HALIFAX -- Ingredients:
- 500g (about 3 ¼ cups) all-purpose or bread flour
- 15g (1 Tbsp) kosher salt, or half as much table salt
- ½ tsp yeast, instant or active dry
- 325 grams (about 1 ½ cups) of water, room temperature
- ¼ cup olive oil
Directions:
- The day before you plan to bake, or in the early morning, mix together the flour, salt, yeast, and water. Mix it together with clean hands until no patches of flour remain.
- Lightly rub a large bowl with a little bit of oil and place the ball of dough in it. The dough may quadruple in size, so choose a bowl that is large enough to accommodate this rise.
- Leave the dough to rise at room temperature for a minimum of 8 hours, and as much as 24 hours.
- Two hours before you plan to bake the bread, prepare a pan or skillet (approximately 10-12” in diameter) by evenly coating the bottom of the pan with half of the olive oil.
- Gently move the dough into the pan, trying not to deflate it too much.
- With oiled fingers, gently coax the dough to cover most of the pan. Don’t worry too much; it will spread a little more as it sits.
- Let the dough sit for 2 hours, covered, at room temperature.
- About a half hour before baking, preheat your oven to 450F.
- Once the oven is hot and you’re ready to bake, top the dough with the remaining olive oil and toppings of your choice. A classic topping is sea salt and rosemary, but the topping options are limitless. Just don’t put too much that you weigh the dough down.
- With oiled fingers, dimple the dough by pressing your fingers all over the dough, pressing all the way to the bottom of the pan. This will stop the bread from poofing up too much while baking.
- Bake for about 20 minutes, until the bread is golden brown. Carefully remove the bread from the pan and onto a cooling rack, being careful not to get any of the hot oil on yourself.
- Eat hot or reheat later at 300F for about ten minutes.
