Thanks for the comments, guys, but my wife Cheri deserves all the credit because she is the expert in dough in our family
Credit for the baking method goes to a baker from the UK. A friend in Holland sent me the link to his YouTube video:
Cheri's dough... is versatile - she uses it for bread, pizza crust, and naan
- 2 cups bread flour - however any kind will do
- 1 teaspoon yeast
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1-1.5 cups water - the amount is variable depending on the "feel" of the dough
Mix flour, salt, and yeast with the handle end of a wooden spoon.
Add water slowly and stir until the dough looks sticky.
Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rise until it doubles in volume (about 2-4 hours)
Scrape the dough out onto a floured surface and knead for a minute or so. Now is when you add any additional ingredients such as herbs, cheese, etc.
Form into a ball and place into a generously floured tea towel and return to the bowl - ensure that the dough is loosely covered with the tea towel and let rise for another hour or two.
Place a Dutch oven into your oven and preheat to 450F
After preheating, dump the dough ball into the Dutch oven, make several slits in the surface of the dough ball and return the Dutch oven to the main oven - bake for 30 minutes
Crack the lid and return to the oven for another 10-15 minutes depending on how dark you want the crust.
Here's what the crust sounds like when it is cooling - if you hear this, then your crust is perfect
If you want pizza crust, just use less water - the dough is simply not as sticky
For naan, omit the yeast - the unleavened bread is delicious with dips such as Sabra humus
