A Bonnetful of Bees

The simplest bread of all – and very possibly one of the nicest I’ve ever made.

The original of this recipe as far as I’ve been able to track it is to be found at

http://www.sullivanstreetbakery.com/recipes/noknead.html

but it’s been through a change or two on the way here. The source I originally used did not specify a baking temperature, so I settled on 190C for a start, later increased to 210C. The original used 230-250C but I am well satisfied with my version.

I’m talking ingredients here, not method: no sugar, no oil, minimal yeast, just time to let the basics do their stuff.

The effect of using a dutch oven or cast iron saucepan is to create a steamy environment in which the bread is cooked, and the lid comes off for the last fifteen minutes until the crust is browned. The bread is open textured and chewy with an excellent flavour. I gave the inside of the pot a wipe with a (very) little oil before heating it.

Demand for/consumption of this has increased and because there wasn’t room in the oven for a couple of cast iron pots, I bought a wide and shallow pottery casserole dish, just a little smaller.

It does just fine.  Just remember to oil it, and oil the inside of the lid before you heat it.  (If the casserole is not up to temperature when you place the raw dough in it, the cooked bread is likely to be stuck to the sides.)

You will need

Large mixing bowl

A dutch oven or cast iron saucepan, or appropriate lidded casserole

1 cotton tea towel

Coarse cornmeal

………………………….

3 cups flour (I used a mix of 1/3 each high grade, plain, and wholemeal flour)

1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon granulated active yeast, no more

2 teaspoons salt

1.5 cups warm water

Method

Combine flour, yeast, salt and warm water in mixing bowl until just mixed – a little like preparing a scone dough.

Cover with plastic film.

Leave approx 24 hours – a little less in warmer weather – at around 17-20C until actively and obviously fermenting. If colder, leave longer.

[14 May and we are heading into winter.  Room temperature has dropped below 14 degrees for much of the day. The bread is not rising well - very dense loaves.  I am experimenting with Lyn's higher yeast versions — see comments below — and a number of other workarounds.  Watch this space.

15 May.  Yesterday I put a batch of high yeast bread down - 2 rounded teaspoons of granulated yeast, but otherwise the same as my previous recipe.  I left it in a covered plastic container on a table in what morning sun there was for about three or four hours.  It had risen beautifully by then and it was into the fridge. This morning I popped it onto a teatowel on some coarse cornmeal, and let it rise for about an hour on a sunny table, then into the dutch oven.  I also raised the baking temperature to 210C.  Excellent result.  Not quite as vogelly as the earlier method and a little more yeasty in flavour, but I'm not moaning.  No way.]

Turn out onto a floured surface, coat lightly with flour to cope with slight stickiness, and lightly shape it into a long loaf 3 parts by length and one by width. Fold one end third back towards the other end and the other end third is folded over that. Handle lightly. We are not knocking the bread down or kneading it.

Place dough on a smooth cotton teatowel layered with coarse cornmeal.

Sprinkle with more cornmeal on top, or sesame seed, or sunflower seed, and loosely wrap the teatowel around the loaf while it rises for 2 – 3 hours.

(Allow to double in size.)

Preheat stove and cast iron pot to 190C.

Remove heated saucepan/casserole from oven and place on a board. Place hand carefully under risen loaf and teatowel and gently tip it into the saucepan. Give saucepan a shake to settle the loaf, perhaps tidy around the edges with a knife if any has stuck to the side – you get better at tipping it with practice. Place lid on saucepan, return it to the oven and cook with lid on for 30 minutes.

Remove lid and cook for another 15 minutes with lid off.