Unfekmented Bread
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the dough
In a bowl, mix 1 pound of flour with 1 teaspoon of baking powder and ½ teaspoon of coarse sea salt.
Add enough water to form a light, firm dough (about ½ pint).
Sprinkle flour on a board and turn the dough out onto it, keeping your hands floured to prevent sticking.
Knead the dough quickly and shape it into small loaves.
Bake and cool
Place the loaves on a floured baking sheet and bake in a preheated oven at 400°F (200°C) for 30 minutes.
To check if the bread is done, insert a clean knife; it should come out bright and clean.
Remove the bread from the oven and let each loaf cool on its side.
Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.
Explore the science
What each ingredient does
- Flour
- Forms the dough's structure once mixed with water.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas that lifts the dough so the loaves rise without yeast.
- Water
- Hydrates the flour so it binds into a dough.
The step that matters
Knead the dough quickly. Overworking a dough made without yeast can make it tough and dense. Kneading briefly and keeping the dough floured limits sticking and toughening, and the baking powder then works quickly to lift the loaves.
“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.
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