Easy Overnight Crusty Bread

For this past Christmas Eve, we were busy in the late afternoon so we opted for an easy prep/pre-prep dinner… the always crowd-pleasing Chili-mac. Our version consists of our usual chili recipe served over the old stand by, Kraft Macaroni and Cheese. Sometimes you just gotta go with the OGs, you know?

One thing I did forget to pick up at the store before the Christmas Blizzard of 2022 was a good crusty bread to serve with the meal. I googled around and found this recipe on Taste of Home. It looked pretty straightforward, so I went for it. The dough looked soft and lovely when I put it in the fridge after the second rise… but then, when I read the directions more carefully and saw the baking instructions, I realized I didn’t have the required pan to finish it off. Dang it!

In a total audible, I decided to use a different recipe’s baking/finishing technique to get the bread across the finish line. This is always risky, but luckily, thanks to the clear and straightforward directions in the Complete Baking Book for Young Chefs, the bread was a huge hit!

So, here is the mash-up recipe – dough from one, and technique from another.

Ingredients

• 1-1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast
• 1-3/4 cups warm water (110° to 115°)
• 3-1/2 cups plus 1 teaspoon all-purpose flour, divided
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1 tablespoon cornmeal or additional flour

Directions

1. In a large bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Using a rubber spatula, stir in 3-1/2 cups flour and salt to form a soft, sticky dough. Do not knead. Cover and let rise at room temperature 1 hour.
   
2. Stir down dough (dough will be sticky). Turn onto a floured surface; with floured hands pat into a 9-in. square. Fold square into thirds, forming a 9×3-in. rectangle. Fold rectangle into thirds, forming a 3-in. square. Place in a large greased bowl, turning once to grease the top. Cover and let rise at room temperature until almost doubled, about 1 hour.
   
3. Punch down dough and repeat folding process. Return dough to bowl; refrigerate, covered, overnight.
   
   *** Change over to the other recipe! ***
   
4. On lightly floured surface, turn out dough and knead for 3-4 minutes. Shape into a 6-in round loaf and set aside briefly.
   
5. Place an approximately 18×12 sheet of parchment paper on counter. Spray lightly with non-stick cooking spray.
   
6. Place loaf on parchment paper, then use parchment paper to lower loaf into a cast iron dutch oven (at least 5-quart). Sprinkle remaining teaspoon of flour over loaf. Cover with lid** and let rise 1.5 – 2 hours. ** Some dutch oven lid handles cannot be used at high temps in the oven; you can unscrew the handle to remove it, and place some crumpled foil in the hole for use during baking.
   
7. Adjust oven rack to middle position. Heat to 425 degrees. Using a sharp knife or bread scoring tool, make a slash across the top of the risen loaf. Cover and bake for 30 minutes.
   
8. After the first 30 minutes, carefully remove cover from dutch oven (it will be VERY HOT). Bake for another 25-30 minutes until deep golden brown. Remove from oven.
   
9. Use parchment paper to lift bread out and place on cooling rack. Cool for at least 1 hour (original recipe recommends 3 hours) and serve.

In the dutch oven

Cooling on the rack