Homemade Artisan Bread

I started cutting this loaf before I remembered to take a picture. :)  

 A few years back I was reading on a blog where someone recommended saving money on groceries by baking your own bread.  I've never been a fan of kneading (because I don't really know what I'm doing) and I don't own a bread machine, so I've never really been into the whole homemade bread thing.  But as I was reading that day, the book recommended said that there was no need to knead the dough.  I was interested.  After reading a little bit more about it I ordered it on Amazon and it has proven to be a really easy way to make good, homemade bread - WITHOUT KNEADING!  The name of the book is Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day.  I have made several of the recipes in the book, but the one I have made the most is this one (called the Master Recipe) that we normally eat with soup.  I half the recipe which makes two loaves.  You can make one loaf and refrigerate the rest of the dough for up to 14 days.

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups lukewarm water
3/4 Tbsp salt (I use Kosher)
3/4 Tbsp granulated yeast
3 1/4 cups all-purpose, white, unbleached flour
large plastic bowl with lid (not airtight)

Directions:
1.  Add salt and yeast to warm water in a large bowl. Stir.
2.  Add flour to water mixture and mix with wooden spoon.
3.  Wet hands and squeeze the mixture just until uniformly mixed - kneading is unnecessary!
4.  Put lid on bowl and let rise for 2-5 hours at room temperature until top is flattened.  It usually only takes 2 hours in my house, but the room's temp, initial water temp, and humidity will change the rise time.
5.  After this initial rise time you can refrigerate dough for later use (up to 14 days) or cut dough in half to bake.
6.  When ready to bake, cut dough in half and prepare dough by tucking edges under (shaping loaf) and placing it on a floured baking stone.
7.  Allow to rise for 40 minutes.
8.  20 minutes before baking time, begin preheating oven to 450 degrees.
9.  After 40 minutes of rising on baking stone, dust surface of dough with flour and slash top  with 1/4 in. deep tic-tac-toe pattern with serrated knife.
10.  Pour 1 cup of water into a broiler tray or baking dish and place on bottom rack of oven to create steam.
11.  Place baking stone with dough on middle rack in oven, even if 450 degress has not been reached. 
12.  Bake 30 minutes.
13.  Let stand 5-10 minutes before cutting.

This seems like a lot of instructions, but it is really easy and quick once you get the hang of it.  I recommend getting the book if you try this recipe and like it.  There are a lot of good recipes in the book and a lot more details to this recipe that you may enjoy reading.