Ray McVinnie easy bread dough

From quick and easy bread dough, rises a range of impressive baked goods

Though I like making kneaded bread the traditional way, it is handy to know how to make bread on the spur of the moment — especially one that doesn’t need a long kneading process to work up the gluten in the flour. The following recipes all use the quick bread dough I have used for years. It is made to be eaten immediately. The first time I saw a no-knead bread dough was many years ago, when I was chef at the Metropole restaurant in Parnell and we hosted guest chef, Tony Papas from the Bayswater Brasserie in Sydney. My clever friend Mark, however, gave me a more refined version which I have adopted.

This is a sticky dough so you need to work with it on a well-floured surface. Like scones, handle it as little as possible and if it springs back when you try to roll it out, stop, wait and let it relax before proceeding.

The basic dough can be kept overnight or for a few days, covered, in the fridge and used after bringing back to room temperature.

You can use this dough simply pressed out evenly in a shallow tray, very well oiled with EVO, its top brushed with more oil and sprinkled with flaky sea salt. Bake in a 200C oven for about 40 minutes or until well cooked like foccacia. It also makes good pizza dough.

It’s a great recipe to make on holiday — we make it at the beach when fresh bread can be a bit problematical.