Overnight Crusty Bread

I've had a couple complete flops in the kitchen lately. I'm sure anyone who regularly cooks new recipes has a few that turn out just okay. Not horrible, but not good enough to spend time making again (especially in a blogger household!). These weren't that. They were bad. Like throw it out because we will not eat it bad. The first was a pumpkin frozen yogurt that I attempted to make with plain greek yogurt. The second, a beer bread that I am attempting to blame on skunky beer :) 

As you can see, I was due for one of those "wow recipes." This was it for us. In fact, my husband's exact comment was, "Did you make this? It looks like it came from a bakery." He's already asking me to make it again, less than a week after I made it the first time.

The best part about that. This might be one of the easiest recipes I've ever made. The only caveat is that the recipe needs an oven-proof pot with a lid. You spend 5 minutes mixing together 4 ingredients the night before. Let it sit overnight, put it in a pot, and bake it. That's it. A hearty crusty loaf with little to no effort. Better yet, you can easily add herbs or cheese to the mixing part if you want. I think I'm seeing a repeat side to all those soups I've been talking about on here. Enjoy!

(Printable Recipe)

Overnight Crusty Bread
From Jo Cooks Amazing Recipes, Originally from Simply So Good

Ingredients:
3 cups all-purpose flour
1-3/4 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. active dry yeast
1-1/2 cups room temperature water

Mix the flour, salt, yeast in a large bowl. Add herbs or cheese if desired. Add the water and mix until the mixture has just pulled together. It will be sticky. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and set on the counter for 12-24 hours. 

When ready to bake, place a cast-iron or other oven-safe pot (with a lid) in the oven and preheat to 450 degrees. Flour your work surface and hands and form the dough into a rough ball. Take the pot out of the oven. Drop the ball of dough into the pot. Cover and bake (with the lid on) for 30 minutes. Take the lid off and bake for another 15-20 minutes to allow the bread to brown. Let cool almost completely prior to slicing.