No-Knead Spelt Bread

I made bread—and it was so good that I’m making another loaf right now! I’ve made plenty of banana breads and other delicious quick breads, but this was my first attempt at real, crusty bread. I was intimidated because making bread sounds like such a daunting task, but it was insanely easy.

I combined a bunch of different recipes I found online. Most of the no-knead recipes call for some of the baking to be done in a covered dutch oven, BUT since the knob that comes with the lid of the Le Creuset dutch oven apparently melts at high temperatures, I used the one recipe I found for baking the bread in an uncovered dutch oven. (Dear Santa, I would like a stainless steel replacement knob for my dutch oven. Thank you.)

3 cups organic spelt flour

½ tsp regular active yeast

2 tsp (a little less) sea salt

1 to 1 ½ cups water

1. Combine the flour, yeast and sea salt in a large bowl. Mix thoroughly with a wire whisk.

2. Add 1 cup of water and mix well. You want the dough to be sticky enough to collect the bits of dough from the sides of the bowl. If needed, add a teeny bit more water, then stir again. Repeat as many times as necessary, but don’t use more than 1 ½ cups of water total. The more water you use, the flatter your loaf will be.

3. Cover the bowl tightly with plastic wrap and place it in a warm place. (In our house, the warmest place is right next to our 20-year-old furnace.)

4. Let dough sit for 18-24 hours.

5. Preheat oven to 350°.

6. Spray sides of dutch oven with oil.

7. Place dough in a sling of parchment paper and place it in the dutch oven.

8. Bake for 50 minutes.