Basic Country-Style Bread

Thursday evening:
Dissolve ¼ teaspoon active dry yeast in 1 cup water at room temperature (72º to 75º). Let sit until frothy, about ten minutes. Place yeast mixture, ¾ cup water, and 2 cups unbleached all purpose flour in a large bowl. Stir to mix with a whisk or hand mixer until smooth. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Cover the bowl loosely with plastic wrap or aluminum foil and let the dough rise overnight at room temperature.

Friday evening:
To the starter dough add ½ teaspoon active dry yeast and three cups of water at room temperature. Blend with a hand mixer or upright mixer with a dough paddle until smooth. Add four teaspoons salt and eight cups of flour a little at a time. Beat until smooth, scraping the dough down from the sides of the bowl occasionally. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured board and kneed lightly. Form into a large ball. Coat the insides of a large bowl with olive oil, put the dough in the bowl and coat all sides with the oil. Cover the bowl loosely with plastic wrap or aluminum foil. Refrigerate overnight.

Saturday morning:
Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured board and divide into four equal-sized pieces. Kneed each piece into a flattened ball. Spray a cookie sheet and dust lightly with corn meal. Place each loaf on the cookie sheet, seam side down. Cover and let rise until nearly double, three to four hours depending on the room temperature. With a sharp knife, score 3-4 cuts about ¼ inch deep on the diagonal across the top of each loaf. Turn the oven on to 450º and place an enamel or cast iron frying pan in the bottom of the oven. When the oven is hot, carefully pour 1 cup water into the hot frying pan and quickly close the oven door to trap the steam. After 1 minute, slide the cookie sheet into the oven and turn the heat down to 400.º Bake for 40 minutes. The loaves will sound hollow when tapped on the bottom. Remove from the cookie sheet and cool on a rack

This recipe makes four loaves of bread. It can be cut in half by using only ½ the starter dough and freezing the rest or storing it for 2-3 days, covered, in the refrigerator.

This recipe is from “Cooking with Artisan Bread,” by Gwenyth Bassetti and Jean Galton