We arrived home last night from our winter getaway to Thailand, and I've got a mountain of laundry to do and piles of pictures to sort through and groceries to buy and muffins to bake. I promise a post about our trip will be coming soon, but first lets bake some bread, shall we?
I don't know how it happened that I was way behind on this no knead bread craze, but I was, and it wasn't until Jessica posted a recipe for Jim Lahey's no-knead pizza dough (which I have yet to try) and linked back to his no-knead bread recipe that I even knew about it and decided to give it a try. Here's the embarrassing part: the recipe was posted online in 2006. TWO THOUSAND AND SIX?! Where the heck have I been?! Oh well, we're here now, that's the important thing, right?
You have to be organized enough to start the dough about a day ahead of when you want the bread, and you have to spend about 5 minutes actually handing the dough, but really, that's it. There is no kneading, no fussing around with a tray of water in the oven, and no need for a baking stone. What you get is fragrant, crusty, yeasty, bubbly artisan bread that is difficult to stop eating and sure to impress a crowd. Even if you've never baked bread before you should give this one a try. It's dead easy and super impressive. I'm planning to pick up a copy of Jim's book to see what other sort of trouble I can get myself into.
One year ago: Next Level Hummus
No Knead Bread Recipe:
Recipe, totally unmodified, by Jim Lahey
If this is your first time making this bread be sure to give the instructions a thorough read-through before you start. It's not hard or fussy at all, but it is important that you understand things in the timeline, like that the pot and the oven need to be hot well before the bread is ready to go in.
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3 cups all-purpose or bread flour, plus more for dusting
¼ teaspoon instant yeast
1 ¼ teaspoons salt
1 and ⅝ cups of lukewarm water
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In a large bowl combine flour, yeast, and salt. Add water, and stir with a wooden spoon until blended. The dough will be loose, 'shaggy' and sticky. Cover the bowl securely with plastic wrap. Let the dough rest at least 12 hours, preferably about 18, at warm room temperature.
Your dough is ready when the surface is dotted with bubbles and you can see on the edges of the bowl that it has risen. Generously sprinkle your counter top with flour and carefully scrape the dough out of the bowl onto the flour. The goal here is to not lose too many of the air bubbles. Sprinkle the top with a little more flour, and gently fold it over on itself a couple of times. Cover loosely with plastic wrap, and let rest about 15 minutes.
Using just enough flour to keep the dough from sticking, carefully shape the dough into a ball. Generously coat a cotton towel dish cloth (not terry towel) with flour - you need enough here to prevent the dough from sticking to the towel. Place the dough seam side down on towel and dust with more flour. Cover with another towel and let rise for about 2 hours, until dough is more than double in size and does not readily spring back when poked with a finger.
30 - 60 minutes before the dough is done it's last rise, heat your oven to 225 C / 450 F. Put a large heavy covered pot (I used a Le Creuset cast iron pot. You could also use a Pyrex casserole dish with a lid, or similar) in oven as it heats. When the dough is ready to go in remove pot from oven and place on a heat proof surface beside the dough. Slide your hand under the dish cloth and turn dough over into pot, seam side up. Shake pan once or twice if dough is unevenly distributed, but don't worry about it too much. It will straighten out as it bakes, and the point is a rustic looking loaf. Cover with lid and bake 30 minutes - this allows the bread to steam like it would in a commercial oven without fussing around with a pan of water in the bottom of the oven. Remove lid and bake for another 15 to 30 minutes, until the loaf is browned. Remove the loaf from the pot and cool on a wire rack. Try your best to let it cool completely before you slice into it.
Do ahead: This bread is free from preservatives, so it will only last a few days at room temperature. It makes a large loaf, so you can cut it in half and freeze part of it, wrapped well in plastic, if you're not going to go through it quickly.
All text and photos © The Muffin Myth 2012
kyleen
I love making bread, but all the mixing and kneading time drives me crazy sometimes when all I want is a warm slice of bread. This looks like the perfect alternative, since it's no knead!
themuffinmyth
Totally! You have to plan ahead for the long fermenting time, but really that's it. I made another loaf of this yesterday to take to a dinner party and no one could believe I'd made it. I hope you give it a try!
Cammy
Heck, you only just taught me to knead a few short years ago!
themuffinmyth
I know. I love the feeling of dough in my hands as much as anyone (okay, probably a lot more than most people) but open your mind and give it a try. You'd never be able to knead a dough this wet, and the wetness and baking it in a covered pot is what allows the loaf to steam and the result is pretty amazing. I haven't had a kneaded loaf turn out this well in quite some time.
Cammy
But kneading is such a labor of love...
themuffinmyth
I know, I didn't believe it would be all that good but I've made several loaves now and it's a really amazing bread. I had a good think about it and it makes sense to me now - the super long ferment time with a wetter than usual dough means that the gas bubbles are doing the work for you, forming and elongating the gluten chains. And the wet dough cooked with the lid on creates the steam component. It's so easy, give it a try!
Leanne
The thought of not kneading bread and still getting the homemade stuff is enormously appealing to me-- and the bread in the photo looks seriously delicious. I've heard of no-knead but haven't tried it, myself. I'm going to have to try this this weekend!