The Great Bread Experiment

I'm disastrous with dough. The whole flour + water equation never works out well for me -- puffy pizza riddled with air pockets; hard and inedible dumplings; flat and tasteless challah. After the pizza disaster of '05, I ruled all yeast adventures as off-limits. But then I saw the Times' No-Knead recipe from Jim Lahey of the Sullivan Street Bakery. The article claimed an ambitious 8 year old could make this bread. So why not a dough-challenged 28 year old? I was indeed. I'm not a baker at all, but there was such a sense of accomplishment when I took my bread out of the oven. Just look at it. Wouldn't you want to eat it?

The premises of the recipe is that instead of kneading, you let the yeast and time do all the work. After combining the flour, yeast, water and salt, the mixture sits for 12 to 18 hours.

After a quick shaping and then more resting, the dough is ready when it springs back when poked. Then it's cooked in a heavy (already heated) covered pot in the oven. Could this be any easier? I was concerned the bread would stick to the bottom of the pan, despite the recipe's assurance otherwise. And guess what? It didn't. Basically, this recipe is foolproof. Mark Bittman, who writes The Minimalist column, experimented with the recipe multiple times, all with excellent results. My only complaint is that the loaf is on the small size and is rapidly devoured. I should have made two loaves. Now all I have left of my bread is memories.

No-Knead Bread

(NOTE: The only change I would make is to increase the amount of salt in the recipe.)

UPDATE: I have since learned that I used the wrong yeast for this recipe. I used packets of the dry yeast instead of the active yeast you can find in jars in Whole Foods. But my results were just as good, which furthermore proves this recipe is foolproof!

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 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) 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.

Comments

[Lia]

You and Luisa have both inspired me, so I just started this recipe after searching forever for instant yeast (more to come on the post I do about this), and after not finding any, I just used the active dry stuff that comes in a small packet which I think you used (based on the comment you left on The Wednesday Chef). Did you mix it with water ahead of time, or just throw it in with all the other ingredients and then add the water as the recipe said? I did the latter and want to make sure mine's going to come out right!

[Andrea]

Lia-- I did just as the recipe said (adding the yeast with the ingredients and then just adding water), not realizing I was using the wrong type of yeast! But it turned out fine. I thought it should have risen a little more than it did but the bread was pretty good anyway. Let me know how yours turns out!

[Paul]

Guess i'll be making some bread this weekend!

I just went and bought some granulated yeast from the bakery and the baker assured me it was the same as instant yeast.

[Andrea]

Paul, let me know how it turns out!

[Paul]

Hi,

Mine turned out a little heavier than i had hoped for, i've put a photo on my blog.

http://www.nosaucethanks.com/nst/?p=37