Artisan No-Knead Bread

The French say that you always judge good quality bread by the crust, and I couldn’t agree with them more. The crust is the key to tasty, addictive, and utterly scrumptious bread! And this recipe allows you to make that bread, or better, achieve that crusty divine crust!

This recipe is a true gem! Actually, I can’t believe just how easy and amazing this recipe is. Every time I make it, I think that it must be too good to be true and that the end result will be a disaster, but no, it is a fail proof, 100% quality guaranteed recipe!

As the title points out, you don’t even have to knead this bread. But you do have to be patient. The dough needs to be made 12 – 18 hours before you plan on cooking it. I always make it the night before and let it rise on the kitchen bench. And, the key to this bread is cooking it in an extra hot oven in a cast-iron casserole dish. Now, if you don’t have Dutch oven cookware, well let this be your excuse to invest in some. Now, I don’t mean the cheap, Chinese made brands. I mean the real deal – the one and only Le Creuset. They recently opened up their first flagship store in Melbourne’s Emporium – and it is beautiful! They stock their whole range, which includes things you can’t find in other retailers so if you want to immerse yourself in the colourful world of cast-iron cookware and re-stock your kitchen with cookware Le Creuset is the place to go.

Okay, enough talking and get baking!

Ingredients:

3 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons Kosher salt

½ teaspoon active dry yeast

1½ cups lukewarm water

Method:

In a large bowl, stir together flour, salt and yeast. Add the water and stir using a wooden spoon until the mixture forms a shaggy but cohesive dough. It will be a little wet but that is how it is supposed to be.

Cover bowl with cling wrap and let it sit at room temperature for 12 – 18 hours.

After dough is ready, preheat over to 230 degrees Celsius. Place your Dutch oven (i.e. cast-iron casserole dish) uncovered into the preheated over for 30 minutes.

In the meantime, turn dough onto a well-floured surface and with floured hands form the dough into a ball. Cover dough loosely with plastic wrap and let it rest. Once the 30 minutes are up, carefully remove the Dutch oven. With floured hands, place the bread into it. Place lid on top and bake for 35 minutes covered. Carefully remove cover and bake for 10-15 minutes.

Take out of oven and carefully remove bread to a cutting board.

Smother on butter or dunk in beautiful olive oil and most of all enjoy!