No knead bread dough is something i’ve been requested to attempt for a super long time and although sadly I need to let you know it does take a long time – it is super worth it and a very lazy recipe…. yes, you don’t need this, just mix it a bit!
Simply combine the four ingredients together into a large mixing bowl, and mix together well with a wooden spoon or spatula. You want the mixture to be quite thick with little movement, don’t worry about it being rough looking, just ensure the consistency is right, if it’s too dry add a little more water but not too much, if it’s too wet add more flour. But yep please don’t make it too wet.
Here’s the great thing, leave it in the same bowl that you mixed it in – yep, no clean bowl or olive oil that you sometimes see in some bread making styles. Cover the top fully in cling film wrap and leave for 24 hours! This may look at first that nothing will happen but indeed after about 12 hours you’ll see it’s risen, in fact 12 hours is probably enough if you want to rush but leave it overnight if you can for a full 24 hours.
Get a large casserole dish with a lid big enough for the dough to fit snuggly in the bottom. Cut out some baking parchment that will fit into the bottom of the dish later and leave to one side, now place the dish in an oven pre-heated to 450f or equivalent. Leave this for about 20 minutes for the oven to pre-heat fully and the dish (or dutch oven) to warm fully. Take the dough from the bowl and place onto the circle of baking parchment and shape slighly into a ball. Carefully sit it into the bottom of the dish and bake with the lid on for 35 minutes.
After that time remove from the oven and take off the lid, check to see it is nice and risen and baked through then leave the lid off and bake for a further 15-20 minutes until the top of the bread is golden brown. Allow to cool on a wire rack, before slicing through the super crunchy crust and serving.