My first loaf baked May 4, 2011.
When a dear friend tells you that this no knead bread recipe adapted from Mark Bittman’s recipe (food journalist at the New York Times) will knock your socks off, you simply have to give it a try. It requires minimal preparation the night before so the dough can rise and a few hours the next day so the dough can nap but the recipe is easy and the bread is mouth-watering delicious. It needs only four ingredients and it forms into something magical for your taste buds. You can plan meals around this one basic food staple.
The smell of homemade bread baking is so provocative it should make even a non-baker want to give the recipe a try.
Artisan bread is crafted rather than mass produced. The special attention to ingredients, process, and a return to the fundamentals of the age-old bread-making tradition set artisan bread apart from any bread found on your local supermarket shelf.
Here you go –the No Knead Bread Recipe
Ingredients:
3 cups bread flour (Sheila recommended King Arthur Bread Flour)
1/4 teaspoon instant yeast
1 teaspoon fine table salt (or 3/4 tablespoon of kosher salt)
1 1/2 cups warm water
Covered pot (five-quart or larger cast iron, Pyrex, ceramic, enamel…something that can go into a 450F oven.)
Directions:
1. Mix dough: The night before, combine all ingredients in a big bowl with a wooden spoon until the dough just comes together. It will be a shaggy, doughy mess. Cover with plastic wrap and let sit 12-20 hours on countertop.
2. Shape & preheat: The dough will now be wet, sticky and bubbly. With a wet spatula, dump the dough on a floured surface. Fold ends of dough over a few times with the spatula and nudge it into a ball shape. You can use your hands if you like, just keep your hands wet so that the dough does not stick. Generously dust a cotton towel (not terrycloth) with flour. Set dough seam side down on top of towel. Fold towel over the dough. Let it nap for 2 hours. When you’ve got about a half hour left, slip your covered pot into the oven and preheat to 450F.
3. Bake: Your dough should have doubled in size. Remove pot from oven. Holding towel, turn over and dump wobbly dough into pot, using your hands to get the dough off the towel. Doesn’t matter which way it lands. Shake to even dough out. Cover. Bake 20 minutes. Uncover, bake another 30 minutes (great tip, Sheila!) or until the crust is beautifully golden and middle of loaf is 210F. Remove and let cool on wired rack.
If not eating right away, you can re-crisp crust in 350F oven for 10 minutes.
Adapted from Mark Bittman who got it from Sullivan Street Bakery (Steamy Kitchen)
inspiredbydi.com 