The saddest thing happened the other day – the bottom heating coil in our oven decided to stop working. We don’t even have our oven for that long, just a bit over two years. However, we bake stuff almost daily. Our oven is still functional, but things just don’t get done nearly as quickly as before. Hopefully, we’ll be able to fix this issue soon.

In other news, I’ve been exploring no-knead breads some more and made a really easy plain white loaf. It’s perfect for sandwiches or to slather with some delicious jam. The actual work with this bread is maybe 10 minutes altogether. However, my advice here is to be patient and not skimp too much on waiting period while the dough ferments. Just don’t try and rush this. Because that’s how the magic happens. During fermentation period tiny air bubbles in bread will form and those are responsible for awesome texture.

INGREDIENTS:

(Yields 1 small loaf / 0.16 EUR)

For the bread:

1 ½ cups all-purpose flour (0.10 EUR)

1 tbsp sugar (0.01 EUR)

½ tsp salt (0.01 EUR)

¼ tsp dried active yeast (0.03 EUR)

¾ cup warm water (–)

Additional:

Extra flour for sprinkling (0.01 EUR)

METHOD:

In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, salt and yeast. Pour warm water over it and mix everything for a minute with a spoon, until shabby dough forms. This dough is gonna be soft and sticky. Don’t worry if it’s not completely even and just cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let it sit in a warm room for 3-4 hours. After 3-4 hours the dough is going to double or even triple in size and it’s going to be full of air bubbles.

Take a round and heavy oven-safe dish together with its lid (cast iron, clay, etc.), place it in the oven and set the oven to 220°C. It’s going to take the oven and your heavy dish about 30-40 minutes to get thoroughly warmed up and in the meantime you can prepare the dough.

Turn the bubbly dough out on a well-floured work surface and using a scraper fold it over about 10 times. Place parchment paper in a bowl similar in shape and size to the heavy dish you placed in the oven and gently transfer the dough there. Cover with clean kitchen towel and allow to rest in a warm room for another 30-40 minutes, while the oven is heating up.

After 30-40 minutes, remove hot heavy dish from the oven. Now comes the scary part of carefully transferring the dough, together with parchment, into a piping hot dish. Please don’t burn yourself! Cover the dish with its lid and bake the bread covered for 20 minutes. The steam captured inside the dish is going to do wonders and make bread taste juicy and magical. After 20 minutes remove the lid and bake the bread for 10-15 more minutes, so a beautiful crust can form. If you’re unsure about doneness, you’ll know that the bread is done when it sounds hollow after you tap it on the bottom.

Remove baked bread from the heavy dish and allow it to cool completely on a wire rack before slicing into it.

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Neki dan nam se desila najtužnija stvar – donji grijač na pećnici nam je krepao. Pećnicu čak ni nemamo tako dugo, malo preko dvije godine. Međutim, skoro svaki dan pečemo nešto. Pećnica nam i dalje radi, ali se stvari ne peku tako brzo kao prije. Nadam se da ćemo taj problemčić ubrzo riješiti.

S druge strane, još sam malo eksperimentirala sa kruhom i napravila jako jednostavnu običnu bijelu štrucu koja je skroz savršena za sendviče ili da ju premažete nekim finim pekmezom. Stvarni posao oko ovog kruha je sve skupa možda 10 minuta. Međutim, moj savjet je da budete strpljivi i ne požurujete stvari dok tijesto fermentira. Tu se upravo dešava čarolija. Za vrijeme fermentacije u tijestu će se formirati mali mjehurići zraka i upravo su oni odgovorni za divnu teksturu.

SASTOJCI:

(Za 1 malu štrucu / 1,16 kn)

Za kruh:

1 ½ šalica glatkog brašna (0,75 kn)

1 žlica šećera (0,05 kn)

½ žličice soli (0,01 kn)

¼ žličice suhog kvasca (0,25 kn)

¾ šalice tople vode (–)

Dodatno:

Malo glatkog brašna za posipanje (0,10 kn)

PRIPREMA:

U srednjoj zdjeli pomiješajte brašno, šećer, sol i kvasac. Zalijte toplom vodom i promiješajte kratko žlicom dok se ne oformi labavo tijesto. Ono će biti mekano i ljepljivo. Ne brinite se ako vam nije sve skroz jednolično i samo pokrijte posudu plastičnom folijom i ostavite da odstoji 3-4 sata u toploj prostoriji. Nakon 3-4 sata tijesto će se udvostručiti, ako ne i utrostručiti, te će biti puno zračnih mjehurića.

Uzmite okruglu tešku posudu sa poklopcem koja može u pećnicu (od lijevanog željeza, keramike i sl.), te ju stavite da se grije u pećnicu na 220°C. Pećnici će skupa sa posudom trebati oko 30-40 minuta da se skroz ugrije, a za to vrijeme pripremite tijesto.

Iskrenite fermentirano tijesto na dobro pobrašnjenu radnu plohu. Strugalicom za tijesto ga presavinite desetak puta. Stavite papir za pečenje u posudu koja je veličinom i oblikom slična onoj koja vam se grije u pećnici te nježno u nju preselite tijesto. Pokrijte čistom krpom i ostavite da se diže u toploj prostoriji 30-40 minuta, dok se pećnica grije.

Nakon 30-40 minuta izvadite ugrijanu posudu iz pećnie. Sada dolazi zastrašujući dio kada tijesto skupa sa papirom trebate preseliti u vruću posudu. Molim vas nemojte se ozlijediti! Pokrijte posudu njenim poklopcem i stavite kruh peći pokriven 20 minuta. Para koja se skupi u posudi će učiniti to da kruh bude sočan i čudesan. Nakon 20 minuta maknite poklopac i pecite kruh otklopljen još 10 minuta kako bi se napravila lijepa korica. Ako niste sigurni da li je kruh gotov, kucnite ga po donjoj strani. Ako zvuči šuplje, onda je gotov.

Izvadite pečeni kruh iz posude i ostavite ga da se skroz ohladi na rešetci, a prije nego što ćete ga krenuti rezati.