No-Knead Cheese Bread Rolls
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This recipe yields 5 small bread rolls, but if you prefer to make one large loaf, just don't cut the dough into smaller pieces, shape the dough into a ball and leave to rise for 2 hours in the bowl (which you dust with flour). Bake for 30 minutes with, and 15 minutes without the lid.
Ingredients
  • 480g (or 3 to 3¾ cups) of all-purpose flour*
  • 1 teaspoon of table salt
  • ¼ teaspoon active-dry yeast
  • 100g (or 1 cup) of flavorful grated cheese of choice, I used old Gouda
  • 360ml (or 1½ cup) lukewarm water
  • more flour for dusting
  • semolina flour for dusting
Instructions
  1. In a large bowl, mix together the flour, salt, yeast and cheese. Add the water and, using one hand, roughly mix the water into the dry ingredients. I usually hold one tablespoon of water back and add it after I've mixed a little to make sure even the flour on the bottom the bowl gets mixed in.The resulting dough will be very wet and sticky.
  2. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and leave to sit on the countertop at room temperature for 18 to 24 hours. Once the dough has risen dramatically and the surface of the dough looks nice and bubbly, dust your counter generously with all-purpose flour. 'Pour' the dough, which will still be very wet, onto the floured surface, scraping the sides of the bowl with a wooden spoon. Dust the top of the dough with some more flour and gently lift and fold the dough over onto itself a couple of times.
  3. Cut the dough into 5 equal chunks and shape each piece of dough into a ball by tucking the sides of the dough underneath. Generously dust a baking sheet with flour, place the dough rolls on top and place the baking sheet in a large plastic bag. Leave the rolls to rest for another two hours or until doubled in size.
  4. In the meantime, preheat the oven to 230°C or 450°F (standard oven setting). Place a lidded Dutch oven or heavy cast iron pot in the oven as it heats up to get it piping hot.
  5. Once the dough has properly rested and the oven and the pot are hot, take the pot out of the oven, take the lid off and sprinkle some semolina flour in the pot. This will prevent the dough from sticking. Dust your hands with some all-purpose flour and carefully place two dough balls into the pot. Put the lid back on and place the pot back in the oven.
  6. After 20 minutes of baking, remove the lid and bake for another 15 minutes. Take the pot out of the oven, then take the bread rolls out of the pot and leave them to cool on a wire rack for 1 hour before cutting into it.
  7. Discard the semolina flour and place the pot and the lid back in the oven to heat up again. If you skip this step, the next bread rolls won't rise as much.
  8. Once the pan and lid are hot again, sprinkle some more semolina flour in the pot and place two more dough balls in the pot. Cover with the lid and bake for 20 minutes. After 20 minutes, take the lid off and bake for another 15 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow to cool on a wire rack.
  9. Again, discard the semolina flour, reheat the pot and lid, sprinkle the bottom of the pot with semolina flour, place the last dough ball in the pot, cover with a lid and bake for 20 minutes, remove the lid and bake for another 15. Then remove from the oven and leave the bread rolls to cool for 1 hour before cutting into them. Enjoy!
Notes
* although Jim Lahey's original recipe officially calls for 375g of flour ("3 cups") I found that this amount of flour will give you a very wet dough that is impossible to handle. If you're working with grams, go for 480g, and if you're using cups, add a little more flour if the dough seems to wet to you. The dough should be sticky, but not milkshake-thin...
Recipe by The Tough Cookie at https://thetoughcookie.com/2014/02/07/no-knead-cheese-bread/