DesignGeek

My mum made always bread herself, so I’m quite familiar with the process of bread making. I never really made it by myself as it looked like quite a bit of work.

A few summers ago I found a very interesting recipe for bread in a newspaper. It’s called ‘No-Kneed Bread’ and it’s very easy. With this recipe I made bread quite a few times and it was just delicious. Unfortunately, since we moved I haven’t made a single bread and I thought this would be a good occasion to get back into bread making and to introduce you to the ‘no-kneed’ bread recipe. This is my version of the ‘No-Kneed Bread’.

3 Cups flour (I use wholemeal spelt flour as this makes a delicious dense wholemeal bread)
¼ Tsp Dry Yeast
1¼ Tsp Salt
½ Cup Oats
¼ Cup Oat kernel
¼ Cup Sunflower seeds
1½ Cups Water

To make the dough I put all the ingredients in a big bowl and mix them with a wooden spoon. This dough will be quite wet and soggy but as the recipe says, there it is not necessary to kneed the dough or to get your hands dirty. I just left the dough in the bowl, covered it with cling film and let it rise at room temperature (around 21°C) for 12 to 18 hours.

To bake my bread I’m not forming a nice dough ball, instead I fill it into an oven-proof pot with a lid. I’m using a glass Pyrex form but any oven-proof pot with a lid will do. The original recipe suggested heating up the pot before the dough gets put in which will prevent it from sticking. After I burned my fingers once badly I just line the pot with baking paper.

The dough is ready when the surface is dotted with bubbles. I stir it through once more with a spoon before I put the dough into the pot. I put the lid on the pot and put it into the pre-heated oven (180°C).

I bake it for about 30min before I remove the hot lid and bake it for another 15-30min. (Depending on the oven the baking time may need to be adjusted). The bread should be nice and crusty and if you knock on the bottom of the bread it should make a hollow sound. I take it out of the pot and let it cool on a rack.

What a delicious looking bread! The inside is light and airy and the taste is just amazing.