I had such success with a loaf of ciabatta this weekend I made another one the day after. The recipe is from Alessandra Zecchini’s Savour (New Holland, 2006). Such an easy recipe and I didn’t even get my hands doughy.

300ml warm water

2 tsp active yeast granules

¼ tsp sugar

300g flour

pinch salt

Place water in bowl with yeast and sugar. After yeast starts to bubble, about 5 mins, add flour and salt and mix into a dough. (It is very sticky and runny so I just use a spoon). Cover bowl with cling film and leave for 2 hours.

Line brownie tray with baking paper. Preheat oven to 180C. Pour dough into tray. Dust top with flour or add cumin seeds or sesame seeds. Bake for 25-30 mins.

Remove baked bread from oven and wrap in a tea towel then in a plastic bag and seal. Leave for 30 min so the steam will cook it further and make it soft and chewy.

Using a 26cm x 17cm brownie tray means the bread won’t spread out too much and become a flat loaf. Alessandra suggest you can use a baking tray and prop up the edges of the baking paper with ramekins filled with water to stop the bread spreading.