bake.debo.lt — family recipes

Steps

Dough: Whisk the flour, salt, and yeast together in a large bowl, then stir in the water with a spoon or spatula until no dry flour remains. The dough will be shaggy, wet, and sticky.
Tip: Don't knead this. It's meant to look rough — the long rest is doing the gluten development instead.
Rise: Cover the bowl and leave it somewhere cool (room temperature is fine) for 12 to 18 hours, until the surface is dotted with bubbles and roughly tripled in volume.
Shape: Turn the dough onto a well-floured surface, fold it over on itself a few times to gather it into a rough ball, and let it rest, seam-side down, on a floured towel while the oven heats.
Bake: Put a lidded dutch oven, empty, into the oven and heat both to 230°C (450°F) for 30 minutes.
Tip: The pot has to be genuinely hot all the way through — this is what gives the crust its initial burst of oven spring.
Bake: Carefully lift the dough (parchment underneath makes this much safer) into the hot pot, cover, and bake.
Bake: Remove the lid and continue baking until deeply browned.
Tip: The uncovered stretch is what lets the crust actually crisp and colour — a lid left on the whole time steams the loaf pale.
Cool: Turn out onto a rack and cool at least 30 minutes before slicing.