No-knead Overnight Bread

This is the simplest bread you can lay your hands on to make and you will be surprised how delicious it turns out. The best part about this bread – you don’t have to knead the dough for 10-15 minutes and there are no fermentation phases. You just need to prepare the dough and keep it for fermenting whole night and bake it in the morning – In the Dutch Oven. Simple, isn’t it!! You can also add your favorite cheese while making the dough to get that cheesy flavor in your bread. Also, you can spread some butter and herbs like, rosemary, basil, thyme, oregano, etc. on the top of the dough, to the make this bread all the more delicious.

Ingredients

  • All Purpose Flour (Maida) – 400 gms (3 and 1/2 cups)
  • Warm Water – 300 ml (1 and 1/2 cups)
  • Active Dry Yeast – 1/2 tsp
  • Gluten Powder – 2 tsp (Optional)
  • Salt – 1 and 1/2 tsp or 2 tsp

Method

  1. Whisk together flour, salt, gluten, and yeast in a bowl with a hand whisk.
  2. Gradually add water to the flour mixture and keep stirring using a hand whisk or a wooden spoon. Add water till you have got a soft dough.
  3. Transfer the dough ball to a large flour-dusted bowl. Cover the bowl with a cling film and place it for 12-18 hours at room temperature.
  4. After 12 hours, the dough should have got bubbles and doubled in volume.
  5. Take the dough on a floured surface and smoothen the dough. Fold the corners of the dough inside to form a smooth ball. Place the dough on a parchment paper after spreading the flour on the paper.
  6. Let the dough rest for 30 minutes. Make a cut on top of the dough ball and spray some water on the top.
  7. Pre-heat the oven at 230°C and place a dutch oven (cast iron casserole) in the oven during pre-heating. Let the dutch oven warm up for about 30 minutes.
  8. Once the oven is pre-heated, place the “dough on the parchment paper” in the dutch oven inside the oven.
  9. Cover the dutch oven and bake for 30 minutes.
  10. After 30 minutes, remove the lid of the dutch oven and bake the bread for another 15 minutes.
  11. After 15 minutes, remove the bread from the oven and place it on a cooling rack for about 30 minutes.