The art of lazy baking

Seems that life rewards the lazy.  Well, at least it did today. 

So, last night I was feeling daring.  I decided to risk it all.  I measured out 1/3 cup of starter, filled the rest of the cup with whole rye flour and dumped it in a bowl.  Then I added my 2 cups of my bread flour and the rest of the ingredients, so salt, honey and water all at once (1 tsp salt, 1 heaping tbsp honey, 1.5 or so cups water).  I added a bit more water, to make the dough softer than the normal “shaggy”, but I covered it and set it aside, overnight (so about 12 hours).  In the morning, it had risen beautifully.  I scooped the dough onto a floured surface, and decided to be even bolder.  After letting it rest for 15-20 minutes or so, I scooped it up (it was running away from me a bit), and I plopped it into my baking pot (which I first generously sprinkled with flour).  I put the pot, covered, in the oven (cold) and let it rise for 15-20 minutes.  Then I turned my oven to bake at 450, no preheating, just left the pot in there.  When it beeped to let me know it was at 450, I peeked under the cover, and it was rising so nicely.  I set the timer to 15 minutes.  At 15 minutes I took the top off. It had risen and split, looking fantastic. I could hardly contain myself. I let it bake another 15 minutes.  (Note: next time I’ll do it for 10 minutes, it was a bit too long and the crust was a bit dark, but I bet it depends on one’s oven or pot).  It looked like this:

It wasn’t perfect, it took on the shape of the pot, but it tastes awesome!  Seriously, it’s better than all earlier versions.  Moist, chewy, with a great crust.  Just heaven. 

I’m making no claim I’ve invented or even re-invented this recipe.  I just discovered it for myself, and it’s so satisfying to find a way to bake amazingly tasty bread at home without having to put a lot of effort into it.  Next I plan to try different flours and see what turns out.