Bake your own biodynamic bread

Home cooking with your own or local produce is one of the best things you can do to lower your food miles and maintain your own good health. And making your own staple foods, such as bread, is really satisfying.

I’ve always liked baking bread, and have tried many different methods and recipes. I think I’ve found my favourite one so far in Jim Lahey’s no knead bread. Lahey is a New York baker who makes Italian style breads, and is encouraging everyone to bake his bread at home. He has published his basic recipe on his website, sullivanstreetbakery.com. It is also available in his book My Bread, by Jim Lahey with Rick Flaste, (W.W. Norton & Company, New York, 2009), which also includes many other great recipes.

I use Demeter’s biodynamic bakers bread to make Lahey’s no knead rustic Italian loaf, as it is really strong … and biodynamic.

The recipe is very simple, and there’s hardly any faffing about with the dough, but a friendly warning: you need to plan ahead, as the first rise takes 18 hours. If I want to put bread on the table at 1 pm Sunday, I have to mix my dough by 2 pm Saturday.

You will also need a large heavy ovenproof pot with a lid, like a Dutch oven (or a French oven if you prefer … is there a difference?).

This is good food. You can tear it apart with your teeth like a medieval peasant, or be posh and dip it in organic extra virgin olive oil.