The original of this recipe as far as I've been able to track it is to be found at
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 210C with my fingers crossed. The original used 230-250C but I am well satisfied with my version. The original source was ok with a pyrex baking dish, etc.
You will need
Large mixing bowl
A dutch oven or cast iron saucepan (or suitable pottery casserole)
1 cotton tea towel
Coarse cornmeal
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3 cups flour
1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon active yeast granules, no more. (See below for winter baking.)
2 teaspoons salt
1.5 cups warm water
For a useful variation, I substuted 3/4 cup kefir and 1 cup of water for the 1.5 cups of water in the original recipe. You could also use yoghurt.
The bread was excellently flavoured, soft and a little more dense, and took about half as long again to rise. It retained its "freshness" even better than the ordinary loaf, which is not bad at all for homemade bread without preservative.
This version will be useful for taking with me in the van. |
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.
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 teatowel dusted with coarse cornmeal or sesame seeds, or sunflower seeds.
Fold the teatowel around the loaf while it rises for 2 - 3 hours.
(Allow to double in size.)
Preheat oven and cast iron pot to 190C.
Remove heated saucepan from oven and place on a board. Carefully lift risen loaf 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. Run a knife around the outside if necessary to loosen the loaf and turn it out onto a rack to dry. Check that the underside sounds hollow when tapped, but I've never had a problem.
Flour
This may be varied a little to suit taste. I used a mix of one part high grade, one part plain and one part wholemeal flour.
Yeast
This is correct as written. It's all you need when you are proposing to rise the bread for 24 hours. You can speed the process up by adding more yeast, but at the cost of some of the flavour. I often do this if I am setting bread at night for baking the next morning.
Note. As winter draws on and room temperatures drop below 15-17 degrees C, the bread will rise more and more slowly and the finished product will tend to be much more dense. To counter this, increase the yeast to a couple of rounded teaspoons. This will normally give you a happily risen bread overnight, even in cold weather. I also set the bread to rise in the same room as the fireplace.
Take it out of the bowl, dust it in flour and shape as above.
Give it an hour's rising, then bake as normal, with a baking temperature of 210 degrees C. This will change the flavour and texture slightly, but will permit breadmaking of a high quality to continue into the colder weather.
