The latest in bread-making, according to a colleague, is no-knead bread. There're a bunch of recipes on the Net, all you do is stir the ingredients together, leave it to proof for as long as 12 to 18 hours, stick it in the oven and there you have it -- no-knead, no-fuss bread.
And she's had good results -- after some experimenting with ingredients and proofing time and definitely no elbow grease. And if you have to wait almost all day for the dough to rise, then it's a lesson in patience. All good things come to those who wait, etc. I'm dubious. To me, zero elbow grease takes the joy out of breadmaking. It's the kneading and pounding and thumping that does it for me. I find it therapeutic and in a good session, you can really whack the blues out of your system. If all I needed to do was to stir things together and wait, I might as well make yogurt. Or use a bread machine. Or just get a store-bought ready-sliced loaf.
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Yes, don't know about you, but I learnt breadmaking from that guru of breadmaking at Warwick - Paul Fountain. Remember those sessions in International House? I still remember the joy and amazement at my first loaf, that bread actually could be made by hand (instead of being bought from a shop/supermarket). The recipes came out of the Mennonite book "More with Less". Don't know if I'd bake to that same recipe - the loaves were awfully dense and chewy.
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