Poilâne‘s got competition! Welcome to a new era of seriously wonderful home-baked artisan bread made in minimal time, with minimal effort and minimal mess.
Seeing is believing, the eating is even better but I’m not sure I want to share the secret just yet. In the meantime I’ll enjoy showing off my (minimal) efforts until either word reaches the shores of Blighty or I can’t hold it in any more. And yes, I made this myself and what’s more, in a naff Neff oven. Really.
Here’s a video of the authors providing the exact method and quantities in 4 minutes flat.
Brilliantly simple & simply brilliant – so I bought the book.
http://www.startribune.com/video/11967361.html
Gastroplod 
Nice bread. Im guessing you made it using the technique where you bung everything in a bowl, leave it over night to froth up and then cook it in a pan with a lid on.My brother sent me a receipe called “no effort bread” and the results looked similar.
Thanks Kim – that’s a good guess, you could call it a development of that method but with a longer rise & even less effort, if you can believe that! I remember trying “no effort” bread – call me weird but more than one thing about baking bread in my beloved Le Creuset casserole just didn’t sit right with me. Not so with this technique – and with a better crust and better flavour it tastes as good as it looks.
Slow Food London explains the Chorleywood Process and its effects. Persuasive stuff. http://slowfoodlondon.blogs.com/general/2008/05/slow-bread-camp.html