No knead to worry, this bread is a piece of cake
This bread is a work in contrasts - the thin crust is crunchy, whilst the inside is dense, chewy and moist.
This weekend was an absolute scorcher, with temperatures sitting around 40 degrees C on both Saturday and Sunday. Whilst I was able to fulfill my cooking desires with my boiled sugar treats, I was still aching to bake something, but didn’t want to turn the oven on in the middle of such scorching weather.
What to do, what to do?
Whilst pondering this question, I remembered reading about this no-knead bread recipe which had taken the blog world by storm last month - the super long proofing time required for the dough meant that I could feel like I was making bread but wouldn’t have to turn the oven on till the cool change struck at night, and the hot weather during the day was perfect for dough proofing! How could I lose?
Now, I haven’t had the best luck with yeasted goods, so even though people reported this recipe as being almost foolproof, I still made sure I read plenty of recipe reviews by food bloggers before plunging in to give this a try.
The smell as this bread proofs, then bakes, fills your house with the most delightful smell!
Now, to say that I’m enamoured with this recipe would be putting it mildly. I’m not even going to try and put my adoration into words - all I’m going to say is that we’ve already devoured almost the entire loaf since I finished making it at 1:30am last night, mostly slightly toasted with lashings of salted butter - yum! It was definetely worth my being utterly unable to keep my eyes open at work today 
Give it a try - what have you got to lose?
No Knead Bread
(Jim Lahey at the Sullivan Street Bakery via Mark Bittman at New York Times)
Ingredients
3 cups all-purpose or bread flour (430 grams)
1 ½ cups water (345 grams)
¼ teaspoon instant yeast (1 gram)*
1 ½ teaspoons salt (10 grams)
Cornmeal or wheat bran as needed
* If using dry active yeast, you’ll need to use a little more - about 1/3 teaspoon
1. In a large bowl combine flour, yeast and salt. Add 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 20 degrees C. (If room is cold, then the longer proofing time is required)
2. Dough is ready when its surface is dotted with bubbles. Lightly flour a work surface and place dough on it (you may need a spatula to scrape it out of the bowl); 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 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 - 3 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 230 degrees C. Put a 3 – 4 litre 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.
NOTES:
OTHER FLOURS:
Up to 30 percent whole-grain flour works consistently and well, and 50 percent whole-wheat is also excellent. At least one reader used 100 percent whole-wheat and reported “great crust but somewhat inferior crumb,” which sounds promising. I’ve kept rye, which is delicious but notoriously impossible to get to rise, to about 20 percent. There is room to experiment.
FLAVORINGS:
The best time to add caraway seeds, chopped olives, onions, cheese, walnuts, raisins or whatever other traditional bread flavorings you like is after you’ve mixed the dough. But it’s not the only time; you can fold in ingredients before the second rising.
OTHER SHAPES:
Baguettes in fish steamers, rolls in muffin tins or classic loaves in loaf pans: if you can imagine it, and stay roughly within the pattern, it will work.
COVERING BETWEEN RISES:
A silicon baking mat under the dough is a clever idea (not mine). Plastic wrap can be used as a top layer in place of a second towel.
THE POT:
The size matters, but not much. I have settled on a smaller pot than Mr. Lahey has. This produces a higher loaf, which many people prefer — again, me included. I’m using cast iron. Readers have reported success with just about every available material. Note that the lid handles on Le Creuset pots can only withstand temperatures up to 200 degrees C. So avoid using them, or remove the handle first.
BAKING:
Yes, you can reduce the length of time the pot is covered from 30 minutes to 20 minutes, and then increase the time the loaf bakes uncovered. Most people have had a good experience baking for an additional 30 minutes once the pot is uncovered.
If you’ve never made bread before, this one is a good one to start with as there’s no kneading to worry about, and the recipe itself couldn’t be easier!
Technorati Tags: no knead bread, sullivan street bakery, jim lahey, mark brittman, dough, yeast, bread
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Comments
lisa Okay I’ve missed a day or two reading one of my most favoritest blogs, I see! You’ve been a busy girl!!
