A golden, crackling crust with a soft, open crumb, and no kneading at all. Just flour, water, yeast, salt and a hot cast iron pot. Once you’ve made this, bakery bread won’t taste the same.
Makes: 1 loaf
Time: 20 minutes hands-on, plus rising and baking
Ingredients
450 g plain flour, plus extra for dusting
7 g sachet instant yeast
9 g salt
375 ml warm water
Flaky salt, for the top (optional)
Method
Stir the yeast into the warm water and leave it until it turns foamy.
In a large bowl, mix the flour and salt. Pour in the yeast mixture and stir until there’s no dry flour left. It will be a shaggy, sticky dough.
Cover and leave on the bench until doubled in size, usually 2 to 3 hours depending on how warm your kitchen is.
About 30 minutes before the dough is ready, put a lidded cast iron pot in the oven and preheat to 220°C fan-forced.
Dust the bench with flour and scrape the dough out. Dust the top, then fold the sides in roughly to deflate and shape it.
Slide it onto baking paper, seam side down, and gently reshape it into a round. Sprinkle with flaky salt.
Carefully take the hot pot out of the oven, lower the dough in on its paper, and put the lid on.
Bake covered for 30 minutes, then uncover and bake for another 12 minutes, until deep golden.
Cool on a wire rack for at least 10 minutes before slicing.
My tip
The lidded pot is the secret. It traps the steam from the dough, which gives you that crackling, bakery-style crust. And be patient before slicing: the bread keeps cooking inside as it cools.
How I use it
A thick slice of this with homemade butter and jam is hard to beat, and it’s the base of some of my favourite meals, which you’ll find in my Kitchen Staples book.
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