Stir flour, water, salt and a whisper of yeast one evening, and let the overnight rise do the work no second kneading ever could. Baked inside a preheated pot, the loaf traps its own steam to bloom a deep, blistered crust over an open, chewy crumb. If you own a pizza stone, use it with an upturned bowl as a lid — the oven tray and a steel pot work just as well.
Weigh the flour, salt and yeast straight into the bowl and stir them together roughly. Pour in the water and mix with the spoon just until no dry flour remains — a shaggy, sticky lump is exactly right. Do not knead. Cover the bowl and leave it on the counter overnight.
Then wait — tomorrow, 12–18 hours later.
Using: Mixing bowl, Wooden spoon, Digital scale
Place the cast-iron pot and its lid inside the oven and set it to 230 °C. If using the pizza stone, set the stone on the oven tray and slide both into the oven at the same time. Let everything heat fully while you shape the dough.
40 min · until the oven and pot are fully, fiercely hot
Using: Dutch oven, Pizza stone or steel, Sheet pan
Scatter the bran or semolina over the work surface and tip the bubbly dough onto it. With floured hands, fold the edges into the centre a few times, then flip it seam-side down and shape it into a rough ball. Leave it on the dusted surface, covered with the upturned bowl, while the oven finishes heating.
Using: Mixing bowl
Working fast so the heat stays in, lift the lid off the hot pot and drop the dough in seam-side down, or set the dough on the hot stone and cover it with a metal bowl. Cover and bake, then uncover and continue until the crust is deep chestnut and the loaf sounds hollow when knocked underneath.
30 min · until deep chestnut brown and hollow-sounding when tapped
Using: Dutch oven, Pizza stone or steel
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