No knead bread (modified)

I made the slow rise, no kneed bread for thanksgiving dinner and it seems like more than a couple people enjoyed it. So I'm posting my modified recipe here - it's based off of this blog post that I blogged about here.

The beautiful thing about this bread is that it takes patience (which I tend to have) and not a lot of work (which I like). You basically make a wet dough with flour, yeast, salt and butter, let it sit for 12-18 hours, shape a let rise for another 2 and then bake in already hot pot. Easy peasy. Without further ado:

Richard's No Knead Bread (based off Jim Lahey's No-Knead Bread recipe)

3 C flour (AP or bread flour, up to 50% whole wheat)
1/3 tsp instant yeast
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 C water
3-4 Tbsp butter, melted

1. In a large bowl mix together dry ingredients. Add the water and butter and mix well. Cover bowl and let rest for 12-18 hours (the longer the better). I put mine on top of the fridge. The dough will rise a fair amount and look spongy; it will double in volume (or even a bit more).

2. Scrape the dough onto a floured table and coat your hands with flour. Fold the dough over onto itself 5 or 6 times and the let rest for 30 minutes (covered if drafty).

3. Coat your hands with flour again and shape the dough into a ball. Place on a heavily floured tea towel and then fold the towel over top of it (so it is covered completely). Let it rise 2-3 hours, (until doubled in size).

4. 45 minutes before the dough is ready put a heavy pot or a dutch oven into a 450F oven and let it get hot.

5. When the dough has risen and the pot is hot and as gracefully as possible, dump the dough into the hot pot and cover. Let bake for 30 minutes and then remove the cover and bake for another 15-20 (until top is browned). Remove and place on a rack to cool.