YOU REALLY SHOULD NOT rename server.php in your Laravel root folder to index.php
and copy the .htaccess file from the /public directory to your Laravel root folder!!!
This way everyone can access some of your files (.env for example). Try it yourself. You don't want that!
Instead, you should create an .htaccess file in your root like this:
RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !^/public/
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ /public/$1 [L,QSA]
This will silently rewrite all your base URIs to the /public folder. Even all Headers, for example the HTTP Authorization Header, and all optional URI parameters will silently be passed on to the /public folder as well.
That's all!