Easy Bread

 


I have never made any pretense about my inability to bake a decent loaf of bread.  It's true.  I am the most pathetic bread baker ever.   My ex husband used to bake beautiful big fluffy loaves of bread.  I've said it before and I'll say it again . . .   I bake doorstops.   



That is, until now.   I found this recipe online for "Easy Bread."   Just google it and you will come up with all sorts of blogs that have done it, but it's pretty much the same recipe on them all.  And it's truly E-A-S-Y!  I kid you not!



It is soooooo easy a child could make it.  There is no kneading or effort involved.  All you do is stir the ingredients together, cover it with plastic cling film and then leave it to sit overnight.



Then you pop it into a hot pot and bake it, first covered and then uncovered.  The end result is a beautiful loaf of bread!  Seriously!



The end result is a beautifully rustic looking loaf that will have your family and friends thinking you are a genius baker!  And all you did really, was stir a few bits together and bang them in a pan.

*Easy Bread*
Makes one loaf

Printable Recipe

Easy bread, no knead bread, overnight bread, call it what you will.  It's all of these and more and it's one pretty darned good loaf of bread!

3 cups strong bread flour

1/2 tsp instant yeast

1 tsp fine sea salt

1 1/2 cups lukewarm water

olive oil


(This is what my sponge looked like after sitting for 15 hours.)

Measure the flour into a large bowl.  Whisk in the yeast and salt, then whisk in the water.  You will have a shaggy gloopy mixture.  No worries.   Cover the bowl tightly with cling flim and leave it to sit overnight, for 14 to 16 hours preferably.

When you are ready to bake it preheat the oven to 230*C/450*F/gas mark 7.  Place a heavy casserole with a lid in the oven.  (I use my medium Le Creuset one)  Dump the bread mixture out of the bowl onto a generously floured surface and using wet hands kind of shape it into a ball..  (It will be really stick, but if you hands are wet it won't stick as much to them.)

 

(Mine didn't make much of a ball, it just kind of spread out as you can see, but not to fear, it still worked out great!  You really can't fail with this.) 

 Cover with cling film and let it rest for about 25 to 30 minutes.   Remove the pot from the oven.  Add a dollop of olive oil and swirl it around the bottom and partially up the sides carefully.  It will sputter, but that's ok.



Dump the lump of dough into the hot pot, cover it with the lid and then bang it into the oven to bake for 30 minutes.  Remove the lid and then bake it for a further 15 to 20 minutes, until golden brown and the crust sounds hollow when you tap it on the bottom.  Dump out onto a wire rack to cool.  The crust will make crackling noises as it cools down.

 

This is a really lovely rustic looking loaf.  In short "perfect," and it was easy peasy.   What's not to like about that?



This was the perfect excuse to use the new bowl scraper that was sent to me by the people at ProCook.  With such a sticky dough I despaired of cleaning it out of the bowl easily, but this beautiful little silicone scraper did a wonderful job of cleaning it out!   Made non-stick silicone with a stainless steel insert for strength it did the trick perfectly and it's also dish washer safe!  What a wonderful little tool and right now you can buy one on their site for only £3.50.  They also sent me a nifty green silicone funnel.



I haven't used it yet, but it will come in very handy for all sorts of things and because of it's softness doesn't take up a lot of space in my utensil drawer.   It is also non-stick, dishwasher safe and measures about 5 inches in diameter.  You can buy one on their site for £2 at the moment. 

Many thanks to  the ProCook people and Wildcard PR for sending me these nifty little tools to play with.   Love them!