French Bread V 2.0

Finally a success! The bread rose very well and after baking ended up with a very crunchy crust and super soft inside. I could definitely tell the difference between my previous batch and this batch. This batch you could squeeze the bread and it would give way indicating a lovely soft dough inside. This recipe is based upon the Minimalist loaf (New York Times No Knead Bread) and some advice I got from the forums.

French Bread

2 cups bread flour, preferably King Arthur's Flour
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp instant yeast
1 1/4 tsp kosher salt
1 1/2 cups tepid water

1. Mix all ingredients in a large bowl with a wooden spoon or your hand. Add in the warm water and mix until combined and doughy. Put in a clean, oiled bowl and let rise about 12-15 hours. Room temperature should be 70F or so but just make sure it rises to about 10 cups.

2. Put dough out onto lightly floured surface. Cut into two pieces and flatten out. Doing this to both pieces, take the end nearest you and fold forward. Using the side of your hand or palm of your hand and seal the seam. Repeat with side farthest from you. Turn dough over, smooth top, and shape into a long, loaf-like shape by rolling it on the surface (make sure most of the dough is of even thickness). Place in a french bread pan or make-shift one with some heavy towels (make folds inbetween loaves). Cover with towel and let rise about 2 hours or until puffy.

3. Preheat the oven to 450F-500F (the hotter the better). If you are using a baking stone or tiles (I highly recommend it), preheat the oven for about an hour to get the stone good and hot. Spritz your loaves with water and then put in the hot oven. After 2 minutes, spritz loaves again with water. Repeat 2 more times every two minutes. Then bake for 20-25 minutes. Let sit for about 30 minutes before slicing.