Homemade bread

I had been eager to try this famous no-knead bread that I first read about in Mark Bittman's weekly column in the NY Times, and now that I've tried it, I want to do it again! In the past, the idea of taking my frustrations out by punching dough seemed like a glamorous idea until I got tired of doing that halfway through. So I was very interested in this method where you just mix yeast, flour, and water together, let it sit for 12-18 hours, shape it, then let it rise again for 2 hours, then throw into a very hot, covered pan for less than an hour.

The results were pretty good (very crusty, with soft insides) but I think I need to practice it some more before I can say I mastered it. For one thing, I made a huge mess when I was trying to prepare the dough for the second rise. It was so sticky that I couldn't shape it at all and I think I handled it so much that it knocked some of the air out of it, leading to denser bread than I would have liked.

But overall, great bread (especially for a first try) for relatively little effort and extremely low cost. The leftovers were great toasted too. I sliced it thinly and topped it with some Japanese eggplant and minced meat from Deluxe in Ctown (courtesy of the 'rents) and it was like a fusion Asian bruschetta -- yummy!!


Needless to say, I would definitely try this recipe again and you can too:

No-Knead Bread
Adapted from Jim Lahey, Sullivan Street Bakery
Time: About 1-1/2 hours plus 14 to 20 hours' rising

3 cups all-purpose or bread flour, more for dusting
1/4 tsp instant yeast
1-1/4 tsp 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 a cotton towel (not terry cloth) [I used a Silpat instead] 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 OK. 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 1-1/2 pound loaf.
Recipe courtesy of The New York Times

Some things to keep in mind for next time -- I used a 7 qt. enamel cast iron pot, which led to a fairly flat and wide loaf. I would like to try our cast iron Dutch oven next (I think it is 5 qt. or so) so that I can get a higher loaf. Also, with the non-enamel cast iron pot, I don't have to worry about the handle being able to stand the high temperature. With the enamel pot, I had to unscrew the handle and substitute a metal cabinet door knob instead, which was a bit of a precarious situation (think scorching hot metal twirling and flapping around as you try to lift a heavy cover).