Whether used for scooping up your soup, dipping in your favorite sauce or just plain, topped with butter, this crusty artisan bread is ideal to accompany any meal.
In a very large bowl, whisk together the flour, yeast, salt, and sugar. Add water and mix with a wooden spoon until combined. No need to overwork it, but try not to leave big lumps. The dough will be sticky.
Cover bowl with plastic wrap lightly sprayed with cooking oil spray. Let it sit on the counter for 12-18 hours.
Preheat oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit. Place an ungreased Dutch oven with the lid in the oven and heat the pot for 30 minutes.
As soon as you put the pot in the oven, put the dough on a heavily floured surface and shape it into a ball. The dough is now stickier, so it won't be a perfect ball but that is ok. Do not overwork it as it will deflate the air bubbles. Cover with the plastic wrap that was over the bowl. Let it rest for 30 minutes while your pot is pre-heating.
Carefully remove the pot from the oven using heat-resistant oven mitts. Flour your hands, pick up the dough and drop it carefully into the pot (that is very hot!). Put the lid back on and bake for 30 minutes.
Remove the lid and continue to bake for another 15 minutes. Carefully remove the bread from the pot and place it on a cooling rack until completely cooled. Let stand for 15 minutes before slicing.
Notes
It's best to make the dough in the evening and let it rise on your counter overnight, then bake the next day.
Let the dough rise in a very large bowl. The size matters in this instance - the dough will rise considerably, so if you don't take it into account, then you might just end up with dough all over your counter by the time it's finished!
Don't refrigerate the dough! It will be too cold for the yeast to work properly, which may lead to it not rising much if at all.
Make sure the Dutch oven lid has a metal cap, otherwise if it's plastic it will melt or even worse, blow-up in that hot oven.
Use heat-resistant (rubber) oven mitts to handle the piping hot pot.
See tips for serving and storing the bread in the post above.