Bread

Yesterday I made bread,
I am passionate about bread
flour, water, yeast, salt
and the variations are endless

I am a big fan of No Knead bread which I wrote about
HERE
This bread is delicious
crusty, a little bit sour, a grown up complex flavoured chewy bread
Great,
But sometimes you want something else from your bread
and I found traditional (kneaded yeast bread)
had never given me results I was particularly proud of
So, I set about experimenting with some different methods and advice
and yesterdays results are worth talking about
An incredibly light soft bread with a crisp but light crust

This is what I did
(you will need a cast iron lidded pot)

1lb of Bread Flour
1 packet dried yeast
2 teaspoons sea salt

add enough luke warm water to get a VERY sticky dough
This is the difference between a light or a heavy loaf (this and the kneading)
sprinkle a small amount of flour onto your board and turn out your wet dough

now you "knead"
as the dough is so sticky this is a messy job
but it is not diffcult
basically you want to stretch your dough
pull it toward you and slap it back on itself
repeat this motion for about 10 mins until your dough becomes
stretchy and smooth
every couple of minutes you can scrape the dough together using
a dough scraper
available here
when you have a stretchy smooth dough 
form it into a ball tucking it under itself
and turning over

place in an oiled bowl and leave covered to prove somewhere warm for 3 hours

return to your dough which should have doubled in size  and turn it on to a floured board
stretch the bottom of dough out and fold it back in to the centre
pushing it down hard with your fingers
stretch the top of the dough and fold over the seam again pressing
the dough into itself with your fingers

turn your dough 90 degrees clockwise and repeat
now leave to rise again for up to 2 hours
The longer you leave it the more complex the flavour

20 mins before you want to bake it
heat your oven to 250c  with your cast iron pot inside
When you are ready to bake
remove crock pot .....carefully it will be HOT
lift your dough in with the seam on the bottom
slash the top of your dough
place lid on
bake for 30 mins
remove bread from pot and bake a further 10 mins
(times will vary depending on your oven out this is a rough guide)

leave to cool .......
 EAT

If you are a fan of bread I highly recommend the
Tartine Bread Book
Chad the owner of Tartine is truly obsessed with bread
he uses a starter in his bread making
I have dabbled in starters but never truly been bitten by that bug
......... I think it may be time to investigate further

If you have never seen it
this Tartine video is excellent
and in it you can see the dough is wet light and sticky
which is exactly what you are looking for 

TARTINE VIDEO

UPDATE: just found out Chad of Tartine is coming to Ballymaloe in
August for a 1 day demonstration,
I have booked my place
have you?
click here to book

No Knead Bread

I have never posted a recipe for this Bread before because well

I felt the blogosphere was inundated with them 

But

I have been asked for the recipe so many times 

and I always add my additional changes

meaning I then have to write out the instructions

That I am finally succumbing and posting the recipe and method.

If you have never heard of Jim Lahey's No Knead Bread.........

WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?
and if you have never made it

then I cannot urge you enough to get out a bag of flour and get baking.

This is so so simple and I tell you it changed my life!!

Strong words, you say

Well after living in New York for 10 years I moved myself and family to a small village

in the middle of Ireland.

Being a lover of food and cooking I romanticised about 

growing vegetables, baking scones, making jams and chutneys

....... and well, really all those dreams came true....

What I had not anticipated was that there were things I would miss

That recipe calling for a pinch of Zatar...... hmmmm

a dash of Sumac........

a fresh baked flaky croissant and of course that Artisan bread that is 

served in every one of my favourite NY eateries

slightly sour with a thick chewy crust........

Well, when I first read about this bread in US Vogue at 11pm at night

 I upped out of my bed ran downstairs in my barefeet and nightie and got cracking

The next day, as I said ...... it changed my life.

Suddenly I felt like we had a little bit of NY here in my kitchen

Friends visited and I baked this bread

and wallowed in their oohs and aahs 

"You really made this?"

This Bread gave me more confidence in the kitchen

It encouraged me to venture into yeast territory

A strange and foreign terrain that I had never before explored with success.

(and just to add I still have a temperamental relationship with)

So, if you have never tried baking bread 

if you are scared of yeast 

if you love bread

if you live in a rural area where it is hard to source a good artisan loaf

....... then this is the bread for you 

NOTES: you will be cooking this bread 18 hours after you start 

so decide when you want to eat it and count backwards

you will need a cast iron crock pot with a lid 

like a le creuset 

you want a 6-8 qt pot

RECIPE

3 cups (430 grms ) flour (you can use bread flour but it is not essential)

1 1/2 cups (345 grams) warm water

1/2 tspn dried yeast 

1 1/4 tspn salt

METHOD*

Add water to flour, yeast and salt

mix together to form a wet dough

cover with cling film 

leave at room temperature for 16-20 hours 

an hour before you are ready to bake turn your oven on full 

which is usually somewhere around 500f or 250c

Place bottom of crock pot in oven to heat up 

after 45 mins to an hour carefully remove your pot 

throw in the dough

sprinkle with a little flour

place lid on 

put in oven and bake covered for 30-40 mins

remove bread from pot and place in oven to bake for a further 10 - 15 mins

you will need to play around with your own oven a bit to figure out what works best 

but this should be a good guideline for most 

remove from oven and allow to cool completely before cutting

Best eaten on day it is baked

except if you are toasting

it will keep as toasting bread for up to a week

*I have adapted the method from the Jim Lahey way as I found it didn't really make a difference if you took the dough out and folded or didn't 

This way is much simpler but if you wish to try the original then you can find it HERE