Okay – I love bread, I am a bit of a bread-nerd actually. I make it every day – it has become a routine for me to whip it up before I go to bed, plunk it in the fridge overnight or tuck it in on the kitchen counter with a wet cloth on top and kiss it goodnight. Go to sleep, wake up, turn the oven on, make my tea, put the bread in the hot oven, have my shower and ………. voila freshly made warm and delicious bread!!!
But before I share the bread recipe, I have something really exciting to share!
The 1st of November I will be participating in an awesome event – The Virtual Vegan Potluck!! I participated in one in May this year and it was so much fun! More than 100 wonderful bloggers from all over the world will bring their amazing food creations to the Virtual Potluck table! So stay tuned in – come and visit and join the fun.
I am not vegan, but I enjoy to nourish my body by feeding it lots of plant-based foods, and more plant-based foods than other types of food. The Virtual Vegan Potluck is a great way to get inspired – I promise you – there will be lots of scrumptious recipes.
I will be creating a new dessert. I can reveal that I am making a raw food healthy version of an old (fat) favorite. It will be soft, wild, intense and super delicious. And at the time, I will be in Copenhagen, so it will be created directly from my Danish kitchen in the heart of the old city.
So stay tuned – 1st of November 2012 – and now to the bread!
It is becoming popular to bake bread in an extremely hot oven in a cast iron pot with a lid! I have been watching these developments for a while, but had never tried it. One small thing was that I didn’t have the pot! Then one day I saw a post from In Pursuit of more – one of my favorite blogs! Shira had made bread so delicious, in a cast iron pot – it was so gorgeously beautiful that bread, that I had to make it. I went straight out, bought a pot and went in the kitchen to make bread. Gosh I could hardly sleep that night – excited to get that bread in the oven!
Let just say it – it became the crispiest, crunchiest bread I have ever tried – it was sooooo good!
Here is my recipe:
2 cups of water
1 teaspoon dried yeast
3 tbs olive oil
2 teaspoon salt
4 cups wheat flour
1 cup rye flour
1/2 cup wheat to work the dough on the counter
In a big bowl – add the water, dissolve the yeast in the water add the olive oil and start adding the flour a little at the time, while constantly stirring, until you have a dough.
Cover with a wet cloth and leave it to rest
The longer you raise it the better the bread – so preferably overnight!
For this bread I left it for 4 hours in the bowl, on the kitchen counter. I will show you the difference – later. They both turned out really nice but, the one bread that was left overnight was crispier and had more air holes in the structure.
After the 4 hours – I carefully scooped it out on to a clean counter with 1/2 cup of flour – there I carefully folded it and dusted it with extra flour like this
No kneading needed – cover with a wet cloth and leave to raise for another 2 hours like this
After about an hour and a 1/2, turn the oven on to 450F. Once it has reached the temperature – put the cast iron pot and the lid into the oven. Let them heat up for a 1/2 hr – no need to grease it or oil it, just heat it.
After heating it – carefully – and equipped with what you need so as not to burn yourself, take out the pot – and carefully, carefully place the dough in this extremely hot pot
Put the lid on and put it back in the oven to bake for 35 min. After 35 min. remove the lid and continue baking for another 10 min.
Viola the bread is ready to enjoy!
And, for the more patient cooks:
Here is the bread that I made which had been raising overnight. It was made with just organic wheat flour.
“The smell of good bread baking, like the sound of lightly flowing water, is indescribable in its evocation of innocence and delight” – M.F.K. Fischer
Anne Sture Tucker 
This bread looks AMAZING! I’m also a sucker for bread, though I only make it on the weekends… I really want to take my time to knead it and let it rise, so fresh bread on week days is sadly enough no option for me… But that makes the weekend bread even more special!
Feel free to come take a look at my blog, I only started a couple of days ago but I already put some recipes up.
Thank you so much for stopping by! Congratulations with your new blog – looking forward to visiting 🙂
This bread does look super crunchy but soft inside can’t believe no knead 🙂
Cheers
Choc Chip Uru
No it is SO easy to make! All you need is patience 🙂
Thanks you friend!
I love no knead bread! Can’t wait to try your version. I really need that cast iron pot though, it gets the crust so much crispier. Love the open hole structure in the last photo. We should open a club: Bread Nerds Anonymous 🙂 So happy you’re in the VVP!
Ha yes – lets make a BNA club 🙂
I tried to make it in a normal pot but, there is no way around it – the cast iron pot is the way. I LOVE it – perfect for so many things.
Looking forward to the VVP!
I make mine in a stainless lidded pot, it’s just not the same. I wonder if I can find one on special…..!
Ohhh, I think Ikea has them!
Yes they do!! And try asking family – I am sure if I had thought of it , my mother in law would have had 3 I could have in the cupboard!
Good luck 🙂
Unfortunately I don’t live anywhere near my family, plus I’m overdue for an Ikea trip! It’ll be fun!
Yayy have fun 🙂
Anne – cannot wait for your VVP creation!! I KNOW it will be spectacular! Gorgeous bread, holy smokes! I want to bust into some of that right now alongside my mac and cheez!
Thank you dear Annie!
I am looking forward to the VVP, which for me will be direct from Copenhagen 🙂
That’s the coolest!!
This is new to me — “… adding the flour a little at the time” and “put the cast iron pot and the lid into the oven”. Will give a try. Thank you, Chef Anne!
Thank you Amy – love that you visit!
Oh I hope you try this kind of baking – I think I will not be making “normal” bread for a while. The crispy crust is fantastic!
XX
A gorgeous version of crock pot bread Anne (and I just LOVE that you went out and bought the pot!)! Absolutely divine looking – and I think it is genius that you cooked it an extra 10 minutes with the lid off, I bet that creates a magical crust! Wow – I love this, just beautiful!
Thank you Shira and it is all because of you 🙂 Your bread looked so divine I just had to try it! Now I make it this way all the time – there is no going back!
XX
Wow. That bread looks incredible. What was the interior like flavor-wise? Was it yeasty and soft or thick and dense? No matter what it looks like it should be in my belly soon.
Thank you! Flavor-wise it is fabulous – because it raises for such a long time there is no yeasty flavor – it is soft and delicious. The longer it raise the better. Hard to describe, you have to try it – your belly would be so happy 🙂
I absolutely love this. What a yummy ritual! I wish I had that in me. Maybe I should start. I do love bread. . a lot! Do you think that I could do the vegan pot luck too?
Thank you Cass! It really is a yummy ritual and much easier than you think!
Yayy- would love to have you in the potluck!
If you click the “Virtual Vegan Potluck” image here in this post you will be directed directly to the VVP page – send Annie and Somer an email and they will be able to tell you. It is last min so don’t wait 🙂 Hope to see you there!
They are all booked! Damn, next year 🙂
Anne, that looks so good. I’m a bit of a bread maker klutz so always shy away from these perfect looking loaves, but maybe I’ll give this a try. Great pics BTW