Bread without kneading in the Roman pot – focaccia variant

Ingredients for 1 servings:

• 350 g wheat flour type 550
• 150 g spelt flour type 630
• 2 tsp salt
• ½ tsp, stratified dry yeast
• 480 ml water
• 10 g coarse sea salt, from the mill
• 50 ml olive oil
• 150g pesto
• 100 g dried tomatoes
• some herbs, Italian, dried or fresh, chopped

Instructions

Working time approx. 30 minutes; Rest time approx. 12 hours; Cooking/baking time approx. 45 minutes; Total time approx. 13 hours 15 minutes

no-knead bread

Cut the tomatoes into thin strips. Combine the flour, salt, dry yeast, and tomatoes in a medium bowl. I use a salad bowl. Add water and roughly mix with a fork or something similar. It doesn’t have to be perfect; the long fermentation will help blend everything together. Cover the dough with plastic wrap and place a kitchen towel over it to weigh it down. Chill for about 12-14 hours (e.g., overnight). Not in the refrigerator, but rather in a cool hallway. If the dough is warmer, it will rise faster. But it’s worth giving the dough time. It will form a very soft, shapeless dough. The next morning, place the Roman pot with the lid in the oven. Preheat oven to 220 degrees Celsius (425 degrees Fahrenheit). Then, moisten the parchment paper under running water and crumple it up. Since the dough isn’t stable, I place the parchment paper in a clean bowl as an interim measure. Brush the paper with a little olive oil. Sprinkle a few turns of freshly ground salt over it. Using a spatula, transfer the sticky dough from the bowl to the baking paper. Using wet, spread fingers, poke a few holes in the dough. Spread about 1 teaspoon of pesto into each hole. When the oven has reached the right temperature, remove the earthenware pot (caution: it’s VERY hot!) from the oven and place the lid on a cloth (or a heat-resistant surface) next to it. Lift the baking paper with the dough into the earthenware pot. Drizzle the dough with a little olive oil and sprinkle with salt from the mill. If you like, you can sprinkle some herbs over the top. Place the earthenware pot with the lid on (caution: it’s hot!) in the oven for 30 minutes. After about 30 minutes, remove the lid and bake for another 15-20 minutes at 200°C. Tastes good both hot and cold. Tip: If you omit the focaccia ingredients (pesto, tomatoes, Italian herbs), this also makes a very tasty bread.