Heaven thy name is Mark Bittman...no-knead bread

First of all, let me say that I can claim absolutely no credit for how fabulous the loaf above looks. The recipe is stupefyingly simple, and incredibly forgiving.
I have been meaning to try the version of Sullivan Street Bakery (NYC) no-knead bread that was written about originally by Mark Bittman of the NY Times. It has a virtual cult following amongst those who seek frankly artisanal-quality bread. This is especially dear to my heart as it's extremely difficult to get decent crusty bread down here. So, I finally got round to it after tasting some that a friend of ours had made (substituting wholewheat flour), and being blown away by it. It also means that I can use my le creuset for even more things - hurrah to that.

So, here's the recipe (a la Mark Bittman of the NYT):

No-Knead Bread

Time: About 1½ hours plus 14 to 20 hours’ rising

3 cups all-purpose or bread flour, more for dusting
¼ teaspoon instant yeast
1¼ teaspoons salt
Cornmeal or wheat bran as needed.

1. In a large bowl combine flour, yeast and salt. Add 1 5/8 cups water, and stir until blended; dough will be shaggy and sticky. Cover bowl with plastic wrap. Let dough rest at least 12 hours, preferably about 18, at warm room temperature, about 70 degrees.

2. Dough is ready when its surface is dotted with bubbles. Lightly flour a work surface and place dough on it; sprinkle it with a little more flour and fold it over on itself once or twice. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rest about 15 minutes.

3. Using just enough flour to keep dough from sticking to work surface or to your fingers, gently and quickly shape dough into a ball. Generously coat a cotton towel (not terry cloth) with flour, wheat bran or cornmeal; put dough seam side down on towel and dust with more flour, bran or cornmeal. Cover with another cotton towel and let rise for about 2 hours. When it is ready, dough will be more than double in size and will not readily spring back when poked with a finger.

4. At least a half-hour before dough is ready, heat oven to 450 degrees. Put a 6- to 8-quart heavy covered pot (cast iron, enamel, Pyrex or ceramic) in oven as it heats. When dough is ready, carefully remove pot from oven. Slide your hand under towel and turn dough over into pot, seam side up; it may look like a mess, but that is O.K. Shake pan once or twice if dough is unevenly distributed; it will straighten out as it bakes. Cover with lid and bake 30 minutes, then remove lid and bake another 15 to 30 minutes, until loaf is beautifully browned. Cool on a rack.

Yield: One 1½-pound loaf.
-- Fan-bloody-tastic, I can tell you. The only problem with the resulting loaf is that it has an alarming tendency to disappear!