Whipping out a loaf of this bread at your next dinner party will get your guests thinking you’ve enslaved an Italian nona. It’s that good. And whats better is – this bread requires NO kneading, yes that’s right, no kneading. I was enlightened into this world of no knead bread when I was working on an organic farm in Canada. We would make it almost everyday. Work would come to an instant halt when we pulled the bread out of the oven. Each of us would cut a slice and lather it with butter. Oh the memories. I was taught this recipe by the wonderful Ayse, of Marvellous Edibles Farm. She had seen it in Jim Lahey’s book My Bread and added her magical touch to it. I recommend this recipe to absolutely everyone and they are all stoked with the results. The only special piece of cookware you need is a cast iron pot with a lid – a thick casserole dish could also work.
Prep time 5 minutes // Resting time 18 hours
3 1/4 cups organic white flour
1 1/4 cups organic spelt flour
3/4 tsp instant yeast
1 1/4 tbsp salt
450 ml cold water
Mix all ingredients together in a large mixing bowl – the mixture should be quite sticky – you don’t want it looking dry, if it is add a touch more water. Give it a gentle poke to test the stickiness – just to be sure. Cover the bowl with cling film and leave for around 18 hours, at room temperature. This is when the magic happens – after 18 hours the dough should be really bubbly and doubled in size.
Scrape out mixture onto a well floured surface – warning – it will be sticky. Using you hands gently form the dough into a round shape incorporating some of the flour as you do so. Place the dough onto a well floured tea towel – with the seam of the dough at the bottom. Sprinkle a bit more flour on top of the dough and loosely wrap the dough in the tea towel – like you would wrap up a sleeping baby!
Leave for 1-2 hours or until the dough has grown by a third. During this time pop your pot, with the lid on, into the oven and set the temperature at 250°C. Once the oven reaches this temperature take the pot out, take your dough and gently flip it into the pot, place the lid back on and pop it straight back into the oven. Bake for 30 minutes and then take the lid off and bake for another 30 minutes, or until the bread is a dark caramel colour. Let cool slightly and then devour with lashing of butter.
For much better photos of this whole process have a look at my fellow farm hands website – have love will share
There are many variations of this recipe and I highly recommend getting your hands on Jim’s Lahey’s book – I’ve made an olive bread (add a cup or two of olives when you’re mixing the dough) and a walnut and raisin bread – both sensational.
