'No-knead' overnight bread

[More pics at the foot of this post]

No knead and undercover*

Ingredients:
600g Dove's strong wholemeal flour
100g strong white flour
7g salt
500ml water
5g fresh yeast or 3g of dried active yeast
50g olive oil (optional)

Method:
Place the dry ingredients into a mixing bowl, make a well in the top and add the yeast. Pour roughly 100g of water over the yeast and gently stir (saves having to wash the jug) to dissolve the yeast - then add the rest of the water plus the olive oil if using.

Mix the dough roughly - using either your hand or a table knife - just until it's mixed together. If you've done this in a food storer, just clip the lid on and leave it on your worktop until you're ready to go to the next step. Leave it either overnight or for at least 8 hours. 

When you're ready to proceed, tip it out onto the worktop, stretch and fold it several times.  You might find it easier to work with a scattering of flour - or, if you don't want to add more flour to the dough, pour a little vegetable oil over the dough to make it easier to handle. If it's too wet for your liking, make a note to yourself to add less liquid next time.

The rolls in the pic above - I  divided the dough into 12 pieces and formed them into rolls, each weighing about 100g.

I huddled these together on some baking parchment, covered them with a roasting tray and left them to rise.

I then baked them at 220C (gas 7) for about 10 minutes undercover*, then removed the roasting dish and left them for a further 15-20 minutes. 

This bakes as a loaf, but is easily broken into rolls destined for the freezer when they've cooled.

Leaving yeast and flour together to mature for this length of time greatly enhances the flavour - and this 'no-knead' method is one of the easiest I employ.

14 smaller rolls

Which rose really well

*The 'undercover' or 'cloche' method of proving and baking bread is explained in some detail here.