Make the dough by mixing the water, flour, yeast, and salt very well, using a dough whisk or fork. The dough will be slack and wet. Use the olive oil to generously oil an approximately 10-inch by 7-inch or 9-inch square pan or dish. It doesn’t have to be oven safe since the dish is only for folding and resting the dough.

Transfer the slack dough into the middle of the pan. Cover loosely and let it rest for about 20 minutes. Then do a bowl fold. Wet your hands and grab a section of dough from one side. Lift it up, then lightly press it down into the middle. Rotating the pan slightly, continue doing this 8 to 12 times more. Loosely cover and let the dough rest for 30 minutes.

Now it’s time for a coil fold. Wet your hands and reach under the dough in the middle. Stretch the middle upward until the dough releases from the dish. Roll it forward off your hands, allowing it to fold over (or “coil”) on itself. This is called a coil fold. Rotate the dish 90 degrees (a quarter turn) and repeat the fold. Continue folding till the dough feels like it won’t stretch /elongate easily, usually four to five times initially.

Cover loosely and let the dough rest for 30 minutes. Repeat the coil folds another 2 to 4 times with 30 minute intervals for resting the dough. Stop the coil folds once your dough feels strong, quite tight, smooth and doesn’t really stretch any more.

For the last coil fold do only one or two folds if the dough feels relatively strong and tight. Cover loosely and let the dough rest for about 80 minutes.

Treat the dough very gently as you do not want it to deflate. Carefully turn it out onto a heavily floured surface, maintaining the rectangle or square shape. Sprinkle a generous amount of flour on top of the dough, leaving no exposed sticky spots. Working gently with a dough scraper or sharp knife, divide the dough into equal four pieces. Gently transfer two pieces to a piece of parchment, leaving space between them. Similarly, transfer the other two pieces to another piece of parchment.

Let them rest for about 1 1/2 to 2 hours, uncovered, at room temperature. They should feel light and airy with a few bubbles on the surface of each portion of dough when ready to bake.

Carefully slide the dough onto the baking stone or sheet placed in the lower third of an oven preheated to 250C (475F). You can bake them two at a time. Bake the loaves for 15 minutes. Then transfer them directly onto a rack in the upper third of the oven for an additional 10 to 15 minutes.

Leave the stone in place for the other two loaves. Moving them to the rack allows the baking stone or steel to become hot again in preparation for the next two loaves. The bread should be ready after a total of 25 to 30 minutes of baking, Let them cool completely on a rack before slicing.