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No Knead Bread…I Am a Follower

Before you say "another No Knead Bread recipe? What is it with you people?", I am telling you to surrender and become a follower! Ah well, when I see a good thing I can’t leave it unattended. When I read about a good thing I know it won’t be long before I end up making it, especially when that particular item has been tried and endorsed by so many of us out there. I hate being left out of the loop! I have to admit that this is probably the first time I have followed a recipe in its entirety.
The bread is really easy to make. I made it in the evening, shaped it and let it rise again the next morning, baked it exactly according to the recipe and we had wonderful grilled cheese sandwiches Sunday at lunchtime. I truly believe that such a great result is achieved by the baking method: preheating your pan, covering the loaf 30 minutes, uncovering it for another 30. When you read such detailed instructions you know you have to respect the baker’s work and do the same. I used a 2 quart Le Creuset casserole dish and I ended up with a beautiful round loaf. I believe it is the reason why I had less air pocket than other loaves I saw on other blogs but I wanted larger slices for sandwiches….hmm…also to spread more butter!

No-Knead Bread, from The New York Times
Yields one 1 1/2 pound loaf

3 cups all-purpose or bread flour, more for dusting
¼ teaspoon instant yeast
1¼ teaspoons salt
Cornmeal or wheat bran as needed.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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Comments


paati November 20, 2006 um 9:15 pm

why is everyone all of a sudden talking about no knead bread!?:)
paati


Patricia Scarpin November 21, 2006 um 12:48 pm

This comment has been removed by the author.


Patricia Scarpin November 21, 2006 um 12:49 pm

Helene,

As much as I love kneading (I consider it a therapeutic activity!), I have to give this recipe a go – it’s amazing!


wheresmymind November 21, 2006 um 1:30 pm

Another no kneader!!! All the cool kids are doing some variation of this!!


Lis November 21, 2006 um 3:06 pm

Your bread looks wonderful! I can not wait for this weekend to make it 😀


Lauren November 21, 2006 um 3:41 pm

yes, another.. haha. It looks fantastic as the others!

I think I’ll wait till after Thanksgiving to attempt it.


Brilynn November 21, 2006 um 4:27 pm

I’m on the bandwagon… the crust from this bread turns out amazing!


Anonymous November 21, 2006 um 7:25 pm

maybe i’ll try this recipe one of these days. i love not to knead sometimes! and your using le creuset as a pan for the bread is a wonderful idea…now i know what i want for christmas 🙂


confituremaison November 21, 2006 um 9:01 pm

Merci pour ton gentil commentaire. Je viens de parcourir ton blog; j’aimerais bien faire partie de ton neighbourhood!


Anonymous November 22, 2006 um 5:00 pm

Doesn’t matter if you lead or follow, this is just fun and wonderfully tastey and I love that it sings to me as it cools. Great crust!!!
And a great site! I shall return. I’m adding you to my global no knead list – can you clue me where you live? Canada? France?


Kitchen Monkey November 28, 2006 um 1:22 am

OK, i’ve been making this bread for weeks now, as you may have seen on Kitchen Monkey, and it has been fantastic, but it looks quite different from yours, with much larger holes. The structure of mine looks more glutenous. Did you follow the recipe exactly or make some variations? I followed it to the letter, and it didn’t rise as much as yours seems to have (despite having let it rise for nearly 18 hours). I did use bread flour. Did you use all purpose? Very curious. As I said, I have truly enjoyed the way it has turned out, but would also like the option of making a less chewy bread, and, well, yours looks less chewy.


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