Easy Country-Style Bread ~ Mix, Rise, Bake in One Pot!

It's a super easy country-style bread recipe from Jacques Pepin. Jacques Pepin is a genius!
Not only is this a no-knead dough, you literally stir the ingredients together, let rest, and refrigerate then bake ~ all in one pot.

It is crucial to use a non-stick pot in order to keep this a one-pot recipe ~ I used a 4-quart saucepan.
Although you could mix up the dough in a bowl, then transfer to a greased baking vessel ~ that would defeat the idea of a simple one-pot bread, yes?
Here's what you need and how to do it:
Non-stick pot

Ingredients:
2 1/4 cups lukewarm water
2 tsp salt
1 tsp yeast
4 cups flour

Method:

In a non-stick pot combine all ingredients with a wooden spoon. Place lid or cover on pot and proof at room temperature for 60-90 minutes.
Break proofed dough down (deflate), replace lid and place pot   in the refrigerator overnight; 10 to 14 hours or so.
When ready to bake, remove lid and place pot in (preheated) 400º(F) oven ~ bake for about 40 minutes until deep golden brown. If you're not sure, an instant read thermometer inserted in the hot-from-the oven  bread should read between 190º to 200ºF. 



As you can see, this is truly a "country-style" loaf with coarse crumb, and wonderful airy holes to capture your spread of preference. 
Jacques give a great tutorial for making the bread during  the first few minutes of this youtube video:

As Jacques suggests, I mix up the dough about an hour  before retiring for the evening, then it's ready to bake in the morning.

It's excellent toasted, and you can also vary the recipe by adding herbs of your choice, minced onion, roasted garlic, etc. to the dough while mixing  the flour, yeast and water together.
One of my favorite ways of serving it ~

           
Still warm from the toaster smeared with room temperature  Cambozola cheese and a drizzle of local honey. (Cambozola is a cow's milk cheese, a combination of a French soft-ripened triple cream cheese and Italian Gorgonzola.)  It's very creamy and much milder than a straight blue cheese.
For a printable copy of the recipe, you'll find it HERE.
If you give this one a try, I hope you love it as much as I do. :)
Thanks for stopping by today and I hope you have a wonderful  weekend everyone.  xo ~mari