Tuscan Peasant Bread

Very tasty! The idea behind this bread is that you serve it with a meal the day you make it. It is recommended that you have it eaten within twelve hours of baking. It has a small amount of salt so it won't mold, but it will dry out really fast.
We tried it with some white sauce flavoured with broth from a beef stew the day it was baked, and then day two with some lentil soup. Delicious! It makes just one loaf. Keep in mind that it rises several times, bakes for a long time, and cools for a long time. So make it early!

In a large bowl: 2 cups of warm water, 2 1/2 teaspoons of active dry yeast (a scant packet). Stir until yeast is dissolved. Add 1 cup of unbleached flour and 1/2 cup whole wheat flour. Mix well, then cover bowl and let raise about an hour.

After an hour add: A pinch of salt, a pinch of sugar, and another cup of unbleached all purpose flour.  Add the remaining 1 1/2 cups of flour  half a cup at a time. (I ended up using 1 1/2 cups more flour then it called for)

Knead vigorously for at least 5-8 minutes. Dust with flour as needed. Sprinkle some flour in the bowl, then sprinkle more over the ball of dough after placing it in the bowl. Cover with plastic and let raise until doubled. 1-1 1/2 hours.

Lightly flour a parchment covered baking sheet. Shape the dough into a round or an oblong loaf. I think what I ended up with was something in between the two. Dust the top of the loaf with some more flour. Let rest for 20 minutes. Preheat oven to 425 F 20 minutes before baking. (You can slash a pattern in the top of the bread if you want to, I sorta forgot..three slashes for the oblong, and a tic-tac-toe pattern for the round)

Place the pan on the lowest rack of the oven. I sat the pan on my 10 inch cast iron before placing it on the lowest rack, and I moved the other oven rack to the top and sat a pizza stone on it.
The actual directions tell you to line the lowest and highest racks with baking stones. But sometimes you've gotta work with what you have, right?

Bake 55-60 minutes. The loaf will look done around 45 minutes, but really does need the extra 15 to finish baking the inside.

     Transfer to a cooling rack and cool about 2 hours before serving.