Sunday, September 1, 2013

No-Knead Cinnamon Bread

So, nobody has posted on here in approximately FOREVER. Figured I'd change that.

Remember Jennifer's post for no-knead bread? Well, I found an adaptation for no-knead cinnamon bread and just tried it last night/today, and whoa is it delicious. Here's the part where I apologize for not taking pictures of the process, but it's easy and very similar to the steps in Jennifer's post, so I bet you can figure it out.


No-Knead Cinnamon Bread

4 cups all-purpose or bread flour, more for dusting
1/2 teaspoon instant or rapid rising yeast
2 teaspoons salt
3/4 cup cinnamon chips (not available at all grocery stores but well worth seeking out - they're delicious)
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
A little less than 1/4 cup sugar
2 cups water at about 70 degrees

1. In a large bowl, combine flour, yeast, salt, cinnamon chips, cinnamon, and sugar. Add the 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. Put dough seam side down on floured work surface and dust with more flour, bran, or cornmeal. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rise for about 2 hours.

4. At least a half-hour before dough is ready, heat oven to 450 degrees. Put a 6- to 8-quart heavy covered pot in the oven while it heats. When dough is ready, carefully remove heated pot from the oven. Gently move the ball of dough with your hands from your work surface and drop it into the pan. It may look like a mess, but that is okay. 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 10 minutes, until loaf is beautifully browned. Remove the bread from the pan and cool on a wire rack.

Note: the cinnamon chips and sugar may cause this bread to burn a little easier than regular no-knead bread. So you'll need to keep an eye on the loaf once the lid is removed so that the bread doesn't get burned.

I used one of my very favorite baking toys, my La Cloche clay baker, and it came out looking like this:


...and tasting delicious. Enjoy!

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