LAUREL'S BREAD

Laurel, like her bread, is striking. She’s regally tall with a sheet of dark brown hair and carries herself with an ease I’m completely jealous of. This ease transfers into her baking, where her no-knead bread is reminiscent of traditional Italian loaves, crusty on the outside and just barely sour, making it the perfect partner with olive oil and a little sea salt. It takes a little planning but is well worth the wait. There nothing like a fresh loaf of bread to last you through the week...or the hour.

Ingredients:

3 cups Flour

1\4 Tsp. Yeast

1 1\2 Tsp. Salt

1 1/2 cups Water

Olive Oil

Combine flour, salt, and yeast. Add 1 1\2 Cups of water and gently mix (the dough will be sticky). Coat another bowl with a drizzle of olive oil. Transfer dough to the oiled bowl, and cover it with plastic wrap and let it rise for 12-18 hours, or until at doubled in size. Lightly flour a work surface and place the dough on the work surface and sprinkle with more flour. Fold the dough on its self once or twice. Cover with plastic wrap again and let it stand 15 min. Sprinkle the surface with flour again and shape dough into ball. Coat a kitchen cloth with flour and place dough on cloth Dust bread and add second cloth and let rise for 1 1\2 to 2 hours. After an hour and a half, preheat oven to 500. After the bread is done rising, place the dough into a dutch oven (le creuset works best), cover and bake for 30 min. Uncover and bake 30 more minutes. Cool on wire rack.