No Knead! - Get it? Ha! I kill me! Well - almost no knead (as the recipe implies).
Those of you who know me, realize that I cook a lot, but don’t really do much in terms of desserts or baking (because it sometimes involves a lot of measuring and precision). Here’s a recipe that I will take no credit for, but it has “sold” me on making artisan style bread. In fact, my wife Aileen has actually started requesting this bread since it’s so good! One of the things that make this recipe unique is the addition of a small amount of beer and white vinegar (the which vinegar gives a slight sourdough type of taste to the bread).
It’s a really easy recipe and whips together with about 10 mins of measuring and mixing. The rest of the time is spent letting the dough rise. After rising, you knead it (hey, after all, I said “Almost no knead!!!”), form it into your bread shape (boule or batard!), heat the oven, and bake it in the oven enclosed in a cast iron dutch oven (or as the French say “en cloche” as in “in a bell”). You can also use a ceramic, glass, or other oven proof container (that can withstand 500 degrees!
Here is a link to the recipe --> https://breadtopia.com/cooks-illustrated-almost-no-knead/
Some points / tips:
Make sure the baking vessel (and lid handle) can withstand 500 degrees - e.g., if you use Le Creuset - the phenolic handle might disintegrate - for $10 Lodge sells a sturdy replacement pot lid handle.
The rise time on this recipe is very forgiving - I have baked loaves at 12 hours of rise time and up to 18 to 20 hours.
We tend to like a crustier loaf. Therefore, after you remove the lid after baking for 30 min, we back for 15 more minutes.
After you have removed the bread from the oven, put the loaf onto a cooling rack immediately - leaving the loaf in the dutch oven will leave you with a less crispy crust.
Don’t “overwork” the dough! Resist the urge to knead the bread for a lot of time - overworking the dough yields a more processed looking loaf and reduces the “crumb” on the loaf - after all, it’s those wonderful air bubbles that the yeast helped make which is what we were after - overworking the dough minimizes the size of the bubbles.
As Always Best Regards and BonAppetIT,
The ITGourmet!
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