The best ever, no-knead Olive Bread
When I first read about the no-knead method of bread baking I thought it was a joke. But this bread claims otherwise. Based on a method by Jim Lahey, the no-knead method is worth a try. Less effort, perfect bread everytime!
Ingredients
1 Loaf
- 1 medium red or white onion, finely chopped
- 2 Tbsp olive oil
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 cup whole-wheat flour
- ¼ tsp dry active yeast
- 1 ½ tsp sea salt
- ½ cup black “kalamata” olives, chopped (I used 15 large olives)
- 1 Tbsp fresh mint, chopped
- 2 Tbsp fresh coriander leaves, chopped
- 1 ¾ cups lukewarm water
Instructions
- First caramelize the onion. Put olive oil and chopped onion in a saucepan over medium-low heat. Add a pinch of salt and let onion cook, stirring occasionally until golden. This may take 8-10 minutes since you should do this slowly, over low heat. You want the onion to become soft and golden, not burn, otherwise it may taste bitter.
- In a large bowl mix together the flours, yeast, salt, olives, mint and coriander. Add the sautéed onions together with whatever olive oil is left in the pan. Mix again. Add the water and stir briefly with a silicon spatula, wooden spoon or your hands until all ingredients are moistened and you have a very wet dough (picture 1). Cover bowl with lid or plastic wrap. That’s it. Now you need to let the yeast do its job.
- Let the dough sit, at room temperature, for at 12-20 hours. I usually mix the dough in the afternoon and bake the next morning. The dough will expand and become like a stringy, thick batter full of bubbles (picture 2). Tip the dough on a very well-floured piece of greaseproof paper. With the help of a pastry scraper or silicon spatula “fold” the dough 4-5 times, starting from the edges and folding over the centre, to form –roughly- a ball. You can also use your hands (dip them in flour first) but dough will be very sticky. I find that a silicon spatula works best.
- Lift the four corners of the greaseproof paper and transfer dough (don’t try to remove paper) to a bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and let dough rise for 2 hours (picture 3).
- Half an hour before rising time is over, put a cast iron pot (see note) in the oven and preheat to 240° C. No need to preheat the lid.
- When 2 hours passed, lift the dough using the four corners of the greaseproof paper and transfer carefully with the paper into the hot pot. Cover pot with its lid. Bake for 30 minutes. Remove lid from pot and carefully (pot will be hot!) remove greaseproof paper from bread. Continue baking uncovered for 15 minutes longer. During this time the bread will get a beautiful dark golden crust.
- Remove bread from the oven and cool on a wire rack. You will probably want to eat it right away but resist. The bread will improve in taste and texture after it cools at least 1 hour. Slice with a bread knife and listen to that wonderful sound of the crust cracking. The bread is best eaten on the day it’s baked but it’s still wonderful the next day. Only it won’t last that long.
Notes
If you don’t have a cast iron pot, you can use any ovenproof pot with a lid, just make sure it doesn’t have any plastic knobs or handles. If you don’t have one, some people suggest using a Pyrex pan, but I feel a bit uneasy using glass pans at such high oven temperatures. What you could use is a cake pan, and then tent it with foil. Just don’t preheat the cake pan, as you won’t be able to put the foil tent properly without burning your fingers. I have seen some people use 2 identical cake pans, one inverted on top of the other and then clipped together with metal clips, the ones you use to keep bundles of paper together. Do whatever suits you best; just make sure you will cover your bread while baking.