For a good portion of my life I have been fascinated by freshly made bread. I constantly wonder why the bakeries can produce such gorgeous crisp, rustic loves while I can only seem to produce a sub par product. Well, those days are over! No knead bread is a revelation! Not only does it take extremely little active time but the end result is absolutely fabulous! My good friend Matt is having a holiday party tonight and I was asked to bring bread. Bread that he wanted me to create. Oh god! But not to fear, no knead bread is here!
No Knead Bread:
Adapated from Mark Bittmans article in the New York Times
3 cups bread flour
1/4 teaspoon active dry yeast
1 teaspoon salt (I prefer sea salt)
1 1/2 cups warm water
-Mix all ingredients in a large bowl with a wooden spoon, the dough will look shaggy and really messy. Don't worry this is normal!
-Cover with plastic wrap and set on the counter for 10-20 hours. (around 15-17 is best)
-Remove dough from bowl, fold over on itself once or twice and place seam side down on a clean kitchen towel. Fold towel around loaf and let it sit for about 2 hours. It should double in size.
-During the last 30 minutes of its resting time, preheat the oven to 450 degrees and place your baking dish, a large several quart dish, in the oven. (Pyrex, cast iron, etc.)
-Remove dish from oven, place dough seam side up in the pot. Once again, it may look like a mess but that only adds to the end appeal. I promise!
-Bake for about 30 minutes covered with a lid, and then finish for another 15-30 uncovered. Bread is done when you thump it and it sounds hallow inside.
Amusingly enough, I brought all 5 loaves, which Matt commented looked wonderful, but then in the chaos of trying to get dinner on the table for 15, we completely forgot to put out the bread! Luckily after dinner people noticed it, and began eating it, one person even commented that it was tasty enough to be dessert! So I suppose it wasn't a total loss.
