French Bread

• In a large bowl, mix flour + water until no dry flour remains.

• Cover with a lid or plastic wrap and rest 25 minutes (this makes shaping easier).

• After 25 minutes, sprinkle yeast on top and mix/squeeze/fold until evenly combined. After the yeast is combined, repeat the process with the salt.

• Cover and let rise at room temperature until puffy and roughly doubled in size.

  • I usually start preheating the oven for just a minute or two and then turn it off. Then, after making sure it’s not too hot, I’ll place the bowl in the oven so that it’s slightly warmer than room temperature. I’ve found that this helps with the rise, especially during the winter when my house tends to be a little bit cooler.

• During the first hour, do 3 sets of stretch-and-folds:

  • Every 20 minutes, lift an edge of the dough, stretch it up, then fold it over. Rotate the bowl and repeat for each side, for a total of four stretches and folds. This will help create air pockets in the dough as it rises.

  • After repeating this process three times during the first hour, allow the dough to continue resting and rising for the next two hours or until doubled in size.

• Turn dough onto a lightly floured counter.

• Gently form into a loose round (don’t deflate completely).

• Rest 15–20 minutes, uncovered.

• Flip dough over so that it’s bottom-side up, and gently pat into a rough rectangle.

• Fold the top third of the rectangle down toward the center and press lightly to seal.

• Fold bottom third up and seal.

• Roll or tuck to create a tight oval. Pinch seam closed.

• Place seam-side (bottom side) up in a floured, towel-lined bowl/banneton (or seam-side down on parchment if you prefer). Tent with plastic wrap to keep the dough from drying out.

You have two options at this point:

• Room Temperature, bake today: Let rise in the banneton and plastic until the dough springs back slowly when poked (it shouldn’t feel dense). Usually between 45-75 minutes, depending on the temperature of your house.

  • With around 30 minutes left, preheat oven and dutch oven (see below).

• Overnight, bake tomorrow: Refrigerate the dough in the banneton with the plastic 8–24 hours; preheat the oven and dutch oven and bake the dough straight from the fridge.

• Put a Dutch oven in the oven.

• Preheat to 475°F for at least 30 minutes.

• Invert your dough loaf onto parchment paper. Score with a sharp blade (one long slash works great).

• Bake:

  • Dutch oven: 20 min covered at 475°F, then 18–25 min uncovered at 450°F until deep golden.

• Remove from oven and place on a wire rack, allow to cool for at least 60 minutes before cutting (the crumb sets while cooling, so it’s important to allow it to cool for at least an hour with the steam that’s trapped inside).