No-knead artisan's bread

As you know, I'm impatient. Not just a little bit, but recipe jeopardising, throw kitchen into chaos impatient. It's a problem.

So in making this no-knead bread, my patience was really pushed to the limit! I made the dough just before bed last night, so the temptation to tinker or interfere before the appropriate time passed without fuss luckily.

Now that I've made it once, I'd be more than willing to let this beautiful dough do it's thing over and over again.

This bread is amazing. It's got a gorgeous crunchy crust, and a beautiful, chewy middle. And it is practically zero effort - just patience, patience, patience!

A caveat - it doesn't stay fresh all that long due to the high water content - a couple days at best. However, I've been craving panzanella, so I've already found a fantastic use for the leftovers if it lasts that long!

No-knead artisan's bread

Recipe adapted from Jim Lahey. 

Start this bread the night before you want it. You'll need a heavy bottomed casserole dish with a lid. I used a 24cm Le Creuset French Oven.

Ingredients:

• 3 cups plain flour + extra, for dusting
• 1/4 teaspoon instant dried yeast
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1 1/2 - 3/4 cups lukewarm water

Method:

• Tip the flour into a large mixing bowl, and sprinkle salt around the edge. Make a well, and add the yeast to it.
• Slowly pour some water into your well. Using a wooden spoon, start gently mixing from the inside of the bowl out to form your dough.
• Keep slowly adding your water until you have a moist mess! Use at least 1.5 cups, however if the dough looks dry - keep going.
• Cover your bowl with plastic wrap and leave in a warm place to rise for 12-18 hours.

12-18 hours later... Congratulations on being patient! Your dough should now have tiny little bubbles all over the surface, and look like an even bigger hot mess.

• Flour the crap out of your hands. No, really! Then poke the dough around the edges to ease it away from the bowl. Very gently shape it into a bread-like blob, and leave it in the bowl while you get on with the next step.
• Grab two cotton tea-towels, and some flour. Flour the inside of one tea-towel generously, as well as your hands.
• Grab the dough out of its bowl and place it on the floured tea-towel, working it gently into a round (this really doesn't have to be perfect!). Try and make a thick disk smaller than the base of the pot you'll use to cook it in. Dust the top with flour, cover with your other cotton tea-towel and leave to rise for two hours.
• After 90 minutes of rising, grab your pot with lid and put it in the oven at 250 degrees C, for 30 minutes.
• After 30 minutes of pre-heating, grab your pot out. Carefully remove the top tea-towel from your dough, and slip your hand under the other tea-towel to pick up your dough. Invert the dough straight into the casserole (no greasing required!) and dust the top with flour. Put the lid back on and bake for 30 minutes, covered.
• After 30 minutes, take the lid off the casserole and return the pot to the oven. Leave to bake another 15-20 minutes, or until bread sounds hollow when tapped. Cool on a wire rack, and enjoy as soon as possible!

This bread has to be attempted! It works just as beautifully with herbs, olives, cheese - anything you might like to tuck into a loaf of bread. You can also slash the top of the loaf prior to baking to pretty it up - but I was far too impatient to do that :)