Smallish loaf - 400g flour, 300ml tepid water, teaspoon of salt and a quarter-teaspooon of dried yeast. Mix in a biggish bowl, for a "few seconds"... I did it for about 2 minutes just to get all the flour incorporated and suitably gooey - yes, it is almost liquid, very sloppy. Cover with clingfilm, leave for up to 24 hours. Pour it out onto a floured surface and fold it into itself with more flour, then slop it into a well-floured linen teatowel for the second rise, about 2 hours or so. It's still very sticky and loose, so I brought the points and sides of the teatowel up together and pegged them so make like a little basket.
Put the oven on to very high. As high as it might go - 260 or gas 8/9? Put the oiled-a-bit Le Crueset cast iron pot in to heat up. Well I don't have one, so I used a terracotta casuela (crock) with a lid, reckoning that it might do the trick instead. After half an hour pour the dough from the tea towel into the pot! Well that was my experience, it simply flowed into it, no way to pick it up easily!
Lid on, into oven, 30 mins, take lid off and another 20 mins. Eh voila.... something that approaches an open-crumb, sourdough-looking but not tasting, ciabatta-like? Looks a bit weird but chewy, tasty, tasty, gorgeous proper-bread-like aroma ... HAVE A GO!There's a YouTube video of it - Jim Lahey's Sullivan Street Bakery - he seems to make loaves that look more like loaves!
