The best and easiest bread in the world

Step 1

In a large bowl, add the dry yeast to the cold water. Stir well, until the yeast is activated. (This takes about 5 minutes - until the yeast is fully-dissolved)

Step 2

Add the salt and flour to the bowl.

Step 3

Stir the mixture until the flour is just wet, but no longer.

Step 4

Wrap the bowl with a (wrung-out) wet tea towel or similar.

Step 5

Leave your dough to "raise cold" for 12-14 hours.Choose the coolest room in the house for this. I did leave it on the kitchen table once, and it was fine here in chilly Denmark.

Step 6

After 12-14 hours, dust a clean table top with flour. Tip your dough out onto the flour and fold the dough gently in over itself 3 times. Work from the sides to the middle, to create a dome-shaped loaf.Now cover it (I use a beeswax cloth for this, but a dish towel is perfect) and leave on the kitchen counter for another two hours. This is especially important if you had it raising cold - it needs to "wake up".

Step 7

Heat your oven to 250 degrees Celsius (480 degrees Fahrenheit) and put your Dutch oven or pot in the oven to warm. Make sure it's heated all the way. I like to let it sit in the oven for 10 minutes after the oven has come to temperature.

Step 8

Take the hot Dutch oven out of the oven and put it down on a safe, heat-proof surface. Remove the lid (wear oven mitts!), and gently lift your dough into the Dutch oven - careful not to touch the hot pot yourself. Put the lid back on, place it back in the oven and leave to bake for 30 minutes.

Step 9

After 30 minutes, remove the lid from your Dutch oven, and turn the oven temperature down to 225 degrees Celsius (435 Fahrenheit).Bake without the lid for an additional 15 minutes. Make sure you check on your bread after 10 minutes though, your oven might be warmer than mine.

Step 10

Remove the bread from the oven and take it out of your Dutch oven. Your bread should be golden brown and making a crackling sound. To double check it's baked, knock on the bottom of the loaf, it should sound hollow.

Step 11

LEAVE YOUR BREAD FOR 20 MINUTES BEFORE YOU CUT INTO IT!Its very important that the bread is able to set itself up for greatness, and it does that with all of the moisture contained inside the thick crust. Leave it for at least 20 minutes to cool and set before you eat it.