There's No Need to Know How to Knead (Bread)

The tongue-twister to help you master the art of no-knead breads

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The day I learned that bread doesn’t have to be kneaded on a work surface was the day my breadmaking changed forever.

This isn’t what most bread recipes tell you. They say to tip out the dough, work it for 10 or so minutes to develop the gluten. That, they say, is the only way to obtain airy, hole-filled bread. The kind that drips jam onto your hand.

The problem with this method was that I would add what felt like kilos of flour to stop the damn dough sticking to the surface. And my loaves always fell flat.

Which is no surprise. High hydration is the key to a good bread and by dumping flour into the mix I would have brought the hydration down by a sizeable percentage.

Anyone who caught the sourdough craze back in lockdown will have learned all about alternatives to kneading. Stretch and folds. Coil folds. Slap and folds. All done with oiled hands and in a bowl.

All these are fine (I’m a big stretch and fold advocate myself) until the hydration of your dough hits around 85%. This is when the weight of your water equals 85% of the weight of flour.

Trying to stretch and fold this shit is like trying to herd cats.

But I LOVE ultra-high hydration bread. It’s always so chewy and airy and gives me jam hands.

I was once told it was one of the hardest things to master and being the contrary sort, I figured I would master it.

Whoever said that was wrong. Or at least, it doesn’t have to be difficult. It can be as easy as a mix and a long prove in the fridge.

This is an 88% hydration recipe. It also requires absolutely no kneading, stretching, folding or coil folds whatsoever.

Don’t let anyone tell you that you can’t make airy bread without kneading. I mean, LOOK AT THE BASE:

You could strap the thing on a string and call it a balloon.

Even better, cover it with jam.

The length of time to make this bread may be long but the active time it takes is less than 10 minutes of work which makes it ideal for January hibernation mode.

The recipe is a mix of inspiration from Alexandra Stafford’s Sicilian pizza base at the excellent Substack Pizza Every Friday (I would highly recommend making this pizza), and a tried and tested 100% hydration Pan de Cristal (Spanish glass bread) by King Arthur Baking that I make pretty much weekly.

It’s a sheet pan loaf which means it’s akin to a focaccia, albeit less oily. Think of a thin rectangular bread rather than a sandwich loaf. This is my preferred bread to make at home because it’s less likely to be undercooked in the middle.

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I used a 23x33 cm (9x13 inches) sheet pan. You can scale up the recipe if you have a bigger sheet pan or more people in your house.

Because dough relies on weights being very specific, I’m using grams and milliliters only here.

• 300g all-purpose flour

• 264ml warm water

• 6g (1 tsp) instant dried yeast

• 8g flaky sea salt

• Olive oil

Mix all the ingredients - apart from the olive oil - in a bowl until the dough comes together in a sticky mess.

Throw a bit of olive oil onto the surface of the bread then cover the bowl and stick it in the fridge for a minimum of 16 hours. 24 is ideal and you can go up to 48.

Just before it went in the fridge

Heavily oil your sheet pan.

Take the dough out of the fridge and carefully tip it onto the pan. Turn the dough over to coat in oil.

Leave at room temperature for around 3-4 hours (err on the side of longer in cooler houses and shorter in warmer ones).

Time to shape. Using oiled hands, dimple and gently stretch the dough until it’s about half an inch thick. Don’t worry if it’s more or less than that, it will just take more / less time in the oven.

Remember, the aim is to keep as many bubbles as you can trapped within the dough so be careful with the shaping. If it doesn’t want to come, don’t force it.

Leave for another 1-2 hours at room temperature.

Preheat your oven to 250C / 480F. I like to preheat my oven for at least 45 minutes to ensure it’s super hot.

Place in the dough and cook for 10 minutes. Turn it around and cook until it’s golden. That took me around seven more minutes but this will depend on the thickness of your dough. Keep an eye on it — the bread shouldn’t take longer than 20 minutes in total.

Leave to cool on a wire rack.

Slice. And enjoy the jam hands.

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