No Knead and No Oven Bread - cooked in a thermal cooker

This recipe is adapted from the now famous no knead bread recipe developed by Jim Lahey of Sullivan Street Bakery, Manhatten.
It was first published in the New York Times in November 2006 and has become one of the most talked about recipe on the internet.

The Ingredients:

1½ cups of bread flour.

1 to 1½ tsp of salt (depending on your taste).

⅛ tsp of instant dried yeast.

1 cup of tepid water.

You also will need a tin to bake the bread in that will fit into the inner pot of the thermal cooker. A round cake tin will do fine. This tin needs to be greased.

Method:

1. Mix all the dried ingredients together in a bowl before mixing in the water. You don’t need to beat.
2. Cover the bowl with cling film. Leave it in a warm place for around 12 hours.
3. Sprinkle a good layer of flour onto a piece of parchment paper and flour your hands well before scooping the dough out of the bowl and putting it onto the parchment paper.
4. Spread the dough out a bit and simply fold the dough sides over each other. Then fold the bottom to the top.
5. Turn the dough over and shape it gently so it fits in the tin before placing it on a trivet in the inner pot and putting the lid on.
6. Put the inner pot into the outer pot. Shut the lid and leave for 2 hours to rise again.
7. After two hours remove the inner pot.
8. Remove the tin from the inner pot and make sure it has risen before covering it with either recycled aluminium foil (eco care or similar) or baking parchment paper. Remember to make a handle to lift it out once cooked.
9. Put it back into the inner pot and fill with hot water to come ¾ up the side of the pan before putting on a heat source and bringing it to the boil.
10. Once boiling turn down to a simmer for 20 minutes.
11. Put the lid on the inner pot and put the pot into the outer pot for 2 hours.
12. When cooked remove and turn out onto a rack to cool.
    
    

Useful Tip 1 - How to cook for two people.

I was looking at Thermal Cookware site this morning and found this question and answer which I though may be of use to many who use a thermal cooker to cook for only two people.

Question:
Is it possible to cook a small meal as sometimes I do not have enough ingredients to fill a whole pot or I may just want to have enough for one or two people?

Answer:
If you are using the one pot Shuttle Chef you can certainly cook a smaller meal however it would only retain it's core temperature above 60 degrees (food safety standards) for less than 6 to 8 hours, therefore you could prepare a smaller meal in the morning to eat at lunch time or at lunch time to eat at dinner (say 4 hours later). Or you can bring the inner pot back up to the boil 4 hours later so that it would have another 4 hours before dropping below food safety standards.

When I have been cooking a small amount I have often put this in my cake tin which I cover with baking parchment and then put this on a trivet in the inner pot filled with enough water to come 3/4 of the way up the side of the tin. This system seems to work well. This is the same method that is used to cook cakes.

Boiled fruit cake - Mr D's Thermal Cook Book

I thought today that I would give you a recipe that we have done so many times and always gets great comments when people try it. This fruit cake was one of the first recipes I tried and I couldn't believe how good the cake was. You really must give it a try.

Apart from your thermal cooker you will also need a fixed base cake tin, some baking or greaseproof paper and something to raise the cake tin from the bottom. I use for this a food ring.


THE INGREDIENTS

• 375 gms of mixed dried fruit.
• 3/4 of a cup of brown sugar.
• 1 tsp of mixed spice.
• Grated rind of an orange.
• 1/2 a cup of water or orange juice.
• 1/4 of a cup of whisky you could use sherry instead (optional).
• 125 gms of butter.
• 2 lightly beatened eggs.
• 1 cup self raising flour.
• 1 cup plain flour.
• 1/2 tsp of soda bicarb.

OPTIONAL: you can replace the water, liquor and sugar with a 450 gram tin of crushed pineapple.

THE METHOD:

1. Place the dried fruit into a saucepan with the brown sugar, mixed spice, orange rind, water, liquor and butter.
2. Bring the mixture to the boil and simmer uncovered for 5 minutes.
3. Allow the mixture to cool.
4. Mix in the eggs.
5. Stir in the sifted flour and soda bicarb.
6. Line a 16 cm round cake tin or Pyrex dish (one that fits nicely into the inner pot) with baking paper.
7. Spoon the mixture into this prepared cake tin.
8. Lay a round of baking paper on top of the cake mixture then cover the tin with a trimmed piece of foil to prevent condensation from seeping in.
9. Place a trivet or metal pastry ring in the base of the inner pot and rest the cake tin on this. (If you are using the 3 litre pot the cake tin can sit on a folded pad of foil).
10. Pour enough hot water into the inner pot so that the level comes halfway up the sides of the cake tin.
11. Bring the water to the boil.
12. Put the lid on and turn down the heat to simmer gently for 30 minutes.
13. Turn off the heat and transfer the inner pot into the insulated container for a minimum of 3 to 4 hours.
    

Note: As the cake cannot dry out or overcook you can actually leave this cake over night before removing it to serve.