bowl scraper or rubber spatula. It will cling to the bowl in long, thread-like strands and will be quite loose and sticky. This is what you want. Do not add flour. Instead, use lightly flowered hands to fold it over on itself once or twice.

4. Generously coat a cotton towel (not terry cloth) with flour; put dough seam side down on towel and dust with more flour. 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.

5. At least a half-hour before dough is ready, heat oven to 450 degrees. Adjust the oven rack to the lower third position and place a 6- to 8-quart heavy covered pot (cast iron, enamel, Pyrex, or ceramic) in oven as it heats.

6. 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 okay. 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. Use a heatproof spatula or pot holders to carefully lift the bread out of the pot and place it on a wire rack.

7. Let cool for at least an hour.