Thursday, November 16, 2006

No-Knead Bread

I had to try it, the reviews were too good and plenty. The recipe was super easy, the bread was good. Crunchy outside, soft inside, everything you'd want from a bread. Next time, I think I'm going to experiment with Sourdough starter.

Dough!
My dough.

Fresh out of the oven
Fresh from the oven.

No Knead Bread
The inside.

No-Knead Bread
Jim Lahey at the Sullivan Street Bakery via Mark Bittman at New York Times

Yields one 1 1/2 pound loaf

3 cups all-purpose or bread flour, more for dusting
¼ teaspoon instant yeast
1¼ teaspoons salt
Cornmeal or wheat bran as needed.

1. In a large bowl combine flour, yeast and salt. Add 1 5/8 cups water, and stir until blended; dough will be shaggy and sticky. Cover bowl with plastic wrap. Let dough rest at least 12 hours, preferably about 18, at warm room temperature, about 70 degrees.

2. Dough is ready when its surface is dotted with bubbles. Lightly flour a work surface and place dough on it; sprinkle it with a little more flour and fold it over on itself once or twice. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rest about 15 minutes.

3. Using just enough flour to keep dough from sticking to work surface or to your fingers, gently and quickly shape dough into a ball. Generously coat a cotton towel (not terry cloth) with flour, wheat bran or cornmeal; put dough seam side down on towel and dust with more flour, bran or cornmeal. Cover with another cotton towel and let rise for about 2 hours. When it is ready, dough will be more than double in size and will not readily spring back when poked with a finger.

4. At least a half-hour before dough is ready, heat oven to 450 degrees. Put a 6- to 8-quart heavy covered pot (cast iron, enamel, Pyrex or ceramic) in oven as it heats. When dough is ready, carefully remove pot from oven. Slide your hand under towel and turn dough over into pot, seam side up; it may look like a mess, but that is O.K. Shake pan once or twice if dough is unevenly distributed; it will straighten out as it bakes. Cover with lid and bake 30 minutes, then remove lid and bake another 15 to 30 minutes, until loaf is beautifully browned. Cool on a rack.

3 comments:

IF THE BIRDS KNEW said...

Hi saw your post on Slashfood. Wondering if you have discovered any new recipes based on the bread? dig your blog. xoxoxo amylou
ps check this out in LA it's rad
http://ifthebirdsknew.blogspot.com/2007/01/treat-street-is-happening-shhhh.html#links

dailycraft said...

I've been using it as pizza dough, and it's been pretty good! I made it recently again here http://daily-craft.blogspot.com/2007/01/fresh-no-knead-bread.html. I made an extra batch and cut the dough into little pieces for future experimenting. I've read about people using sourdough starter, but I haven't tried it myself yet.

Also... Treat Street looks fun! I can't wait to go sometime! Thanks for the tip and for the link to your cool blog :)

Anonymous said...

I hv made it twice 2nd time with 1/2 tsp more yeast which was better but it doesnt seem to do much in the 2nd rise? and it seems a wee bit heavy in the middle hoddy@netvigator.com