8-Hour Bread

Today I made my first ever successful loaf of bread - not only that but it was an amazing loaf of bread!  Crunchy crust, lovely moist, holey inside. Kind of like a ciabatta but with a better crust.  I made it using a no-knead recipe on the internet that was pretty popular about five years ago. The original version takes 24 hours and I intend to try that recipe too at some stage. But here is the guts of the 8-hour version. It's the simplest thing I've ever made and it really truely rocks.

Here is a video showing you how to do all the bits and bobs - the video is for the 24-hour version - the method is the same though - just the ingredients differ slightly. http://video.nytimes.com/video/2006/11/07/dining/1194817104184/no-knead-bread.html


Ingredients:


3 cups high-grade flour
3/4 teaspoon of yeast
1 1/4 teaspoons of salt
1 1/2 cups of water


Method:


Combine dry ingredients in a large bowl and mix. Add water and mix roughly by hand until you have a wet 'shaggy' dough (see video, above). Cover with a damp tea towel and leave for 6-8 hours in a warm place.


After 6-8 hours turn the dough out onto a floured bench and fold the sides in to make a round of dough (see video, above. Return round back into original bowl (rinse it out then oil or flour it first though) flipping it over so the folded edges are underneath and you have the smooth surface on top. The dough round will be extremely soft, sticky, floppy & wet - so it may not hold it's shape - don't worry about it. Dust the top with flour (or cornmeal, or wheatgerm, or...) then leave to proof for a further two hours (alternatively, if you have a microwave you can use a fast proof method which only takes an hour). 


Half an hour before the end of the proofing time preheat your oven to 230C with your dutch oven inside.  You can use any material for your dutch oven (ceramic, cast iron, metal pot) it just needs to be a casserole dish with a lid that can withstand temperatures up to 230C (NB. Many casserole dishes are only covered by the manufacturer up to 200C). I used a Scanpan.


Once the proofing time is up and your oven is at 230C remove your dutch oven from the oven and drop the bread inside - same way up. Cook with the lid on for 30 minutes then remove the lid and cook for a further 15 minutes.


Voila!


Fast Proof Method (1-hour proof)


Place folded dough round into a microwave safe bowl. Cover with a damp tea towel then with another dry tea towel. Microwave on high for 25 seconds. Leave it for 5 minutes to rise (I just leave it in the microwave with the door closed - not sure if that makes any difference or not - but I figure its a warm draft-free place). After 5 minutes microwave for another 25 seconds. Leave it to rise for another 55 minutes. Then bake as per above.