Tuesday 7 January 2014

Homebaked Crusty Bread

2014

One of my goals for this year is to learn how to bake real bread. I love cooking and baking and somehow never tried to make bread. I decided to start with an easy no knead recipe. I remember seeing a recipe on Sandra's blog a while ago and a quick google search found it and clicked 'in english' to get the instructions!

You mix 3 cups plain flour, teaspoon of yeast, salt, 1.5 cups water, finely chopped rosemary in a bowl the day before you want to bake and leave it to prove for at least 12 hours in a bowl covered with cling film - the mixture was VERY lumpy and sticky but it is no knead so I didn't stir it too much.

The next day heat the oven - I have a gas oven so I set it to gas mark 8 and put a pyrex dish with a lid on to warm for 30 mins (Sandra uses a lovely le Creuset oval pot which we don't have so used next best thing in the cupboard!). Then flour the big mound of sticky dough and shape into a round (I used lots of flour at this stage). Very carefully drop bread into the heated dish and put the lid back on. I baked it for 30 mins with the lid on then 15 mins with it off as in Sandra's recipe. This did not look so done so I baked it for another 10 mins with the lid off. Then I put the mini loaf on a rack to cool completely.
I was pretty surprised how it turned out - it was delicious - crusty outside and soft inside.

My next goal is to make a sour dough loaf so I'm off to make my own sour dough starter!

Jo
xx

2 comments:

  1. That looks amazing, thanks for sharing. Oh and.....Happy Birthday!

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    Replies
    1. Thanks Josie, I've seen similar recipes on a few blogs - it really is that simple!

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