Happy Friday! I am extremely lazy at heart, and when several friends told me about the easiest bread to make, I was in. The no knead bread has been around for a while, and I’ve seen various versions of Jim Lahey’s original recipe around the web and I suppose in a vague sort of way, I’d been curious about this wonder bread. My first attempt, sadly, was a bust. Though the crust was amazing, the glutinous, uncooked middle was disgusting, and the bottom burnt to a crisp.
I’m not easily put off by failure and have since tweaked the recipe to get the best result from my decrepit oven. It literally requires no kneading, and yesterday I stirred up the dough in the morning, and by dinnertime, I had a bubbled mass that easily rolled into this loveliness ready for some baking:
Which came out like this:
It’s so delicious that it makes me salivate just looking at the photo. Look at that beautifully crackled artisanal beauty! K has been cramming her mouth with the stuff, generously slathered with butter. Nothing beats freshly baked bread with butter.
In order to have an easy reference for myself, I’ve written down my own version of the no knead bread. Perhaps you’d like to give it a try too?
No Knead Bread adapted from the Sullivan St. Bakery
3 cups unbleached white flour
1/2 teaspoon rapid rise yeast
1 1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups water (room temperature)
1. In a large glass bowl, whisk together dry ingredients.
2. Add water and mix just enough to combine. Don’t mix too exuberantly, and scrape off dough from sides of bowl to create a gloppy, singular mass.
3. Cover with plastic wrap (I ran out of plastic wrap so I used a slightly damp towel instead – worked great). Let sit at room temperature for 10 to 18 hours. I’ve tried 1o hours and 20 hours and both times the bread came out wonderfully.
4. When you’re ready to bake the dough, check to make sure it’s full of bubbles. These bubbles will give the loaf those airy holes once baked. Sprinkle a generous amount of flour on a surface and scrape out the dough onto the floured surface. I like to also sprinkle a thin layer of flour on top.
5. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. My oven runs hot, and I had tried it at the recommended 500 degrees first and the loaf was disastrous. You may have to play around with different temperatures. Place your dutch oven with lid in the preheating oven for about 30 minutes.
6. Gently fold the dough once or twice — remember not to knead — and shape into a ball with seam side down. This is optional, but I like to put the dough on parchment paper.
7. Place parchment paper with dough into preheated dutch oven. I’m a little OCD so I trim the parchment paper to the edge of the dutch oven opening. Put the lid on.
8. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes with lid on. Remove lid and bake for another 15 to 20 minutes until crust is an achingly beautiful golden hue.
9. Slide loaf onto a cooling rack and wait a few minutes if you can to cut into it. We haven’t been able to wait.
That’s it! I’ve already baked four loaves and plan on baking another one tomorrow. It’s gluten heaven, I tell you.
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The winner of the Kyuuto book is Max, congrats!
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Full of emotion, M told me this week:
“Man, it’s such an honor to be K’s father…guess what she said the other day? ‘Daddy, you know what I love about you? You really listen to me.’”
They’re a good pair, those two.
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Happy weekend, friends!
Fall weather is here
Crisp air and rain aplenty
The crunch of apples
My whole wheat no knead bread came out terrible again yesterday. Maybe I need to try a white version. Yours looks amazing!
Oh no! I actually had another fail today. I used one of those press on plastic wraps intended for freezing food, and for some reason the dough didn’t rise or get bubbly. It was a goopy gross mess even after 18 hours of rising! Ah well, I’ll try again.
Beautiful bread!!! Beautiful words 🙂 your family stories make my heart warm, I love reading it all! I’m so glad I was introduced to your blog. I was in the craft/sewing section of San Franciscos Kinokuniya Bookstore and a woman told me about, “This awesome woman who sews a lot of patterns from Japanese books! And her entire kids wardrobe!” 🙂
How amazing, thanks for visiting Jeannie! I’m wondering if it was Alana? I seem to remember her telling me that she recommended my blog to someone at Kinokuniya. At any rate, I love that people are getting connected in unexpected ways!
Bread success! I knew it would work out. I’ll bet your house smells like heaven!
Full Bread Success (FBS?) – Feels good to have graduated from Partial Bread Success! And yes, I just love the smell of baking bread…mmmmmm
i really do love this bread too 🙂 !….have you tried the “speadier” version yet? fermentation time is only a couple of hours(they say 4-5, but i’ve even tried 2 when we had unexpected company come over ;). and no big changes – the recipe just adds i think 1/4 tsp of red wine vinegar and hot water instead of warm. it’s just as good and comes in handy. mark bittman has a video on youtube about it.
Oh my goodness, I have to try this pronto. I’ll check out that youtube video for sure, thanks Katka!
Thank you for letting me win. Maybe this proves that I really am a super hero with mind control powers. From now on, I win all giveaways ha ha ha! Especially involving cute things to make.
The bread looks perfect! Beyond excellent. I can taste it from the photos. I don’t know if I dare try it, as that looks like the best bread ever. The recipe looks easy enough. So maybe.
Hooray, the book is on its way, Max – I hope you enjoy it! Definitely give the recipe a go. It took me a couple of tries to get it right, but it’s well worth the effort!
yummmmm i need to try this bread. don’t have a dutch oven though. grrr. but i’ve tried it (gail’s husband made some when they came over for dinner) and it’s so tasty. i want to be able to make it!
I looked through several different versions of the no knead bread, and plenty of people have used other baking dishes, Kristin. If you have anything that’s at least oven safe up to 450-500 degrees with a lid, you’re good to go. I even saw someone recommending camping cookware! How fun that you guys had dinner together! One day we’ll have to do that too 🙂
I make the artisinal bread in 5 min a day. You can make a huge batch, bake it after 3 hours, or keep it in the fridge lightly covered for a week and just pull off and bake a loaf a day. It has more of a sourdough flavor by the end of the week. So yummy! Never had a flop. I think one of the big differences is that you bake it on a stone on a little cornmeal to keep it from sticking, and in your grill pan underneath you dump in water when you throw it in the oven, which gives it the nice crusty exterior. Same 4 ingredients, though. Your pictures make me want to bake in the morning!
I’ve heard great things about that method too – another one to try! Thanks for the inspiration, Beccy!
Sanae I have just found your blog and love, love, love what you do with your sewing, knitting and your family shares….. thank you and look forward to much more …. wonderful!
Thank you, Arlene! So glad you found my little haven 🙂