• >
  • Recipes
  • >
  • The Miracle Boule

The Miracle Boule

Photo: The Miracle Boule

TOTAL TIME: 15 hr 10 min
Prep: 10 min
Inactive Prep: 14 hr
Cook: 1 hr
 
YIELD: 1 boule
LEVEL: Easy

ingredients

  • 3 cups/375 g all-purpose flour, plus more as needed
  • 1 1/4 teaspoons salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon instant yeast
  • Cornmeal, wheat bran or extra flour, as needed
recipe tools

    • COMMENT ON THIS PROJECT

        

    Sign in

    All fields are required.

    E-mail Address:

    Password:

    Remember me on this computer

    Signing in

    Please enter your email address and we will send your password

    E-mail Address

    Your password has been sent and should arrive in your mailbox very soon.

    Not a member?

    Sign up for My Cooking Channel to share photos, show off your style, and connect to an enthusiastic and helpful community.

    It's free and easy.

  • Print Recipe

Directions

Mix the flour, salt and yeast in a bowl. Stir in 1 1/2 cups/375 ml water to blend. What you'll have is a wet, shaggy, sticky dough, but not so wet as to be batter. Cover the bowl with a tea towel and let it rest in a warm place for at least 12 hours, and up to 24 hours. It's ready for the next step when the surface is dotted with bubbles.

Flour a work surface and dump the dough out onto it. Sprinkle over a little more flour and fold it once or twice. Cover with the tea towel and let rest 15 minutes.

Using only enough flour to keep the dough from sticking to your fingers, shape the dough into a ball. Coat a cotton towel with cornmeal, wheat bran or flour and lay the dough on it, seam-side down. Dust with more cornmeal, wheat bran or flour. (You need quite a lot because you want to be sure the dough doesn't stick to the towel). Cover and let rise for about 2 hours. When ready, the dough will be more than double in size.

Half an hour before the dough is ready, preheat the oven to 450 degrees F/230 degrees C. Put a 2-liter cast-iron pot or Dutch oven (cocotte) inside to heat.

When the dough is ready, remove the pot from the oven and turn the dough into it, seam-side up. (It will look messy, but this is OK.) Shake the pot to settle the bread evenly. Cover with the lid and bake for 30 minutes. Remove the lid and bake until the loaf is nicely browned, another 15 to 30 minutes. Cool on a rack.

COMMENT ON THIS PROJECT

    

Sign in

All fields are required.

E-mail Address:

Password:

Remember me on this computer

Signing in

Please enter your email address and we will send your password

E-mail Address

Your password has been sent and should arrive in your mailbox very soon.

Not a member?

Sign up for My Cooking Channel to share photos, show off your style, and connect to an enthusiastic and helpful community.

It's free and easy.

Review This Recipe

You must be logged in to review this recipe.

or Sign Up to Review

5

Newest Ratings and Reviews

Read all 36 reviews

  • on May 02, 2013

    Flag

    this is going to be my go-to bread recipe from now on.. The recipe makes the best bread, moist inside and crusty outside and is easy to make. i really thank Ms. Calder for making this available to people. i very much appreciate her show- she shows great respect for the ingredients and creates good food.

    people found this review Helpful.
    Was this review helpful to you? Yes | No

  • on March 19, 2013

    Flag

    I bake bread frequently at home (I was raised in a bakery and this recipe goes against everything I learned from my father about baking bread.

    It is absolutely the easiest and best tasting loaf I have ever made.

    Most definitely a weekly bake.

    people found this review Helpful.
    Was this review helpful to you? Yes | No

  • on March 12, 2013

    Flag

    This is just so wonderful. The perfect country bread. Very French in taste, too.
    It lasts for days! Amazing. I did leave it alone for 24 hours and made it exactly
    as Laura wrote it and I am making it for the third time as I type. Oh, do try it!!

    people found this review Helpful.
    Was this review helpful to you? Yes | No
Advertisement

On TV

*ALL TIMES EASTERN
ON AIR
NOW
TONIGHT
10:00
PM

what's hot

Road Trip with G. Garvin
Road Trip with G. Garvin Host: G. Garvin

Get Cooking Channel on your TV.

Learn How