No-Knead Bread
My heart leapt up when I read this article about breadmaking last Wednesday in the Times food section. By now, it seems like everybody else has read it, too, since it's Monday, and the *recipe* is still number five on the top ten most e-mailed articles. Though any homemade bread is delicious, it's so hard to make really good European-style bread.
The recipe takes two days--not unusual for good bread--but what's great is that you don't really have to do much of anything, and apparently, the bread will turn out as good as anything you can buy in a bakery. To quote Rachael Ray, "How cool is that?" To date, my favorite bread recipe has been Cook's Illustrated's Rustic Italian Loaf, also made over two days with a biga (starter). Though that recipe is easy, it still is slightly more labor intensive than the one Mark Bittman presents. I couldn't wait until Saturday to try it out.
Saturday night, 10 PM: After dinner out and half a bottle of wine, dump flour, yeast, and salt in a bowl. Add water. Mix for about 30 seconds with a wooden spoon. Cover tightly with plastic wrap.
Sunday morning, 8:30 AM: Wake up. See that the dough has more than doubled in size, despite the tiny bit of yeast used. Lovely bubbles dot the surface. Eat breakfast. Go to the mall.
2:45 PM: See even more bubbles than before, and notice that the dough has taken on a nice sheen. Time for the next step. Scrape dough out of bowl onto counter. Let sit 15 minutes.
3:00 PM: Form into a ball and place on a cornmeal-covered towel. Cover. Let sit 2 hours.
4:30: Turn on oven and put Le Creuset Dutch oven into the oven.
5:00: Burn finger slightly on oven. Take out Le Creuset pan and dump dough into it. Cover and put into oven. Start getting excited.
5:30: Take off cover. See that it looks like REAL bread. Really! Real bread. Keep baking. Wow, it smells good in here.
5:50: Carefully take pan out of the oven. Wow! Wow! Smile for pictures:
The recipe takes two days--not unusual for good bread--but what's great is that you don't really have to do much of anything, and apparently, the bread will turn out as good as anything you can buy in a bakery. To quote Rachael Ray, "How cool is that?" To date, my favorite bread recipe has been Cook's Illustrated's Rustic Italian Loaf, also made over two days with a biga (starter). Though that recipe is easy, it still is slightly more labor intensive than the one Mark Bittman presents. I couldn't wait until Saturday to try it out.
Saturday night, 10 PM: After dinner out and half a bottle of wine, dump flour, yeast, and salt in a bowl. Add water. Mix for about 30 seconds with a wooden spoon. Cover tightly with plastic wrap.
Sunday morning, 8:30 AM: Wake up. See that the dough has more than doubled in size, despite the tiny bit of yeast used. Lovely bubbles dot the surface. Eat breakfast. Go to the mall.
2:45 PM: See even more bubbles than before, and notice that the dough has taken on a nice sheen. Time for the next step. Scrape dough out of bowl onto counter. Let sit 15 minutes.
3:00 PM: Form into a ball and place on a cornmeal-covered towel. Cover. Let sit 2 hours.
4:30: Turn on oven and put Le Creuset Dutch oven into the oven.
5:00: Burn finger slightly on oven. Take out Le Creuset pan and dump dough into it. Cover and put into oven. Start getting excited.
5:30: Take off cover. See that it looks like REAL bread. Really! Real bread. Keep baking. Wow, it smells good in here.
5:50: Carefully take pan out of the oven. Wow! Wow! Smile for pictures:
And then the moment of truth:
It really is delicious. It has the crisp outer crust that you expect and the soft, chewy crumb on the inside. It's not overpowered with yeast as many homemade yeast breads are. It's just perfect, and I did it myself.
posted by Heather at Monday, November 13, 2006
10 Comments:
It is so tempting to see all the things which you have written about in your blog.
Great. Will look forward to more of it.
Lovely-I've linked to your photos and post, hope that's okay?
Your bread looks gorgeous!
A fun read and absolutely beautiful bread! I found you via Lindy's Toast. Looking foward to reading more of your posts. : )
Sort of like kitchen magic isn't it?
I'll put you on my Global No Knead list on my site.
I am on my sixth loaf! I created a web page to document my methods - My Bread - the best bread I have ever made!
wow just look at the size of that crumb! you made that! doesn't it feel great!
i have yet to master the no knead bread. i made several, and none turned out the way I'd hoped (like yours). i suppose i've been slightly discouraged though since i've researched it like the dickens. i'll try again soon. thanks for the hopeful posting!
I'm sure you've discovered that this is easily converted to gluten-free. The best GF crustry bread that exists.
No, No, tell me more! I've made many loaves of gf bread for my husband--usually Bette Hagman recipes--but none have come close to regular wheat bread, let alone this bread. Do you have a recipe?
NEED A RECIPE FOR THE BREAD..
INGREDIENTS SOUND GOOD...NEED AMOUNTS....ANITA
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