Step 1

In a large mixing bowl, stir together the flour, salt, and dry yeast until well combined. (If you are measuring with cups instead of by weight, make sure you lightly spoon the flour into your measuring cups without packing it down at all and then level it off. This will insure you won't end up with too much flour in your dough.)

Step 2

Add the warm water into the mixing bowl and stir until all of the ingredients come together into a thick dough that is shaggy and sticky. There should be no pockets of dry flour left, but it will be quite lumpy.

Step 3

Cover the bowl with a towel or loose plastic wrap and let it sit in a warm spot in the kitchen to rise until double in size. This will take about 45 minutes if you used quick rise yeast and 75 minutes if you used active dry yeast.

Step 4

Generously sprinkle flour over top of risen dough and cover hands with flour. Gently pull the dough away from the sides of the bowl and gather it all up in your hands. Start pulling down on all of the sides of the dough to form into a smooth ball (you can watch the video tutorial in the post to see a demonstration of this). Transfer to dough onto a piece of parchment paper if you will be baking it in a dutch oven or alternatively you can place it right into a greased cast iron skillet or a parchment lined baking sheet.

Step 5

Cover the dough with plastic wrap and let it proof (rise again) for about 1 hour if you used quick rise yeast and 90 minutes if you used active dry yeast. The dough should double in size again.

Step 6

Meanwhile, preheat your oven for about an hour while the dough is proofing. This will insure that the oven will be completely hot when the bread goes in. If you are using a dutch oven, preheat to 450 F (232 C) and also place that in the oven to preheat. If you are baking on a sheetpan or in a cast iron skillet, preheat to 375 F (190 C).

Step 7

Once the dough is finished proofing, carefully remove the plastic wrap and lightly dust the top with a little more flour. IF desired, score the top of the loaf a few times with a sharp knife. This is optional and the loaf will naturally open up in a rustic way if you do not score it. If you will be baking the loaf in the preheated dutch oven, carefully remove it from the oven with oven mitts and place the loaf on the parchment paper into the pot. Place the lid back on top.

Step 8

If baking in the dutch oven, bake at 450 F (232 C) for 30 minutes with the lid on and then an additional 10-20 minutes with the lid off until deep golden brown. If you bake on a baking sheet or in a skillet, bake at 375 F (190 C) for 45 minutes - 1 hour until deep golden brown.

Step 9

Transfer the loaf onto a cooling rack and let cool for at the very least 1 hour before slicing.

Step 10

If bread is left over, place sliced side down on a cutting board and leave and room temperature for up to 2 days. After that, slice the loaf and store it in a ziplock bag in the freezer. Toast to refresh.