No-Knead Bread

All the cooking blogs went ga-ga over this no-knead bread recipe from Mark Bittman.  Apparently it produces some really great rustic bread and is super simple.  So simple in fact, that a four-year old can make it.  I bring this up because I feel like even a non-baker can do it (I'm looking squarely at you, Britta).  All you need is the ingredients, a bowl, a spoon, and a baking vessel.  I'm going to show you pictures every step of the way just to walk you through it; it's painless, I swear.

In a large bowl, you mix together the flour, salt, and yeast.

Add the room temperature tap water and stir until it's combined.  No crazy kneading or super mixing, just get the stuff to mix together.  It's a rather wet dough, almost a mix between true dough and a batter.  Then you cover and let it sit on the counter for 12-18 hours.  So I mixed this baby up right before I went to bed, it literally took all of 5 minutes, and the 12-18 hour range is nice because I can literally finish it up any time I want the next day.  A lot of bread recipes are very specific with times (an hour here, a hour there) but not this one.  As long as you have the foresight to start it in time, you're set.

The next day the dough had risen quite a bit and the top looked bubbly.  According to the original recipe this is how it's supposed to look like.  So far so good.

Next you plop the dough out on a floured surface.  The dough is pretty sticky so you'll need some flour on the counter and your hands.  However, you're not really working it too much; just fold the dough over on itself a couple times (basically just push it around some), let it rest for 15 minutes, then shape into a rough ball and rest for 2 hours.  When I say "shape into a rough ball" it basically equates to, shape it into a ball-like state so you can move it into a bowl.  Who cares if it's an actual ball.  Now here's a little difference from the original recipe: the recipe says flour a towel and put the dough on there.  Screw that, I just floured the bowl it was in and just put it back in.  One less thing to clean.  Flour the top of the dough and cover.

With 30 minutes left to go (so 1 1/2 hours of resting) heat your oven to 450 degrees.  You're also going to heat your baking vessel too.  A lot of people have been using Le Creuset dutch ovens, which is another reason why any serious cook needs to own one.  However, you can use any oven-safe container that can handle 450 degrees that has a lid.  I used my slightly smaller All-Clad dutch oven in this case because I wanted a taller bread.  Since my pot is aluminum, it'll heat up a lot faster than a heavy cast iron pot, so I did not leave my pot in there for the full 30 minutes of preheating.  I popped it in for the last 10 minutes or so.

I also inverted the bowl (and dough) onto a sheet of parchment paper.  I have heard of people having trouble getting their bread out so I thought this would make things easier.  I took the pot out of the preheated oven, lowered the parchment paper/dough into the pot, covered it and put it in the oven for 30 minutes.

After 30 minutes, it came out looking like this.  Off comes the cover and it goes back in for 15-30 minutes.

Then it comes out looking like this.  Beautiful.

After tasting the bread I can understand why everyone went nuts over this.  It was so easy and made an absolutely beautiful loaf of bread.  The crust was slightly crispy and chewy and the insides where pillowy soft and airy.  There have been some online complaints that it doesn't taste like much, or it's just like simple white bread.  Well, that's what it is, simple white bread.  And it's freaking amazing.  I highly, highly recommend this recipe if you love bread and what to impress the crap out of (yourself or) someone.

No-Knead Bread
Time: about 1 1/2 hours plus 14-20 hours rising time

Ingredients:
3 cups all-purpose or bread flour, more for dusting
¼ teaspoon instant yeast (also known as rapid rise or bread machine yeast)
1¼ teaspoons salt
1 1/2 cups water


1. In a large bowl combine flour, yeast and salt. Add 1 1/2 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.