The Perfect Loaf

I have been baking bread on and off for about ten years or so - a few times I have gotten ambitious and made my own starter using Nancy Silverton's methods in a quest to make fancy European style rustic bread - it was never worth the effort. But now I have fallen for this lovely bread recipe, which makes flawless perfect loaves each and every time with almost no effort at all, just a little planning. Thanks to Mark Bittman and Jeffery Steingarten for publishing the recipe.
3 cups bread flour
2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. instant yeast 1
1/2 cups water at room temp

Combine the first three ingredients in a 2-quart bowl. Pour in the water and and mix for 30 seconds until a wet dough has formed and all flour has been absorbed. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap adn let sit at warm temperature for about 18 hours (you can get away with ten-24 hour raises).
Invert the bowl onto a floured surface, and stretch the dough into about 10 inch per side square. Fold the square into thirds, like an envelope. Let rest for 15 minutes.
On a dish towel spread flour and wheat bran on on ehalf of the towel. Fold the dough into thirds again, so that the dough looks like a cube. Stretch the top layer of the dough over the seams of the bread. PU thte dough onto the prepared towel and cover it up. Let rise for 2 hours.
One hour into the rise turn on your oven to 500, and place a heavy casserole dish (I use a clay pot with a cover) into it. After the dish has been in the oven for one hour, pull it out and invert
the loaf into the casserole. Cover the casserole and bake loaf for 30 minutes. Uncover the casserole and bake for 20-30 minutes more. Remove and cool until it is barely warm.