This no-knead bread is adapted and very much simplified from a recipe by Jim Lahey, of New York’s Sullivan Street Bakery. It is based on the principle that kneading can be omitted when making bread by using very little yeast, a soft, slack dough, a long rising time and by baking it in a preheated pan with a lid.
Once you master this simple method you’ll want to make it regularly. It needs time but not labour; it’s just a matter of mixing the flour, salt, yeast and a little bread improver and water in a bowl 20–24 hours before you want to bake it.