An archive from lockdown
I am one of those people that thought the lockdown will be some sort of a “holiday” or “long leave”, but this couldn’t be further from the truth. It’s 10pm, and I just realised that I have ran out of bread. I pride myself for using my hands to knead the dough as I find it therapeutic, however these days making bread has become mandatory and an everyday thing, that has in someway become wearing, rather than relaxing for me. Hence, I’m taking out all my tools to use less manpower as much as possible, to have more time to rest from all the daily activities that include spring cleaning and more work. Hence, for this bread I used a stand mixer.
So, if you have a stand mixer this is definitely the recipe for you, just hook it with a dough hook attachment, measure all the ingredients and let it run. I think this is the first time, I’m posting a bread recipe that requires a stand mixer, of course if you don’t have a stand mixer but want to make this bread, by all means go ahead. You will however be required to knead it in double the time the mixer took, about 10 minutes or until the dough becomes smooth and not longer sticky.
In this recipe I use three ingredients that may be somewhat difficult to find, that is, an Italian flour called Farina “00”, Fresh Yeast and Unbleached Bread Flour. You can find fresh yeast from one of our local supermarkets’ bakery section, just ask them to sell you fresh yeast. The Italian flour can be found in boutique grocery stores or online (just search Farina 00 on google), unbleached flour can be found in most grocery shops and online as well. However, all these can be substituted with what you already have or easily accessible, you will just have to google conversions, sorry, I’m too tired to do it. With all that said, herewith the recipe.
Andiswa’s Kitchen Italian Overnight Bread
Equipment
- Standmixer
- Cast iron pot or dutchoven
- Large mixing bowl
Ingredients
- 350 g Farina “00” Flour
- 250 g Unbleached Bread Flour
- 15 g Fresh Yeast
- 10 g Sea Salt
- 400 ml Water boiled and totally cooled
- Oil for greasing the bowl
Instructions
- Measure all the ingredients, and sieve the flours into your stand mixer bowl and add salt.
- Use 2 teaspoons of water from the 400ml to dissolve fresh yeast in a small bowl using a teaspoon to stir, do this until it’s dissolved and liquifies. Add into the rest of the water, mix and set aside.
- On the mixing stand (with a dough hook attachment), use a folk to mix salt and flour, then run it on speed level 1 while slowly pouring in the water to mix with the flours. After all the water is in, continue to run the dough hook on speed level 1 for 1 minute. Then increase the speed to 5 and let it knead for 5 minutes or until the dough pulls from the sides and the bottom of the bowl.
- Transfer the dough into a large mixing bowl greased with oil, cover with a cling wrap and let it rise overnight (or up to 8 hours), in the fridge.if it's during winter season, you can leave over the counter to rise overnight
- In the morning, take it out the fridge, and let it come to room temperature for an hour or so.
- Transfer the dough into a floured surface and shape into a round ball shape, place it into a cast iron pot (that has a lid) inserted with a baking paper.I use LK’s Bake Pot, No. 10 (not an ad) but you can use any cast iron pot that’s big enough).
- Allow it to rest in the pot for 20 to 30 minutes, while preheating the oven to 230℃.Bake for 30 minutes with the lid on and 20 to 25 minutes without the lid.
- Let the bread cool completely on a wire rack before cutting it. Enjoy!
