Sicilian bread — the no-knead loaf
“Bread is patience you can eat.”
The only bread I bake, because it asks so little: mix, wait, mix, wait longer, bake hot. The waiting is the recipe. Total hands-on time is about fifteen minutes; the rest is yeast doing the work while you do something else. Adapted from a video by Vito Iacopelli.
Ingredients
- 500 g flour (strong white, or half semolina for the Sicilian version)
- 360 ml water, lukewarm
- 7 g dried yeast (one sachet)
- 1 tsp sugar
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 2 tsp salt
Steps
- Wake the yeast. Water, yeast and sugar in a big bowl, then 400 g of the flour. Stir into a rough, sticky dough. Cover and leave for 15 minutes.
- Second mix. Add the olive oil, salt and the last 100 g of flour. Mix again until it comes together; it will still be soft. Cover and leave for 3 hours somewhere warm. It should double and look bubbly.
- Shape gently on a floured board into a round or a fat oval, trying not to knock the air out. Onto a baking tray or a preheated stone.
- Bake at 230 °C for 15 minutes, then turn down to 210 °C for 12 more. It is done when the crust is deep brown and the bottom sounds hollow when knocked.
- Cool for at least 20 minutes before cutting, however hard that is.
Tips
- A tray of water on the oven floor for the first 15 minutes gives a crisper crust.
- Day two: slice, toast, olive oil, salt. Day three: croutons or the base for aglio e olio breadcrumbs.