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Sunday, June 24, 2007

No-Knead Bread



Arthritis got the better of me and I gave-in and tried making the "no-knead" bread that was printed in the New York Times a while back (November 8, 2006). It did indeed work. In order to do this properly, you really do need an enameled pot (enamel over cast iron) that can be heated in a 450-degree oven. Otherwise, the materials needed are a bowl and a couple of towels.

You Will Need:

3 cups bread flour with extra for dusting
¼ teaspoon instant yeast
1 ¼ teaspoons salt
1 5/8 cup water


Mix dry ingredients in a large bowl (I'd stick to glass or ceramic as it will be fermenting and metal might give it off odours). Add water and stir. Cover with plastic wrap and let sit eighteen hours. That's it.

At the end of the first rise, flour a work surface and pour the dough onto it. Toss a bit of flour atop the dough and gently fold it once in each direction. Cover loosely with plastic and let rest on surface 15 minutes.

Using just enough flour to prevent sticking, shape dough into a ball and let rise on a well-floured cotton (not terrycloth) towel and cover with another. Let rise two hours, but half an hour prior to baking, pre-heat oven with enameled pot (lid on) in the oven.

When dough has risen, remove pot (carefully-I burned myself pretty badly) from oven and very slowly lift lid. Lift the towel and plunk the dough into the pot, close tightly and return to oven for 30 minutes. At the end of thirty minutes, remove lid and bake another 15-30 minutes or until deep brown. I used an instant read thermometer and removed the bread when it reached 205 degrees F.

Cool on rack.
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