No Knead Bread Recipe from MENews

[YuccaFlatsRanch]

Has anyone tried the no knead bread recipe which is cooked in a dutch oven yet?? The latest issue of MEN has rave reviews. Sounds like a good idea to make chewy crusts.

[CJ]

It's wonderful. Search on here for it, we had like a 5 page discussion on it a couple months ago.

[homebirtha]

LOL. I just dug up the issue and am going to try it tomorrow. :-)

[OldGrouch]

I've even baked a Whole Wheat version of it over a campfire (in a dutch oven of course). It's "OldGrouch" proof.....


--Dwight

[meanwhile]

I cannot find it on here? Can you tell me how to find it and the recipe? Thank you

[CJ]

Recipe: No-Knead Bread

Adapted from Jim Lahey, Sullivan Street Bakery
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.

1. In a large bowl combine flour, yeast and salt. Add 1 1/2 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) 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.

[Betho]

I make this bread frequently... love it! I do a sourdough version from breadtopia.com and I bake it in my handmade La Cloche. I took a big (new) terra cotta pot and inverted it over a larger size terra cotta saucer so it made it's own "dome" and of course I put a couple washers and a big ol bolt through the drain hole which is now at the top of the deal, and made a handle.

Works out great

[meanwhile]

Thank you! Why wrap it up in towels? Why not just put it in a pan?

[Alice In TX/MO]

This recipe has been upgraded and updated by Cook's Illustrated magazine (February issue) to improve the flavor and handling. The original recipe, though good, lacked a rich yeasty flavor like artisan bread, and it was so sticky, it was hard to work with. The modifications address those issues.

Here's the new one:

Almost No Knead Bread

3 cups unbleached all purpose flour
1/4 tsp instant yeast
1 1/2 Tbsp salt
3/4 cup plus 2 Tablespoons water
1/4 cup plus 2 Tablespoons mild flavored lager (beer)
1 Tablespoon white vinegar

The rest of the instructions are the same, except for letting it rise in a pan lined with greased parchment paper. Then, you transfer paper and all to the pre-heated dutch oven.

[Betho]

Originally Posted by meanwhile

Thank you! Why wrap it up in towels? Why not just put it in a pan?

I think you do it that way so the dutch oven or whatever you are cooking it in gets hot first. Part of what makes this bread bake up so well is that the cooking device is super hot when you throw the bread in and also that it is covered to keep the steam in while baking. I bet if you had pans that you could put some sort of cover on to keep the steam in you'd be fine, though. Adequate steam in the air during baking is what makes the crust so great. Baking it this way almost makes it's own mini "oven."

[moongirl]

I made it this past weekend. VERY easy and delicious. Now we need to try some variation

[BlueHeronFarm]

I cut the recipe out of the New York Times about a tear ago - and still have not bought an enameled cast-iron pot to try it. (They're a bit spendy and I always back down at the last minute) It does sound fabulous, though.

[goatsareus]

I use the insert from my crock pot; the ceramic pot with the glass lid, works perfect. I've been making this bread for over one year now. Thanks for the CI recipe, I've been hearing about it but do not get that magazine. I also have found a 6 cup flour version that only takes 3 hours to set. But that recipe calls for 1 1/2 T. yeast, and the minimalist in my likes the 1/4 t. yeast version better.

[mamajohnson]

does the pan need to be greased before the dough goes in?
This may have an obvious answer, but I dont see it anywhere!

[goatsareus]

no the pan should not be greased. A little cornmeal or flour will be spilled in the pot while transferring the dough to the hot pot and that is good. If my dough is short on loose flour, I will add some cornmeal to the bottom of the hot pot.

[mamajohnson]

Great! I think I will try this out!

[CJ]

I have a clay french bread pan, just like the La Cloche but shaped long and thin, that I make this dough in. I let it rise on a peel, then roll it into the preheated pan... it's quite yummy.

[Metagirrl]

We made this yesterday! I forgot about it, and let it go about 22 hours for the first rise, and I used the wrong kind of yeast (active-dry) instead of instant, and probably baked it too long, and it still turned out good! Now I have to get the other yeast, and see how it does! I used 2c. whole wheat flour, and one cup of white!