Going to comment on them all right here.. firstly, the marshmallows are heavenly looking. I really, really want to make them more now than ever before. True statement!
The honeycomb - I just can’t find words to describe what I’m feeling. Honeycomb is my ultimate favorite candy in alla world.. as long as it’s chock full of holes and is crispidy and wafer like.. and yours looks exactly how it should look. I will be making this - most likely tonight or definitely this week. I made home made peanut brittle yesterday so I have all the ingredients still sitting on my counter. I can’t wait!! 
And finally - that bread.. dear sweet jebus does it look yummy! I think I’m pretty much the last person on the face of the planet who hasn’t made this yet. I don’t know what my problem is.. there is no excuse to not try this - there is no kneading for crissakes. ha! One day.. I will.. one day…
Fabulous job with all of the treats and the bread - you’ve inspired me!
xoxo
Ari (Baking and Books) These are fantastic photos, you can really get a feel for the texture of this bread. I’ve seen this recipe on a lot of blogs lately and it gets more tempting every time!
gattina Your bread is a_m_a_s_i_n_g!!! Then I forgive you not saving me a slice ;P
You’re right, nothing to lose… will try soon!
rachel http://wellfed.net/category/food-blog-awards/
I nominated you for an award! under the humor category!
Ju Sorry to burst anyone’s bubble but the Chinese have been using this method for centuries! In fact, you can steam the dough over rapidly boiling water for 10 minutes and then put the whole thing in a preheated oven just to brown it. It can be glazed with egg or melted butter for better flavour and appearance. The Chinese has learnt this art long ago and they call this dough “pau”. If you are interested, check out any site on Chinese cooking and you will find many variations of this method. Sometimes,they call the initial dough the “sponge” and sometimes “porridge” depending on what method is being used. The really soft breads can take as long as 3 days to prepare (nothing much really, just letting the dough rest and proof itself. The really good bakers keep a portion of the sponge for later batches of dough. The smell is awful but the results are spectacular.
Ellie Brilynn - The crust is ab fab! Mine went chewy the next day, but to be honest I enjoyed it just as much
Lis - Haha, thanks hon 
I just happened to do a bit of cooking over the weekend and have just been spacing out the posts, 1 per day I hope you blog the peanut brittle, I’d love to see it!
Ari - You should definetely give it a try The fact that the recipe needs very little ‘hands on’ time makes it an easy beast to tame!
Gattina - I do hope you try it…just so I can see you blog it Sorry for not saving any, but it was too yummy 
Rachel - Woah, the who what when where now? Thanks hon! Now to find out what these awards are
Kat - Ahh, the beauty of this is that you can split up the dough and make different size loaves… e.g. you can use a small crock pot to make a small loaf…bake the rest in a muffin tray as buns etc
Ju - Sounds intruiging! I’ve just been trying to find this Chinese technique that you mentioned on google but don’t seem to be having much luck. Are there any links which detail example recipes? As for the sponge, it sounds very similar, if not the same to making sourdough, the technique is meant to be thousands of years old, so I guess it’s just one of those techniques that travelled the globe
Tanna Ellie, Bravo, so glad you joined in the fun. It really is fun that it works. I just tried another loaf with multi-grains replacing 1 cup of white and it really improved the crumb flavor. I baked it at 500° and the crust got way to dark, just short of burned black. That’s just too hot for my oven because the ones I did at 450° have been beautiful.
Ellie Tanna - cheers hon I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw it working so well, but I guess that’s the magic of it! I’ll have to try the multigrain, as I admit that I do prefer multigrain bread to white
bea at La tartine gourmande How nice. I so much have to try this bread! I read about it everywhere and you did an excellent job making it!
Ellie Bea - Thank you hon And I do hope you try the bread, it’s the most wonderful thing!
Yes! Another no knead convert! This bread really is awesome, I love the crust it makes.