Overnight White Bread

Preface

This is my absolute favorite loaf of bread. It goes great with just about anything and it really isn’t that hard to make once you get the hang of it.

This is a very slightly modified version of Ken Forkish’s Overnight White Bread from his amazing book Flour, Water, Salt, Yeast. I highly recommend picking it up, it goes into a great level of detail in the bread making process and is very insightful.

Equipment

• Large Bowl (I use an 8 qt cambro)
• Kitchen Scale
• Two Bannetons
• 6 Qt Enameled Dutch Oven (If you have two, you can bake both loaves at the same time)
• Dough Scraper
• Parchment Paper

Ingredients

• 1000 grams all-purpose flour (if you’re +/- 10 grams or so, you’ll be fine)
• 765 grams water (~ 92° F)
• 22 grams sea salt
• ¼ teaspoon active dry yeast (or instant yeast)

Directions

1. Add the flour into your bowl and add the water. Mix together by hand until just incorporated, then let the mixture rest for about 25 minutes.
2. Sprinkle the salt and yeast over the dough and fully mix by hand.
   • I find that having slightly wet hands makes this easier.
   • I usually mix for about 30-60 seconds until I’m sure the salt and yeast are fully mixed into the dough.
   • Finish mixing by grabbing a corner of the dough and stretching it towards the center of the dough ball. Repeat with every corner.
3. Do three more stetch and folds every 30 minutes (90 minutes total).
4. Put the lid on the container and let it sit on your counter overnight (Yes, on the counter, NOT in your refrigerator).
5. Around 12-14 hours later, gently put the dough on a well floured surface and divide and shape into two dough balls.
   • When shaping, I find it’s best to put your hands around the dough and gently pull the dough towards you, rotating after each pull. Use the surface tension of the dough on your floured surface to let the dough get slightly taut
   • If this still doesn’t make sense, King Arthur Baking has a good tutorial on how to do this
6. Place the dough into a banneton and let it proof for about an hour.
7. Add the dutch ovens to your oven (middle rack) and preheat to 475° F while the dough proofs (let the dutch ovens preheat for at least 45 minutes).
8. Pull out a dutch oven, remove the lid, place a sheet of parchment paper over the dutch oven, then I tend to just sort of dump the dough on top of the parchment paper. Re-add the lid and put it into the oven.
   • You can pick up and place the dough into the dutch oven instead of dumping it in if you want (be super careful, it’ll be very hot!).
   • If you only have one dutch oven, you can bake one loaf at a time.
9. Bake with the lid on for 30 minutes
10. Remove the lid and continue to bake anywhere from 15-20 minutes.
    • The first few times I tried this recipe, I had issues with the bottom of the loaf burning (my oven runs a bit hot). To combat this, after taking the lids off, place a sheet pan on the bottom rack to help dissipate some of the heat.
11. Place the loaves onto a cooling rack and let cool for about an hour

Sample Timing Schedule

Night Before

• 8 pm - Do the initial mix
• 8:25 pm - Add yeast/salt - mix
• 9 pm - First stretch and fold
• 9:30 pm - Second stretch and fold
• 10 pm - Final stretch and fold

Next Day

• 9 am - Divide dough and put into bannetons / Preheat oven
• 10 am - Bake