No Kneed Bread (Artisan Free-Form Loaf)

1. Warm the water slightly: it should feel just a little warmer than body temp, about 100 deg F.

2. Add yeast and salt to the water in a 5-qt bowl, or a resealable lidded (not airtight) plastic container [RS- we bought a 5 pack of plastic storage boxes at Target for $5 -- they're 6 qt, shoebox sized boxes and work great for this]

3. Mix in the flour - kneading is unnecessary.  Add all the flour at once, mixing with a wooden spoon or high capacity food processor with dough attachment.  If hand mixing and it becomes too hard with the spoon, you can use your hands - just DON'T KNEAD.  You're done when everything is uniformly moist without dry patches.

4. Allow to rise.  Cover with a lid (not airtight) and allow to rise at room temp until it begins to collapse or flatten on top.  Takes approx. 2 hours, depending on room and water temp.  Longer rising times up to 5 hours will not harm the result.  After rising is complete, you can use a portion of the dough at any time, though refrigerated dough will be easier to shape into a loaf.  It's best to let it refrigerate for at least 3 hours (or overnight) before shaping a loaf.

5. Don't knead, just "cloak" or shape a loaf in 30-60 seconds.  Sprinkle the pizza peel liberally with cornmeal.  Sprinkle the surface of your dough with flour.  Pull up and cut off a 1-pound (grapefruit size) piece of dough using a serrated knife.  Hold the mass of dough in your hands and add a little more flour as needed so it won't stick.  Gently stretch the surface of the dough around to the bottom on all four sides, rotating the ball a quarter turn as you go.  Most of the dusting flour will fall off - its not meant to be incorporated to the dough.  The correctly shaped final product will be smooth and cohesive, and the entire process should take no more than 30-60 seconds.

6. Rest the loaf and let it rise on the pizza peel.  Allow the loaf to rest for about 40 minutes.

7. Twenty minutes before baking, preheat the oven to 450 F with a baking stone on the middle rack.  Place an empty broiler tray for holding water on any other shelf that won't interfere with the rising bread.

8. Dust and slash.  Dust the top of the loaf liberally with flour, and slash 1/4" deep cross, scallop, or tic-tac-toe pattern ontot he top using a serrated bread knife.

9. Baking with steam.  After a 20 minute preheat, slide the loaf off the pizza peel and onto the baking stone.  Quickly but carefully pour about 1 cup of hot water from the tab into the broiler tray and close the oven door to trap the steam.  Bake for about 30 minutes or until the crust is nicely browned and firm to the touch.  Allow to cool completely on a wire cooling rack for best flavor, texture and slicing.

10. Store remaining dough in the refrigerator in a non-airtight container for up to 14 days.