Its coming up on a year of trying to make numerous variations of the fabeled Jim Lahey "no-knead" bread, and I finally nailed it. Granted, I've never actually followed Jim Lahey's recipe, only other cook's versions of it. But this year I was treated to his book, My Bread, under the Christmas tree and I set to making a basic loaf immediately. I now recognize the one simple step I was never able to pull off was just waiting for the dough to rise. I let this dough rise for a full 24 hrs, and it was phenomenal. So here's what I did: 

I simply mixed together 3 cups bread flour, 1/4 teaspoon yeast (active, not rapid rise), 1 & 1/4 teaspoons table salt, and 1 & 1/3 cup + 1 Tablespoon water, covered with plastic wrap and let rise for 24 hours. Here's a shot after that rise:

I then plopped it on a floured surface to shape it into a round: Flipped it "seam-side" down onto a corn meal dusted towel: 
And wrapped it loosely to rise for 2 more hours:  After which time i had this risen mound:  I plopped that, seam-side up, in a 475 degree preheated cast-iron pot, and cooked, covered, in a preheated 475 degree oven for 30 minutes:  After 30 minutes I had this:  I then cooked for 15 more minutes, uncovered, and had this:  And after 15 more minutes, uncovered, I had this:  I let it cool on a warming rack for about an hour:  The bread was "singing" like a crackling fire. Totally crazy... take a listen: 

And I was finally left with these great slices of homemade bread: 

My wife thought the crust was a bit hard which is probably true and presumably remedied by cutting the uncovered cooking by 10 minutes or so. But we both agreed it made one hell of a tuna melt sandwich for lunch: