Slow rise bread

I don't know if there is anything better then fresh, out of the oven, home made bread.

I made a loaf today. I haven't made bread from scratch in a long time, partly due to me always screwing it up. My bread tends to turn out dense, tasteless and overall disappointing.

Not this time though. I tried a new recipe and decided to actually follow the directions as much as possible. Except that I couldn't bake it when I was supposed to, so I put it in the fridge for a few hours and let it come up to room temperature before throwing it into the oven.

The loaf is round because I put it in my round cast iron dutch oven.

Look at all those nice bubbles!

Golden crust and a chewy inside. What more can you ask for?

The recipe I used is this one. It actually turned out much like the picture shown. Nobody was surprised more then me!

I will definitely make this recipe again, except next time I will probably make it with 50% whole wheat (if I am feeling lucky).

The recipe says to put the dough in a dutch oven that is already hot. I had never done that before, but it make the crust nice and crunchy. And it actually crackles when it cools (don't ask me why...)

The dough must slowly rise over 12-18 hours. This poses a problem if i want to make the dough on a weekday. If I make the dough right before I go to bed (11pm), and then get off work a little early (5pm, by the time I get home), I'm looking at 18 hours on the nose. I'll give it a try this week if I can.