No-Knead Bread Revisited

You know when you make something that's really, really good, and then somehow you forget about it?
That's what happened to me with no-knead bread. I made this recipe several times a few months back, and then just forgot about it. It was like I'd never even heard of it. Luckily, Nancy over at The Dogs Eat The Crumbs reminded me about this delicious bread with a great post and gorgeous pictures.
This was my best loaf yet!!
It rose beautifully, and smelled and tasted divine. I took this loaf to a family dinner and there wasn't even a crumb left.

My Notes This Time Around:
* I only let the loaf go for 12 hours on the initial rise/ferment. I had been worried that the flavor wouldn't develop properly, but it did.
* Rather than baking my loaf right in a pot, I baked it directly on my baking stone (pizza stone, same, same), with an overturned pot covering it for the first half hour of baking time.
* I used a mixture of cornmeal and flour to dust the loaf and the cotton towel.

No-Knead Bread
found online here
Adapted from Jim Lahey, Sullivan Street Bakery
Time: About 1½ hours plus 14 to 20 hours’ rising
Yield: One 1½-pound loaf

3 cups all-purpose or bread flour, more for dusting
¼ teaspoon instant yeast
1¼ teaspoons salt
Cornmeal or wheat bran as needed.

1. In a large bowl combine flour, yeast and salt. Add 1 5/8 cups water, and stir until blended; dough will be shaggy and sticky. Cover bowl with plastic wrap. Let dough rest at least 12 hours, preferably about 18, at warm room temperature, about 70 degrees.

2. Dough is ready when its surface is dotted with bubbles. Lightly flour a work surface and place dough on it; sprinkle it with a little more flour and fold it over on itself once or twice. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rest about 15 minutes.

3. Using just enough flour to keep dough from sticking to work surface or to your fingers, gently and quickly shape dough into a ball. Generously coat a cotton towel (not terry cloth) with flour, wheat bran or cornmeal; put dough seam side down on towel and dust with more flour, bran or cornmeal. 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.

4. At least a half-hour before dough is ready, heat oven to 450 degrees. Put a 6- to 8-quart heavy covered pot (cast iron, enamel, Pyrex or ceramic) in oven as it heats. 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 O.K. 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. Cool on a rack.