The dough has been in the fridge for almost 24 hours. It is deflated and very yeasty-scented.
I used a rubber spatula to break off about a 1/4 of it. Then I just shaped it into a ball and turned the edges under until it was smooth.
Then, I put it on a sheet of parchment paper sprinkled with cornmeal.
The instructions said to let it rise for 40 minutes, it was slow to rise so I left it set for an hour.
The recipe said to use lots of flour but I used just enough to keep it from sticking.
After it had raised enough, I cut an X in the top with a sharp knife.
Then I picked up the whole sheet of parchment paper and transferred to a dutch oven that had preheated at 450 for 10 minutes.
For the first 30 minutes, it baked with the lid on the dutch oven.
Then I uncovered it and let it bake 10 minutes more.
The bread did a lot more raising in the oven.
It came out golden brown. Even with no fat, it did not stick at all to the parchment paper.
Sliced
The bread has a great flavor. The round loaf looks pretty but it takes a long time to bake.
Also, the crust is very sturdy, I would not describe it as crisp or tough, just sturdy.
We liked it alot even though it was not our favorite bread of all time.
It was excellent for the first try I think.
I plan to shape the next loaf more like a traditional loaf of French bread and will bake it on a stone or baking sheet..
Maybe I will bake loaf #2 on Thursday.
