Rustic Italian Crusty Bread
Serving Size: 1 Loaf of Bread Total Time: 45 minutes
Ingredients List
- 3 1/4 cup of All-Purpose Flour 1 teaspoon Fine Sea Salt 5 tablespoon Avocado Oil (or Butter) 1 1/2 cup warm water
Cooking Directions
1. In a large mixing bowl combine flour, salt and yeast. Use a spatula to mix the dry ingredients.
2. Pour in warm water and mix until everything is incorporated and a soft dough has formed. If the dough sticks to the bottom of the bowl it is okay.
3. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and a damp tea towel. Allow the dough to rise at room temperature for 2.5 to 3 hours until the dough has doubled in size.
4. Sprinkle flour on your clean worksurface and dump the dough on it. Flour your hands to help get the dough out of the bowl.
5. With Floured hands fold the dough onto itself forming into a round ball. DO NOT over work the dough, DO NOT kneed the dough. Use a sharp knife and carve a deep score into the top of the loaf or make a design across the loaf.
6. Place the bread dough ontop of parchment paper and allow it to rest as your oven heats up.
7. Preheat your oven 450°F with a pizza stone inside for 45 minutes before baking the bread. Fill an oven proof bowl with 2 inches of water and place it on the bottom rack. This creates steam in the oven to assist with a crispy crust.
8. Once the oven is hot, place bread onto the preheated pizza stone. Bake bread for 30-45 minutes until golden brown all over and cooked through.
9. Place bread on a cooling rack once done and allow to completly cool before slicing into it.
Dutch Oven Method
Instead of using a pizza stone this recipe also works with a preheated dutch oven.
1. Instead of a pizza stone, preheat your oven with a dutch oven inside. Once hot, carefully place the bread loaf into the dutch oven using parchment paper for easy transfer. Cover the dutch oven with its lid and bake for 30 minutes. Remove the lid and bake for another 5-10 minutes until golden brown ontop. Remove the bread from the dutch oven and transfer to a cooling rack or it wont stay crispy.
Storage
Can be stored in a food storage bag at room temperature for up to 3 days or frozen for 3 months.