No knead bread
Wed, 10 September, 2014
No knead bread recipe based on Jim Lahey's original concept. A very easy bread recipe, unfailingly sucessful for beginners, especially if you have a Dutch oven or any other lidded cast iron casserole dish.

You all out there who think ‘oh right, a bit of cake is all very nice, I can manage that, but making bread is for the seriously advanced and I won’t go near it’. I’m talking to you. And I’m only going to ask you one question: have you got a cast iron casserole? If the answer is yes, you’re in business. This bread can be the first you’ve ever made.
I insist on that cast iron casserole dish because it genuinely makes baking a loaf totally fool-proof. It is called Dutch oven by bakers and makes the bread come out excellent every time.
I always bake my bread on Saturdays, without fail. Sometimes there’s an urgent need to bring it forward, if a crowd of voracious Bread Eaters descends on the house, but I don’t like doing that cause I’m big on routine. Some people unkindly call it OCD, or worse. So this is a perfect recipe as I make the mix the night before, it sits happily overnight in a warm place and the next morning all it needs (kneads!) doing is fold, stretch, or skip altogether and just dump into a proving basket and bake after a while.
See for yourself.
The beauty of it is also that it can come in a vast array of variations, depending on what flour you use, whether you add seeds, nuts, maybe raisins, poppy, herbs or even cheese. I think it is best with a mix of white and wholemeal bread flour as basis, though I’ve been known to make it all-white. The rosemary is a simple enhancement.
no knead bread
Servings: 1 large loafTime: 1 hour 30 minutes plus fermenting overnight
INGREDIENTS
- 645g flour (any mix, basic combination will be 60% strong white and 40% wholemeal. Rye is a good addition to, in about 20%)
- 12g salt
- ½ tsp fast action or 5g fresh yeast
- 510g water at room temperature
- 2 tbsp. chopped rosemary, plus some whole leaves, if using fresh herb
METHOD
1. Put the flours, salt, chopped rosemary and yeast into a large bowl, pour in the water, mix well (but no kneading!). Cover with cling film and leave overnight or up to 12 hours in a warm place.
2. The next day turn the dough out onto wet surface. It should have risen nicely. Fold over itself from all angles, stretching a little, to form a manageable shape. Press the remaining rosemary leaves into the loaf all over.
3. Dip thoroughly in wholemeal flour and place in a well floured proving basket or bowl lined with a cloth. Put in a plastic bag inflated a bit so it doesn’t touch the dough (just blow into it and tie the end!) and leave for about 40 minutes. Halfway through that time start preheating a cast iron casserole dish/Dutch oven (27cm dia.) in the middle of the oven at 220C/425F/gas 7.
4. The dough will not rise much but that’s good – I’ve found that short proving time works better if you bake it in a Dutch oven.
5. When ready, just plonk the dough from the proving basket into the casserole dish swiftly as you can, put the lid on and into the oven. Bake with the lid on for 20 minutes, and for another 20 minutes with the lid off.
NEW recipe finder
Ingredients lying around and no idea what to cook with them? Then use my NEW Recipe Finder for inspiration!
Recipe Finder
Leave a reply
Your email address will not be published
Push notifications
You are subscribed to push notifications.
You have unsubscribed.
We'd like to notify you about the latest recipes and updates
You can unsubscribe from notifications at any time
Cuisine Fiend's