Sunday, May 15, 2011

No-Knead Bread


I was reading one of may favorite blogs, From Croatia.... To The States, and I saw the link to make this bread. I've never really had much success at making bread, but this seemed so simple that I had to try it. I'm going to copy the recipe from the original link.

3 cups all-purpose or bread flour, plus more for dusting (you may whole wheat)
1/4 tsp. instant or regular active dry yeast (note: it's 1/4 tsp. not 1/4 oz)
1 tsp. salt
1 1/2 cups plus 2 tbsp. water

In a large bowl stir together the flour, yeast and salt. Add 1 1/2 cups plus 2 tablespoons water, and stir until blended; dough will be shaggy and sticky. Cover bowl with plastic wrap or a plate and let it rest on the countertop for 18-24 hours at room temperature.

The dough is ready when its surface is dotted with bubbles. 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, then roughly shape into a ball. Generously coat a cotton towel (not terry cloth) with flour; put dough seam side down on towel and dust with more flour. Fold it over the bread or cover with another cotton towel and let it sit for another hour or two.

While the bread is resting, preheat the oven to 450°. Put a 6-8 quart heavy covered pot (cast iron, enamel, Pyrex or ceramic) in oven as it heats. When the dough is ready, carefully remove pot from oven. Slide your hand under towel and flip the dough over into the pot; it may look like a mess, but that’s OK. Cover and bake for 30 minutes, then remove the lid and bake another 10-15 minutes, until it’s nice and golden.

8 comments:

  1. Beautiful loaf! There is something so comforting about baking bread. Mostly the wonderful smells and then the actual part about eating it while it's still freshly made and warm. Yum! I imagine this must have been delicious and well worth all the trouble, right?

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  2. It was actually no trouble. I did notice though that the loaf grew to fill the space provided, and it was a bit dense. I think if I use a larger pot or ceramic it may grow to to fill the larger space... I'm going to experiment.

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  3. I make homemade bread all the time! This looks so rustic, and yummy. Too bad its so hot here, or else I'd make a nice hot pot of soup and try this bread recipe out! It will have to wait till its cooler!

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  4. Hello Sharline! Good for you for making homemade bread. This is the first one that has turned out well for me. I'm going to be trying it with different flours later on.

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  5. Your bread looks amazing! Nice job! My luck with baking bread has been on and off. I tried the no-knead artisan bread...no luck, much too dense and not very good. I finally just use a french bread recipe that I use my bread machine's dough cycle then just bake on my bread stone. I would like to see what you come up with using other flours.

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  7. We'll try this, this Sunday. Looks good.

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  8. Shawn, a no fuss hearty bread. Let me know how it turns out. :)

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