 I have really been looking for some yeast bread education lately. I am very comfortable with quick breads and can adapt them pretty well to fit into my dairy free diet, so I really want to get more comfortable with making yeast breads. I am trying to learn to be more self sufficient in the kitchen and so my adventure into no knead bread has begun. I have read about this recipe for quite some time now (I am way behind the rest of the world on this one) and when I showed the illustrator the pictures of what people had been producing, he said we need to make that now! I am always hesitant with breads like this because I hate failure, but this time I was not going to let my fears keep me from trying this one out. Everybody in the blog world was raving about its flavor and easy of preparation. When I googled no knead bread, one of the first recipes I came up with was this one from Steamy Kitchen. This one is explained so well that I was off to the kitchen to make it. I let mine go for 19 hours for the first rise. I was amazed at how easy the dough really was to work with. Not only did it make the house smell like a bakery, but it felt like one too when we dug into this wonderful crusty loaf of bread. It was nice and chewy on the inside and crispy on the outside! I even won Max over with it (who does not care for my homemade yeast breads)! Truth be told, he was the real test of this bread and I can say that it will be made again soon due to his opionion! I acutally felt guilty buying a loaf of bread the other day from the store after making this! I am ready to try it out with different flavors now! I am thinking cinnamon raisin is next...with a schmear of pineapple cream cheese! Ok, I have to make this again!
 No Knead Bread
(adapted from Steamy Kitchen - check this one out for step-by-step photos)
Yield: one 1 lb loaf 3 cups bread flour (I used 1/2 bread flour and 1/2 white whole wheat)
1/4 teaspoon instant yeast
3/4 tablespoon 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.) Combine all ingredients in a big bowl and mix until the dough just comes together. It won't look like your typical dough, but that is right. Cover with plastic wrap and let sit 12-20 hours on countertop. It should be around 70 degrees in the room.
The dough will now be wet, sticky and bubbly. With a wet spatula, dump the dough on a floured surface (I sprinkled 2 TBSP white wheat flour on my counter and that was enough). Fold ends of dough over a few times and form it into a ball. (this was a great tip from Steamy Kitchen: just keep your hands wet so that the dough does not stick to them). 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, put your covered pot into the oven and preheat to 450F. I used my big Cuisenart dutch oven, but next time I want you use a smaller one.
When your dough has doubled in size. Remove your pot from the oven. Holding the towel, dump wobbly dough into pot. Shake to even dough out (I actually cut out a piece of parchment paper before I heated up the pan so I would be sure it would not stick, so when I shook it, the parchment moved...not good.). Cover the pot and bake 30 minutes. Uncover, bake another 15-20 minutes or until the crust is golden brown and the middle of loaf the is 210F (I did not take the temp, I did it from look and sound). Dump the loaf out of the pot and let cool on wired rack.
This bread makes great toast the next day...we liked it with some homemade hummus! This is me in the kitchen cleaning up a huge mess I had made...I love making messes in the kitchen!!! 
Labels: breads |
I'm intimidated by baking "yeast-containing" breads (have only baked 3 challahs in my lifetime, haha) - yours is looking good!!