Saturday, April 13, 2013

No Knead Bread


After buying a dutch oven, I finally had the cookware I needed to make no knead bread. It was so easy and came out great - golden brown and crispy on the outside, delightfully dense and chewy on the inside like real artisan bread that we had been carving and trying in vain to make. having now made this a few times, I have found that my favorite recipe so far is one I adapted from a couple of different recipes I found online. Here it is:

Ingredients:

0.5 cups warm water
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon yeast
1.5 teaspoons salt
4 Cups (20 oz.) bread flour (mix of white and whole wheat)
1.5 cups water

Directions:
  1. Dissolve sugar in 0.5 cup warm water. Sprinkle with yeast to proof (let sit until foamy, about 10 minutes).
  2. Mix 2 cups flour and salt in a large bowl. Stir in yeast mixture.
  3. Add 2 cups flour and 1.5 cups water. Mix until well blended - making a stiff dough (I usually do the final mixing with hands).
  4. Brush or spray dough with oil. Cover bowl with plastic wrap.
  5. Refrigerate 3-10 hours.
  6. Take out of fridge and let rise at cool room temperature 18-24 hours.
  7. Using an oiled spatula, lift and fold dough toward center until mostly deflated. Do not stir. Brush or spray with oil. Cover with plastic wrap. 
  8. Let rise in fridge 4-24 hours (or 1.5-2.5 hours at warm room temp) until doubled in size.
  9. Put rack in lower third of oven. Preheat to 450 degrees F. Place heat dutch oven in preheated oven for about 5 minutes.
  10. Loosen dough gently and invert it into pot. Spritz with water. Cover immediately. Give the pot a shake to center dough if necessary.
  11. Bake for about 50 minutes. Remove lid.
  12. Reduce heat to 425 F and bake another 15-20 minutes until browned and center is done. (Sometimes the bread is done for me at the end of the first 50 minutes).
  13. Cool in pan for 10-15 minutes, then remove from pan and cool completely on wire rack.

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