Can I Make The Old-Fashioned Sandwich Loaf Without A Tin?

Our answer

Nigella's Old-Fashioned Sandwich Loaf (from COOK, EAT, REPEAT) is a soft-crumbed loaf that is perfect for sandwiches, toast or simply eaten sliced and slathered with butter. The dough does not require long kneading, just three short 10-second kneads with 10 minutes of resting in between each knead.

One of the reasons that the loaf does not require much kneading is that it has a fairly high hydration level of around 75% (and 84% if you include the butter). Liquid helps to develop gluten and means less kneading is needed. However, it does make a soft dough and this will mean that if the bread proves on a baking sheet, it will spread outwards as well as upwards. This will lead to a slightly squatter, flatter loaf. You could certainly try forming it into a cottage loaf, or you could try the proving method for Jim Lahey's Basic No-Knead Bread, where the round (boule) loaf is left to prove while wrapped in a tea towel (which will help to stop it from spreading as much) and then flipped it onto the baking sheet just before baking. For a boule or cottage loaf, the baking time is likely to be 35-40 minutes, but you should bake the loaf until the crust is golden and the loaf sounds hollow when tapped on the base.