promising bread recipe in Family Circle mag

[Guest guest]

In the just-released February 2010 issue of Family Circle I stumbled on a

trad-food type bread recipe I'm hoping some of you can help perfect. It's on

p.198-199, and I made my first batch this afternoon. Here's the recipe:

3 c. white wheat flour

1/2 t. yeast (yes, that's only 1/2 teaspoon!)

2 3/4 t. salt (I'd cut it down to 2 t. salt next time)

1 1/2 t. sugar

1 1/2 c. water, room temp. (I warmed mine up a little)

1 T. white vinegar (I used raw ACV)

The directions say to mix the above in a bowl until all loose flour is wet, and

then let it sit for 18 hours. I left it for nearly 24 hours, and it's a goopy

mess that is then stirred for another 10 seconds. FC says to place the " loaf "

on parchment paper and set it into a preheated dutch oven and bake at 450 for 30

minutes with lid on, and 15 min. with the lid off, but I just poured the batter

into a loaf pan, let it rise for 2-3 hours, and kept foil on top instead of a

lid when I popped it into a 450 oven for the times they specified.

It turned out fairly well for a first try and my modifications, but I'm hoping

some of you bakers can give me a way to modify this recipe to make it even more

" trad-food friendly " . Could I wait to add the salt and sugar until after the

18-24 hour soak is complete? I wish it were a little less goopy of a batter,

but at least I don't have to knead it!