Bread of Life

Cheryl Richardson, whose family kept me sane when I spent time at LifeCare Littleton after my chest surgery in '09, and Janet Wineman who was a catalyst in my faith journey in college (in a sorority house at CU no less), both suggested that I share the no knead bread recipe.  Here goes:

 NO KNEAD BREAD

Ingredients

º 3 cups bread flour (So far, I have used King Arthur Bread Flour)

º 1/4 teaspoon instant yeast

º 1 teaspoon table salt

º 1 1/2 cups warm water

º Dutch oven with cover (3 quart is the perfect size)

HOW TO

Make Bread Dough
The night before you wish to eat bread, combine all ingredients in a big bowl with a fork until the dough just comes together. It will look messy. Add a bit more water if all of the flour isn’t mixed in. Cover the dough with plastic wrap and let it sit on the counter for 12-20 hours. I have mixing bowls with covers that are perfect for this step.

Flour, salt, yeast.

Just add water

Shape Bread Dough & Preheat Oven
Your dough be wet, sticky and bubbly. Using wet hands or a wet spatula, place the dough on a floured surface. Fold ends of dough over a few times – nudging it into a round shape.

Wet, sticky and bubbly

Generously dust a clean dish towel (not terrycloth) with flour. Set dough seam side down on top of towel. Fold towel over the dough. Let it rest on the counter for 2 hours. Ninety minutes in, place your covered pot into the oven and preheat the oven to 450-460 F.  If you do not generously dust your towel with flour, the dough will stick to it - not the situation you want to be in as you attempt to dump the dough into a Dutch oven that is hot enough to toast Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego.

Let dough rest.

Place your pot in the oven.

Bake

At the two hour mark, your bread dough should have doubled in size. Remove your preheated pot from oven. Be careful. It will be quite HOT. Place your bread dough in the pot.  It does not matter how the dough lands. Shake the pot to even out the dough. Cover. Bake 30 minutes. Uncover, bake another 10-15 minutes or until the crust is beautifully golden. Remove and let the loaf cool on wired rack. The bread will make pleasant crackling noises as it cools.  If you are not eating your bread right away, you can re-crisp the loaf by wrapping it in foil and baking it in a 350 F oven for 10 minutes.

Gently shake the pot to even out the dough.

The crust is beautifully golden.

I hear music.

The best type of pot in which to bake the bread is either cast iron or enamel covered cast iron.  The lid must fit snugly in order to provide the moist enironment in which the bread bakes.  Jim Lahey's bread book provides recipes for wheat, rye, olive, and other types of no knead bread.  I have not perfected those yet.  This recipe is a hybrid of Lahey's basic recipe and several others that I found.

Please do not make fun of my photographs.  Unlike the Pioneer Woman, I am using a Honda Civic of a digital camera that I bought for my trip to Africa.  Dependable and basic.  And no PhotoShop.