The "No Knead" bread recipe adapted for Singapore and for complete novices

This post was inspired by a meeting with friends. It is aimed at people who

1. Who are complete novices
2. Like Ang Mo style breads.
3. Like to save money on above breads.
4. Prefer food where they control the ingredients (including preservatives).
5. Have minimum equipment.
6. but is relatively easy to do.

The "No knead" term is from a recipe that is famously available on the internet. However, it needs adaptation to the Singapore climate and lifestyle, and I've added step by step instructions for the complete novice.

Must have equipment
A weighing scale accurate to 1g. This is essential. Recipes that use cup measures are inaccurate (depends on how you pack the flour and other stuff).

A large bowl made of glass or steel.

A large tray (fits in oven). Even if the tray is non-stick, I suggest baking parchment paper to lay on top of it. Bread has been known to stick even on supposedly non stick surfaces.

At least one oven mitt.

A fridge with enough space for the bowl.

An oven with max temp 250C. As low as 220 should hopefully be ok - just use your highest setting basically.

Good to have equipment (cheap stuff)
Vegetable wash. This is a food safe way to clean your counter top and anywhere you have remnants of sticky dough/flour. It loosens the stuff and makes it much easier to deal with.



Dough scraper. Makes it easier to  clean flat surfaces. Also comes in handy to handle dough if necessary (though this recipe doesn't need it).



Ingredients (makes one medium loaf)
400g bread flour. No need to buy fancy flour, but do get bread flour.
4g instant yeast
8g fine salt.
300g cool water (from tap is fine).

Ice cubes

Method
Takes almost 2 days to complete (with an overnight). But mostly spent waiting.

This sequence assumes starting the night before bed and that you use air conditioning to sleep. Technically the dough needs 12 to 18 hours at about 22C to develop. We come close by first putting the dough into the fridge to practically stop the development. Then take it out and let it develop overnight with you in the air conditioning. The last bit of development can be normal Singapore room temp. If the weather is very hot, adjust timing.

Step 1 - mix initial dough and refrigerate

1. Mix salt, flour well in the bowl. 
2. Using your hands, make a hole in the center of the flour.
3. Pour in water in center. Pour in yeast on water and stir the yeast into the water a bit.
4. With your hands, slowly incorporate the flour into the water, getting faster as more flour collapses into the water.
5. Continue turning and pressing the dough until nearly all loose bits of flour have been incorporated into a ball and the bowl is mostly free of flour/dough. 
6. Cover the bowl e.g. with a large wet towel or plastic wrap.
7. Put into the fridge for 1-2 hours. Longer is ok. At 1-4C, development is very low.

Bowl with unmixed flour

good enuff

Step 2 - develop the dough

1. Take out the covered bowl and bring it into the air conditioned room with you. Obviously place it somewhere safe where you won't knock it over.
2. In the morning, just wake up normally. If the dough has not fully developed, which it probably won't unless you sleep an abnormally long time, leave it developing in a cool place in the house but no need aircon. It will develop faster if the air temperature is warmer - just keep an eye on the roughly 12 hours needed and/or its appearance (see point 3). Technically, the longer it takes, the more flavor is developed.
3.  When developed, the dough will be about doubled in size and have almost translucent bubbles all over.

It has doubled and there are bubbles

Step 3 - fold once and do a second ferment.

1. Flour your hands well.
2. Carefully tip out the dough onto a well floured surface. Do not break any strands - try to keep the dough whole, gradually breaking its hold on the container a bit at a time if necessary.
3. Gently (you don't want to break up any internal bubbles too much) stretch the dough into a rough circle or rectangle. You can dust the dough with flour to make it easier to handle. Use as little as necessary.
4. Start lifting and folding the dough inwards.
5. Finally get it into a rough ball. Pinch any seams shut.
6.  Putting the ball of dough with seam side down, use the edge of your hands (the "karate" edge) to push the bottom of the ball inwards, tightening the ball.
7. Cover the ball loosely with a towel and let it rise for about 1 hour until it fully proofs.
8. You can do the following test to check for final proof. Poke your finger into the dough about 1cm. If the dough springs back immediately to fill your hole, it is not yet proofed. If the dough does not spring back at all, it is over proofed. What you want is a dough that slowly fills back your hole.

 

see the indentations? They are slowly filling up.

Step 4 - Bake

1.  About half an hour before baking (ie about half an hour into the second ferment), you probably want to preheat your oven to 250C.
2. Even after your oven reaches 250C, you still want to make sure your dough is adequately proofed (see step 8 previous section).
3. A few mins before putting in the bread, toss a 4-5 small cubes of ice into the oven and close.
4. Use a sharp knife, or a razor blade (you may not have a properly maintained sharp knife, then a razor is more reliable), do a couple of cross wise slashes. This is not purely decorative - when the dough first hits the oven, it is going to spring up - you are directing that spring.
5. When ready, put the tray of dough into the oven. Toss in another 4-5 small cubes of ice (keep clear of dough of course). BE CAREFUL OF STEAM. When opening the door, wear a oven mitt and keep your face away for the first second or two. At the same time do not linger or all the steam will escape.
6. Wait for 12 mins.
7. Dial down temp to 190C. Then open the oven door for about a minute to let some heat and steam escape.
8. Close oven door and continue baking at 190C until the bread is deep brown. About 30-40 mins. Longer if you like more crust.

 

Step 5 - cool down 

Take the bread out, but resist the temptation to cut a slice. You need to let it cool in open air (do not cover) until it is merely slightly warm. If you cut a slice or cover, you risk losing water or steaming the bread respectively.

Storage tips
This bread has no preservatives. It will taste less than optimal as soon as the second day and may develop mold within 3-6 days (probably depends on how you store it and how you handled it), from experience. To preserve taste and quality, you can immediately freeze sections of bread you cannot consume. When ready to consume, you can defrost the bread and then bake it in oven (covering up the exposed internal portions with foil) about 150C for about 15 mins until done (no preheating, just start from cold). It will taste almost as good as fresh baked.