Bread | Four Ingredients

Four ingredients - that's all you need for a loaf of rustic bread.

In fact, it's so easy, you're going to be tempted to bake a fresh loaf every day! Finally got around to visually documenting it so I could share :)

Enjoy!

Bread

340 g (1 1/3 c) water
5 g (1/2 t) yeast
9 g (2 t) salt
455 g (3 1/2 c) flour

Simply double ingredients for a bigger batch.

In a large bowl:

Mix water with yeast

Add salt and flour 

Mix well, but don't knead 

Place in a covered container and allow the dough to sit in the refrigerator for at least 24 hours up to a week 

When ready to bake, take out desired amount and lightly dust top with flour

Quickly form into a ball by tucking top around to bottom

Drop onto sheet dusted with corn meal

Let rise 40-80 minutes, no more

Slide dough onto a pizza stone in a 450°F-500°F preheated oven and cover with steel mixing bowl (you can also place dough on a piece of parchment paper in a dutch oven - the point is to capture moisture and help it steam a bit instead of allowing it to dry out)

Bake 30 minutes; remove steel bowl/covering and bake another 5-15 minutes, until brown
NOTE: Let cool for at least one hour - this is essential for letting your bread finish. It's tempting to break into a warm loaf, but it needs the extra time to finish baking all the way through.

the set-up

You can use way less dishes, but for the sake of the tutorial I used all of them.

Normally I just set the big bowl on the scale and tare it every time I add an ingredient, eliminating the bowls holding the other ingredients. You have to pour slowly then, because if you pour too much, there's no going back!

JD is very exact (you should watch his formula for the perfect espresso), so we use the scale quite a bit. At first I had a hard time giving up my measurements, but grams are pretty handy to use for this recipe.

+ water, yeast, and salt

tare (0)

+ 455 g flour 

(I tried taking a tiny bit out but it kept wavering between 454 and 456. I gave up.)

whisk

We use this Danish dough whisk at least once a week - it's perfect at its job, and beautiful.

Whisk only until combined, no more.

put a lid on it

throw into fridge

24 hours later...

sprinkle with flour

sprinkle sheet with corn meal

We love this old hand-me-down sheet from my mom. It's not pretty, but we use it a ton.

tuck sides under and place on sheet, no kneading required

let rise 40-80 minutes

Slit the top so it can expand without breaking a seam elsewhere.

Bake for 30 minutes covered, 5-15 minutes uncovered.

ta-da!

Wait, butter, and enjoy.

Buen provecho!