Crispy crust on the outside and soft, airy bread on the inside. Really simple, really delicious and ready in just 3-4 hours.

Crusty Bread Ingredients, What You'll Need...

• 360g flour
• 300ml warm water
• 9g yeast
• 4g sugar
• 10g salt

How to Bake the Most Crusty Bread

1. Dissolve the sugar and yeast in water. Leave it for 5 mins, it creates a foam.
2. Add the flour (I used strong bread flour) and the salt.
3. Mix the dough until all flour is absorbed and no dry flour is left. This dough does need kneading, it’s supposed to be sticky.
4. Cover the dough in plenty of flour and leave to rest for 1 hour with a clean tea towel on top.
5. After 1 hour the dough should have risen to double its initial size. Flour a board and tip dough out. Put some more flour on top of dough and fold into the middle tightly all around. Do the whole dough ball twice over. Should end up with a tight ball. Flip over and shape dough into a ball.
6. Place the dough in the bowl and dust some flour on top and on the sides.
7. Leave it to rest for 30 minutes.
8. Preheat the Dutch oven (cast iron pot) with lid and the oven at this time to max heat.
9. After 30 mins flip the dough over into the hot Dutch oven, make sure the creased side is facing upwards. Ensure the dough is covered in plenty of flour.
10. Put the lid back on and bake for 30 mins on max heat.
11. After 30 mins take the lid off and leave to cook on max for 15-20 mins. This will make your crust extra crispy.
12. After this, take the bread out and place on a cooling rack.

Enjoy!