Eat in the heat #6 Saturday morning bread
The perfect, lazy bread recipe. Seriously. So delicious. No kneading or working involved. Crusty on the outside, chewy in the middle. I've been playing around with flours and trying different combinations. The recipe below makes the perfect loaf - looks and tastes like a granary sourdough. And is an updated version of this bread blog post.
As mentioned in my earlier post, I love bread and have been experimenting out here in Barbados (apart from one French guy at the farmers market) it's almost impossible to buy fresh bread here. It's too hot to spend a lot of time kneading and working the dough. So I use a no kneed recipe which works perfectly in the warm weather (it helps the yeast to activate). You just need to do throw the mix together before bed.
I made these two loaves on Saturday morning. We had one between us for breakfast. You've got to give it a try.
Ingredients:
(I use American measuring cups for this recipe as it makes things even quicker and easier)
2 cups strong white organic bread flour
1 cup granary organic bread flour
6 grams instant yeast (I don't measure - I just use roughly half of an 11 gram pack)
1 teaspoon ground sea salt (preferably maldon)
1 1/2 cups warm (not tepid) water (you want the mix to be sticky but not too wet)
Method:
To do at night:
Measure the flour into the bowl.
Add the yeast and salt to the flour.
Half fill a measuring jug with warm water (I usually boil the kettle and and mix roughly half
boiled water to half ice cold to make sure the water is warm enough. Dip your finger in - it should feel quite warm but not hot) then measure out the 1 1/2 cups and pour into bowl.
Mix with a spoon (I find a silicone one works well) until well combined. You should have a sticky dough consitency that comes together in a ball.
Cover the bowl with cling fim and leave overnight (or around eight hours).
To do in the morning:
Turn your oven on to 230 degrees celsius (450 fahrenheit) and put an empty cast iron lidded pot (or any similar pot - stainless steel would work or any round casserole dish with a lid) inside.
Gently scrape the sides of the bowl and remove the dough carrefully, aiming to keep the mixture full of air.
Lightly place the dough on a floured surface, turn it over and tuck the edges under to form a rough ball. This way, the top will be floured and it will be starting to look like a french boule loaf.
Put the dough back in the bowl and cover with a tea towel or muslin and leave on your work surface for around 30 minutes. By then your pot should be searing hot.
Remove your pot from the oven and carefully put your round loaf inside - making sure you don't burn yourself! Put the lid on and place the pot back in the oven.
After 30 minutes remove the pot and take the lid off then put it back in the oven for ten minutes or until the loaf is well risen and crusty brown on top.