Making bread from scratch is a labor of love, with most recipes requiring a long list of ingredients and lots of kneading.
But one TikTok content creator has found an alternative that requires neither. Vonnie regularly shares her “great family cooking ideas” on her TikTok account, @vonnie_m_andkids.
In a video watched by 9.6 million people, she demonstrated how to make fresh artisan bread. She explained: “If you have an oven in your kitchen you can make this bread, it’s so simple.”
Vonnie described her doughy creation as “super easy rockstar bread” and stressed that it contains absolutely no sugar.
A few tools are essential in addition to the four ingredients, including a large mixing bowl, a tea towel, a square cake pan, parchment paper and a baking tray.
No-knead bread recipe
Ingredients
500 g or 3.5 cups plain flour
10g or a teaspoon of salt
7g or half a teaspoon of dry yeast
375 g or two cups of lukewarm tap water
Method
First, add plain flour, salt and yeast to the bowl and mix with a wooden spoon.
Pour in the water, reserving only a fraction to ensure the right consistency. Mix well to form a paste then check the texture.
Vonnie said the goal is to make a “nice, sticky” dough without “any areas of dry flour.” She added: “It seems just a little wetter than it should be, but that means the dough is absolutely perfect. »
Turning to the camera, she revealed: “I didn’t actually use the two full cups of water. » Cover the bowl of finished dough with a cloth or cling film and leave to rise overnight.
Vonnie said she made her dough at 11 p.m. that night and let it rise on the kitchen counter until morning.
By 7:30 the next morning, the dough was what she describes as “nice and creamy,” “airy” and “super sticky,” plus it had doubled in size. Vonnie noted that if you don’t want to leave the dough overnight, let it rise for at least four hours.
As for how Vonnie made an artisan style loaf, she used an old square cake pan, filled it with water and put it in the bottom of the oven to create “a steam effect” for the loaf .
The next step is to set the oven to 220°C and place the oven tray over the square cake tin filled with water, to heat it up. Then cut out a sheet of baking paper, place it on the kitchen work surface and flour it generously with plain flour.
Now pour the dough from the mixing bowl onto the parchment paper and flour, then fold the edges towards the middle. The dough must then be divided in half and shaped.
Vonnie said, “That’s the fun part” where “you can turn the bread into whatever you want to make it.” She chose to make a straight baguette and another braided loaf.
Let the bread rest for 30 minutes then slide the parchment paper onto the hot baking tray and bake for 35 minutes.
Next, remove the water-filled square cake pan so the outside of the bread will crisp for another five minutes. Remove the bread from the oven and let it cool before cutting.
