What could be more perfect than freshly baked bread for breakfast on an easter morning?
That’s what I asked myself, and when my answer was “nothing” I had to bake some bread. If I’m doing bread I always go for the over night, no knead version. Partly cause I don’t want to wake up hours before breakfast is served and partly cause I don’t always want to stand kneading a dough forever. So I prepare the bread in the evening and put it in the oven in the morning, couldn’t really get any easier and it is so incredibly delicious. My family almost finished the whole loaf this morning.
Since I have made it a couple of times before an it is so simple I don’t really use a recipe, except from measuring how much water I need for one bread. Just add flour until you got a consistency you like, being sure not to make the dough to dry of course. I alway use about ½-⅔ parts wheat flour, on top of that I add whatever I feel like. My favourites are graham flour and rolled oats that I roast in a dry pan.
Recipe
1 ½ dl (⅝ cups) water
25 g fresh yeast or ¼ tsp instant yeast
1 ¼ tsp salt
1 tbs honey
7 dl (3 cups) flour (wheat + flour of choice)
- In a large bowl combine the yeast with some of the water (make sure the water is not warmer than finger temperature). Then add salt and honey, stir to combined and then add the flour. Now you don’t have to work the dough, just make sure it’s smooth and nice, it to supposed to be sticky. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap, I usually put a big plate on top of the bowl as well to make it extra airtight. Now just let it rest in room temperature over the night. The longer the better.
- Next morning: Heat oven to 225℃ or 450 ℉. If you have a covered pot like a cast iron or ceramic use that one, if not you can bake it directly on a oven tray. Place the pot or tray in the oven as it heats.
- Flip over the dough on a well-floured surface, gently shape it to a loaf or a ball and place it on a pice of parchment paper. Remember that you don’t need to knead it.
- When the oven is ready, take out the pan and place the parchment with the dough in it, cover with the lid. Bake for 30 min, then remove the lid and bake for another 10-15 minutes. If you’re baking it directly on a tray, you can either wrap some aluminium foil over it to create a “steam oven” or just skip it, but then be careful to not over cook it so it becomes dry. When done, place it on a rack and we are done.
Note: When the bread is ready it will almost sound like a drum when you’re tapping the bottom of it. If you’re unsure take the inner temperature, it is ready when the temperature is about 88- 97 ℃ or 190- 200 ℉.
