Many of you may use this - but this easy, no-knead bread is amazing!

[NRaleighLiberal]

I make really good bread - used to use my bread machine to mix the dough and do the first rising - but this is even easier. Perfect if you like a nice, chewy interior with medium to big holes, and a very crunchy, thick crust. It is impossibly easy and doesn't seem like it will work so well...but it does!

In a large bowl, whisk together

3 cups flour - we use half whole wheat, half unbleached all purpose
1/4 tsp granular yeast
1 1/4 tsp salt


Add 1 5/8 cups water - stir until it is mixed - it will be a sticky, lumpy mass - that's fine. Cover with plastic wrap and let it sit in your kitchen for 12-24 hours. (I mix this in the afternoon and then finish it the next afternoon).

Turn the dough (which will have risen, but still be sticky) onto a floured work surface - fold it on to itself twice, shape into a rough ball - cover with a towel and let rest for 15 min.

Flour a cotton towel - shape the dough back into a ball, place on one end of the towel, cover with the other end - let it sit for 2 hours.

30 min before the two hours is up, preheat the oven to 450 - place a covered heavy pot in the oven (we use a Le Creuset - the one that is 10 inches in diameter by 8 inches deep - wrapping the top knob in foil) and let it heat well during the 30 min.

Remove the pot and uncover and slide the dough ball into the pot - shake back and forth quickly to center it - put the cover back on and bake for 30 min

Remove the cover and finish baking for another 15 - 30 min - until it is the desired level of brown.

Turn out of the pot onto a wire cooling rack when done...let it cool and enjoy!

It looks complicated, but you are actually "doing" things for about 5 minutes total! And play around with the flours, add sunflower seeds, etc.....

We like to put it back into the oven to really crisp it before eating and just dip in extra virgin olive oil with some salt and fresh ground black pepper.

[beac]

1. Sounds yummy!

I used to bake a lot of bread and somehow stopped. Maybe b/c I find it so hard to control myself around freshly-baked bread. ;)

Copied and pasted for a day when the urge hits again. Thanks! :hi:

[Major Nikon]

2. That's almost exactly how I do it

I have been doing this for some time and your recipe matches mine exactly (I got it from the NY Times years ago). I have a couple of modifications which I think makes it easier.

I do the fermentation stage in a polycarbonate container I got from the restaurant supply store (link below). I like using this container because the scale on the side lets me know how much my dough has risen during fermentation. I measure all my ingredients by weight. I keep a little chart that tells me how much each type of flour I use weighs per cup in grams. 3 cups of bread flour is 360g. So I just put the container on the scales, zero it out, put 385g of water (I always put the water in first which makes for easier mixing), zero it out, 360g of bread flour, then the yeast and salt. Then I cover and give it 18 hours or so.

I do my proofing right inside my Le Creuset dutch oven and put it inside the oven cold when the time comes. I used to preheat it like you do, but after burning the crap out of myself a couple of times I decided to proof right inside the dutch oven. I can't tell the difference in the finished product. This also saves a good amount of time and makes the process even easier.

http://www.acemart.com/prod4660.html

[NRaleighLiberal]

3. excellent - thanks! Yes, a friend gave it to us - she found it in the NY Times.

amazing bread.

Another variation we like - brush the top with egg white and sprinkle with all sorts of seeds.

Mine is in the oven as I type this....

[Major Nikon]

4. I've got a batch fermenting for tomorrow

[Warpy]

5. I did it two other ways

Either I'd sprinkle cornmeal on a piece of parchment paper in a shallow bowl and transfer the whole business into the Le Creuset pot or I'd use a silicone sheet with cornmeal on it and just slide it into the pot. Either way, I found that cornmeal gave me extra crunch and flavor. I also preheated to 400 and didn't have to cover the knob with tinfoil.

And this lazy man's bread is all about the crunch and flavor.

[NRaleighLiberal]

6. and crunch and flavor is what it has, indeed....mine is now out of the oven.

house has this amazing combo of cooking beef stew with the baked bread and an apple pie. somehow, it all works!

(Dinner at 6)...

[Callalily]

7. I used to make that particular NYT bread

recipe all the time until I found a different one, also found on NYT. I like this recipe because the dough can be kept in the fridge up to two weeks, which enables me to make small loaves which I can readily use up. Also, good for individual pizzas.


Simple Crusty Bread

Adapted from “Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day,” by Jeff Hertzberg and Zoë François (Thomas Dunne Books, 2007)

Time: About 45 minutes plus about 3 hours resting and rising

1 1/2 tablespoons yeast

1 1/2 tablespoons kosher salt

6 1/2 cups unbleached, all-purpose flour, more for dusting dough

Cornmeal.


1. In a large bowl or plastic container, mix yeast and salt into 3 cups lukewarm water (about 100 degrees). Stir in flour, mixing until there are no dry patches. Dough will be quite loose. Cover, but not with an airtight lid. Let dough rise at room temperature 2 hours (or up to 5 hours).

2. Bake at this point or refrigerate, covered, for as long as two weeks. When ready to bake, sprinkle a little flour on dough and cut off a grapefruit-size piece with serrated knife. Turn dough in hands to lightly stretch surface, creating a rounded top and a lumpy bottom. Put dough on pizza peel sprinkled with cornmeal; let rest 40 minutes. Repeat with remaining dough or refrigerate it.

3. Place broiler pan on bottom of oven. Place baking stone on middle rack and turn oven to 450 degrees; heat stone at that temperature for 20 minutes.

4. Dust dough with flour, slash top with serrated or very sharp knife three times. Slide onto stone. Pour one cup hot water into broiler pan and shut oven quickly to trap steam. Bake until well browned, about 30 minutes. Cool completely.

Yield: 4 loaves.

Variation: If not using stone, stretch rounded dough into oval and place in a greased, nonstick loaf pan. Let rest 40 minutes if fresh, an extra hour if refrigerated. Heat oven to 450 degrees for 5 minutes. Place pan on middle rack.

[Arkansas Granny]

8. I saw Jacques Pepin make a no-knead bread a few weeks ago that is very similar to this.

You mix it up, let it rise, stir it down, cover it, refrigerate overnight and then bake the next day, all in the same pan. I haven't tried it yet.

http://www.eattoblog.com/jacques-pepins-no-knead-bread/

[Callalily]

9. Oh, now that's intriguing!