No knead bread (by Mark Bittman/Jim Lahey)

Ok, Jim Lahey is a genius. He came up with this recipe and then shared it with Mark Bittman, who then published it in the New York Times. This might be the best thing the Times has ever published, and that is saying a lot coming from me. I (obviously) did not invent this recipe myself, but I think everyone should try making it at least once. I will also be posting (in the future) variations of this bread and recipes that call for this bread as one of the ingredients, so I thought I'd include it here as well. It really is as easy as everyone says it is, except for my dad who has an inexplicable amount of trouble with it.

Ingredients:

3 cups flour
1/4 teaspoon yeast
1 teaspoon salt
1 3/4 cup water

Directions:

In a large plastic bowl combine all the ingredients and mix it all up. The dough should be what Mark calls "shaggy" but I have no clue what that means so I took it to mean "wet-ish". It definitely should be a little loose. If you add the 1 3/4 cup water and it looks dry for some reason go ahead and add more, but don't use more than 2 cups. Cover the bowl with saran wrap and keep it on your counter at room temperature for about a day (at least 18 hours). After you've let it rise for 18-24 hours, sprinkle a good handful of flour on your counter top and pour the dough on top. Fold your dough over on itself a few times until you can shape it into a rough ball. Cover it with a clean towel. Let it rest for an hour. After an hour, place an enameled cast iron dutch oven (one with a lid) in the oven and preheat to 450 degrees. Let the dough rest for another hour while the pan heats up in the oven. After the hour is up, transfer the dough into the pan, cover it, and bake for 30 minutes, then uncover and cook for an additional 15.

That's it. Homemade, crusty, delicious bread.