Rustic Flax Bread

This week, I made a loaf of no-knead bread, this time with added flax meal.  I also cooked it in a ceramic dish rather than my trusty steel pot.

The texture was like most no-knead breads: moist, full of bubbles, with a chewy crust.  I liked the added flax because it tasted rich and nutty.  It's also good for you (although some of that goodness is destroyed at the high temps).  The recipe is something like this:

2 1/4 c flour
1/4 tsp yeast
1/4 c flax meal
1 1/2 tsp salt

Mix this together, then stir in 1 1/2 c water.  Let sit over night or at least 12 hours.  Then add:

1/2 to 1 cup of flour to form a very soft but not too sticky dough.  You won't really knead it at this point, just form a workable dough.  Shape into a ball and let rise in a greased bowl for about 2 hours.  Meanwhile, preheat your oven to 450 F with your greased (and cornmealed if you like) baking dish in thar.  After your dough is done rising and the oven is preheated, take out the hot baking dish and dump the dough ball in there, gently.  Put the lid on the baking dish and bake for 30 minutes, then remove the dish and bake for another 15 to get that shiny pretty crust.

While the casserole baking dish made a much more useful shape (in my opinion) than the typical big round loaf, it didn't give it the nice crispy bottom crust that my steel pot does.  Obviously what I need is a hybrid.  If Irvine had thrift stores, I'm sure the ideal dish would be found there.