Easy, Gorgeous, Impress-Your-Friends Bread

Maybe I am the last person to hop on the no-knead bread train, but now that I am on the train, I am ON it. Over the last couple of months, this has become a weekly tradition. I mean, look at it:

It's beautiful. The magic of the no-knead loaf is its soft, substantial inner crumb and crunchy crusty outer shell. Oh, and also the fact that it is crazy easy.

No-Knead Bread
This is essentially the recipe from smitten kitchen (lightly adapted) via Mark Bittman at New York Times

Yields one 1 1/2 pound loaf

3 cups all-purpose or bread flour, more for dusting (I'm a big fan of bread flour for the dough and regular for sprinkling--bread flour has a higher gluten content, so it makes a nice texture)
1/3  teaspoon active dry yeast (or 1/4 teaspoon instant yeast)
1 1/4 teaspoons regular salt
sea salt for sprinkling

1. In a your trusty KitchenAid (or a large bowl), combine flour, yeast and regular salt. Add 1 1/2 cups water or so in small portions while stirring; you want the dough to be "shaggy," also known as still sticking to the sides of the bowl. It will look too wet. You will want to add more flour. Stop yourself. Trust. Cover your bowl with plastic wrap and step back for a long while: 12 hours is recommended, but I've gotten away with 10 or so. The dough should be in a warm spot (70 degrees or so). I like to leave mine on top of the oven, but your mileage may vary.

2. The dough is ready when the top is covered in little bubbles. Lightly flour your counter and dump out the dough. You'll need a flexible spatula for that maneuver. Sprinkle a little more flour on the dough and fold it over on itself once or twice. Don't do this too much--you want to keep those air bubbles that you saw on the surface as intact as you can manage. Cover loosely with plastic wrap (like perhaps that piece you just took off the bowl?) and let rest about 15 minutes.

3. Get your hands floury and dust up the dough lump a bit, and then shape it into a ball. Enthusiastically rub flour into a cotton towel (not terry cloth--I use an old cut-up t-shirt) with flour, and then sprinkle it with sea salt; put dough seam side down on towel and dust with more flour. Cover with another be-floured cotton towel and let rise for about 2 hours. When it is ready, dough will be more than double in size and will not readily spring back when poked with a finger.

4. Half an hour before the dough is ready, turn on your oven at 450°F. Put a 6- to 8-quart heavy covered pot (cast iron, enamel, Pyrex or ceramic) in oven as it heats; I like to put it on a baking sheet to make it easy to remove. I use a casserole dish and a Pyrex lid that really don't go together, but they fit--sort of. I prefer the 6-quart size because it means the loaf is a little taller and you get a nice big slice out of it. Whatever you use, make sure it has straight sides and no lip or you won't be able to get the loaf out. When dough is ready, carefully remove pot from oven (preferably on a baking sheet). Pick the dough up using the towel and tump dough over into pot, seam side up; it will likely look messy, but all that will turn into gorgeous craggy goodness. It's a rustic loaf; be zen about it.

5. Lid up and bake 30 minutes, then remove lid and bake another 15 to 30 minutes, until loaf is golden brown & delicious. Cool on a rack, if you can stand it.