Wheat Bread in a Cast Iron Pot

Prepare all ingredients: flour, yeast, sugar, salt, and water.

Sift the flour through a fine sieve. This will aerate it and make the dough fluffier.

Add yeast, sugar and salt to the flour, mix well.

Pour warm water (no higher than 46 °C) and stir until you get a uniform sticky dough.

Cover the dough with plastic wrap and leave it in a warm place for 2–3 hours. It should rise to double its size.

Generously sprinkle flour on the work surface. Place the dough and shape it into a round flatbread. If the dough is too sticky, lightly dust it with flour.

Stretch the top edge of the dough and connect it to the opposite edge. Turn the flatbread 90 degrees, stretch the top edge again and connect it to the opposite edge.

Repeat this action two more times. In total, the dough needs to be folded four times.

Shape the dough into a flatbread again, trying to bring it closer to a ball shape. Transfer it to a large sheet of parchment paper and cover with plastic wrap.

Leave for 30 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 230 °C, placing a cast iron pot or Dutch oven inside, in which the bread will be baked.

Remove the hot pot from the oven. Using a sharp knife, make cuts in the dough and transfer it along with the paper into the pot.

Cover the pot with a lid and bake for 30 minutes. Then remove the lid and bake for another 10 minutes or so until the bread turns golden.

Remove the pot with bread from the oven and let it stand for 10 minutes. Then remove the bread from the pot by the edges of the paper and let it cool completely on the rack.