No Knead Bread

A friend posted on her blog about making this bread and I have finally tried it and I must share. It is the easiest bread you will ever make and the bread and crust are divine! It does take a long time to make, but only because it needs to rise for about 12 hours. But basically you mix it with a spoon and forget it, then go back do a couple of easy things and bake it for fabulous deliciousness! The recipe is from a 2006 recipe in the NY Times.

No-Knead Bread

Time: About 1½ hours plus 14 to 20 hours’ rising

3 cups all-purpose or bread flour, more for dusting

¼ teaspoon instant yeast

1¼ teaspoons salt Cornmeal or wheat bran as needed. (I used flour)

1. In a large bowl combine flour, yeast and salt. Add 1 5/8 cups water, and stir until blended; dough will be shaggy and sticky. Cover bowl with plastic wrap. Let dough rest at least 12 hours, preferably about 18, at warm room temperature, about 70 degrees.

2. Dough is ready when its surface is dotted with bubbles. Lightly flour a work surface and place dough on it; sprinkle it with a little more flour and fold it over on itself once or twice. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rest about 15 minutes.

3. Using just enough flour to keep dough from sticking to work surface or to your fingers, gently and quickly shape dough into a ball. Generously coat a cotton towel (not terry cloth) with flour, wheat bran or cornmeal; put dough seam side down on towel and dust with more flour, bran or cornmeal. Cover with another cotton towel and let rise for about 2 hours. When it is ready, dough will be more than double in size and will not readily spring back when poked with a finger.

4. At least a half-hour before dough is ready, heat oven to 450 degrees. Put a 6- to 8-quart heavy covered pot (cast iron, enamel, Pyrex or ceramic - I used my Pyrex dish that is smaller than the recommended size and did okay) in oven as it heats. When dough is ready, carefully remove pot from oven. Slide your hand under towel and turn dough over into pot, seam side up; it may look like a mess, but that is O.K. Shake pan once or twice if dough is unevenly distributed; it will straighten out as it bakes. Cover with lid and bake 30 minutes, then remove lid and bake another 15 to 30 minutes, until loaf is beautifully browned. Cool on a rack.

Yield: One 1½-pound loaf.

These photos were taken with my phone as my camera battery was dead, but I think you can get the idea!

This is what my dough looked like right after stirring it all together. Takes a minute tops.

And this picture shows the beautiful results - and it tasted even better than it looks! My friend who's post I read is now making it using a starter for a yummy sour dough bread. I may have to try that next!