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STEPS
INGREDIENTS
In a large bowl mix together: 3 cups of bread flour
Yeast
Salt
Water
Mix it all together with a wooden spoon
You should have a thick, goopy mass of dough.
Cover it tightly with plastic wrap and set it in a warm place to rest for at least 12 hours.
When you are ready to bake the bread, flour a board, moisten your hands to prevent the dough from sticking, and scoop the dough onto the board.
Fold the dough over into a four corner package shape.
Flour a clean cotton dishcloth.
Rub the flour in well and then pick up the dough and gently lay it smooth side facing up on the dishcloth.
Place the dishcloth and the dough in a tall bowl. This helps things keep their shape. Cover the bowl loosely and let it rise again for another 2 hours.
One hour and 30 minutes into the rise, place the La cloche, both top and bottom, or a pizza stone, into the middle rack of a cold oven. Turn the oven on to 450 degrees.
After the oven comes up to speed, let a pizza stone or a La Cloche bread dome heat for at least another 30 minutes. You want every thing hot, hot, hot.
When the bread is ready to go into the oven, take the lid off the la Cloche and dump the dough into the bottom half. Or dump it onto the hot pizza stone if that's what you're using
Put the lid on the la Cloche. If you are using a pizza stone, scatter some coarse corn meal on the stone before the bread dough goes on it to prevent sticking.
If you are using a pizza stone, put a pan of hot water under the bread as it bakes. This provides the proper moisture in the oven.
Bake for 30 minutes with the lid on, then remove the lid and bake for an additonal 15 to 20 minutes until the bread is crisp and done.
When the bread comes out of the oven, take it out of the pan and place it on a cooling rack for at least an hour.
Put your ear to the bread, you should hear a faint cracking noise. That's not in your head...that's the bread "singing" to you, a sign of a perfect crust.
Enjoy