How to Make Bread

Makes 1 boule

Ingredients

400 g AP flour
300 g water
1 g instant yeast
8 g salt

Note

Decide at what time you’d like to eat the bread and subtract 14 hours. If you want toast at 8am in the morning, for instance, begin at 6pm the night before.

Process

Autolyse

400 g AP flour
280 g water

Mix in a bowl until no dry flour remains. Cover and rest for 30 minutes.

Mix

20 g water
1 g instant yeast
8 g salt

Mix into the loose dough until incorporated. The dough may look like it’s breaking apart. That’s normal. It’ll come together.

Stretch & Fold 1

Leaving the dough in the bowl, pull the left side of the dough and stretch it. Fold it over on top of the dough, covering roughly 2/3rds, as if you were folding a letter. Repeat with the right side of the dough, then the side farthest from you, then the side nearest. Cover and wait 30 minutes.

Stretch & Fold 2

Repeat the same process as before. The dough should be slightly smoother and stronger. Cover and wait 30 minutes.

Stretch & Fold 3

Repeat the process again. Cover and let rest over night.

Preheat

Put a Dutch oven with lid into the oven and heat to 460˚F for one hour.

Shape

Lightly flour a board or counter. Gently release the dough from the bowl. You can turn the bowl over and let it fall out. I use a bench scraper to help release the dough.

Gently shape it into a loose round. Cover—I use the bowl it fermented in overnight—and rest for 15 minutes.

Final Shape

Gently press the dough into a disc shape. It should be ~8 inches in diameter and ~2 inches tall. These are estimates… Don't completely flatten.

Fold the left side into the center of the disc. Then the side farthest from you. Then the right and closest side.

Turn the ball over, seam side down, and place on the counter. Using both hands, pull the ball toward you while sliding your hands underneath. Rotate the ball 90 degrees and slide it again. Repeat 2-4 more times. USE THIS VIDEO AS AN EXAMPLE.

Proof

Please seam-side up in a floured or towel-lined bowl and let rest for 30 minutes.

Load and Score

Transfer into the hot Dutch oven and score the dough, about ½ inches deep. Place the lid on the Dutch oven and return to the oven.

Bake

Bake covered for 20 minutes. Then remove the lid and bake for another 20 minutes.

Cool

Cool on a rack for at least 30 minutes.