Fridge Bread!

Lockdown has improved my bread making skills - finally I have learnt two important rules. Relax and the bread will rise - take the time it needs, not the timetable you have set for it. After all, there has been plenty of time so I have learnt to use it. And rule number two, warmth - boil a kettle and heat the mixing bowl in advance. Put the kettle on again to fill  a roasting tin in the oven to create steam. My loaves rise and have a crisp crust - delicious success.

Then searching for a recipe for ciabatta, I came across this mad one. It uses time yes, but in the fridge. The liquid is not warm.The dough stays cold before you bake it. And it has no fat (I have learnt to use olive oil). It is from an American cook on the net,Sally's Baking Addiction, and it produces a chewy, open loaf like a ciabbata in the easiest way imaginable.It has become a staple for me.

Fridge Bread

420 g White Bread Flour 
2 teaspoons instant yeast
2 teaspoons coarse sea salt - or slightly less
360 ml cool water

1. Mix the flour, yeast and water together. Pour in the water and mix into a dough, using your hands if necessary. It will be sticky, so you could not knead it, but it needs to be more solid than a batter.Cover tightly and leave at room temperature for 2-3 hours. It will double in size.
2. Put into the fridge for at least 12 hours - or even 3 days.
3. Dust a large baking sheet with flour. Using a sharp knife or dough scraper, cut the cold dough in half. Using floured hands, shape each piece into a long loaf, about 9 x 3 inches - the shaping will be rough. Don't worry. Put them onto the prepared tin.
4. Leave for 45 minutes covered loosely.
5. Preheat the oven to as high as yours will go.Fill a roasting tin in the oven with boiling water.
6. Score the loaves with three slashes about 1/2 inch deep.
7. Bake 20-25 minutes.
8. Cool, eat one and freeze the other.
9. Marvel that it could be so good.