No Knead Bread

Fougasse - see below for recipe

I can be a lazy cook, cooking what I know.  Every now and then it’s good to push yourself.

So a couple of weeks ago I joined the Fresh From the Oven monthly challenge.  Each month there is a new baking challenge.

This is my first and was nearly my last challenge.  When I read the recipe I didn’t have my Le Creuset and I could have borrowed one but what if I ended up burning someone else’s – they are just too expensive to replace.  I looked at the alternative which was the Fougasse – Claire’s picture alone made them look fantastic.  How was I going to make that?  I considered opting out but then what was the point of joining in the first place.

No Knead Bread taken from Claire’s Things we make

The Mix

• 15oz Strong White bread flour – it works best with all white I think
• ¼ tsp instant easibake yeast (out of a sachet)
• 1 tsp table salt

Stir together well then add 10.5 fl oz of lukewarm water (a mugful)

Slosh it round into a gooey lump of dough with a fork

Leave in a big bowl and cover with cling film or put the bowl in a bin bag
Leave it in kitchen for 16-18 hours – or more if you forget.

The 16hr Sloosh

Use a dough scraper/cutter or your fingers, to scrape the wet porridgy dough away from the sides, using plenty of flour to stop it sticking, and shuffle it back into a nice round shape. Don’t be tempted to knead it.

Cover with a tea towel and leave for 2 more hours.

The Bake

Preheat oven to 200-220 and put in a lightly oiled Le Creuset or other large cast iron casserole with a lid on until the oven and the pan are super hot.

Again use the scraper and a good sprinkle of flour to detach the dough from the bowl without puncturing it’s airy goodness. Then quick as you can, without losing the heat from the oven and pan, tip the dough onto one hand then flop it into the hot pan the right way up again and put the lid back on and get it back in the oven immediately.

• Bake for 30 minutes lid-on
• Then cook for 10-12 minutes more, lid-off until golden brown

If it’s not hollow sounding on the bottom put it back in, without it’s tin for an extra 5 minutes. Tip out and cool well before trying to slice

No Knead Fougasse (as in the picture above)

After it has had it’s 2nd proving of 2 hours, very carefully tip it onto a well floured board. Keep the air in it and don’t puncture. You will need to sprinkle flour on the top of the sticky dough so it coats it as you pull it away from the side with a rounded plastic dough cutter.

Use the cutter to carve off a fifth of the dough in a rough rectangle.   Stretch it out gently to make it a bit bigger then use the cutter to cut a slash diagonally across the rectangle. Then make 2 more slashes radiating out on either side of this one. stretch out to make into a sort of cheeseplant leaf shape.

Slide this onto a very hot preheated baking sheet in a 220 degree/Gas 7 oven for 10 minutes.  Cook this in batches of two so as not to lose the heat in the oven.

Fab to rip up and have with soup. Eat warm.

Squirrel’s Larder Conclusion

This recipe is so easy and clever.  I put all my ingredients into a tupperware container, combined as described and then put the lid on and left it in a corner until the next day.  I had little hope that this would actually work out, I was already concocting my excuse email for not taking part this month.

Oh me of little faith – the next day I opened the lid and the smell was heavenly, very yeasty.  At this point I started to get excited, I have got this far with actually no or very little work how difficult could it be?  Not very – I divided the dough into five, cutting the dough with a sharp knife into segments.   Each segment was lightly handled and the using the palms of my hands I flatten out the shape and when it looked like a big leaf I cut slits into the dough.  I then used my fingers to push the dough apart emphasising the slits.

Two of them I cooked for ten minutes at Gas 7.  These looked lovely, they had risen a little but were pale in colour.  They slid off the baking sheet.  Everyone’s oven is different and cooks differently, you have to get to know it.  Mine is over fifty years old and an excellent oven but sometimes things need a little extra time.

Two of them I cooked for fifteen minutes at Gas 7.  These looked lovely too, they had also risen and had coloured slightly, this I think was helped by the fact that I had brushed them with olive oil and sprinkled sesame seeds over them.

The last one I cooked for fifteen minutes  at Gas 7.  I left this one plain as I did for the first two and the extra cooking gave it a little more colour.  To taste, the crust was a little crisper which I preferred.  The texture is very much like ciabatta.

This is a fantastic recipe, thank you Claire for choosing it.