Friday, June 17, 2011

No Knead Bread

This is the easiest loaf of bread I've ever made, I think that maybe even Jon could make it if he had to. But it took FOREVER from start to finish, 22 hours and 45 minutes to be exact. The time didn't bother me but Jon was like "OMG, where's the bread, I want it now!" Haha, silly men and their food.

I didn't document the whole process, I'll just link you to Steamy Kitchen's tutorial because she does a much better job of explaining it than I will.

I did make a couple of changes so I'll note that here:

  • I just used regular all-purpose flour and the loaf turned out just fine
  • I used half a teaspoon of yeast
  • I don't have a nice Le Creuset pot so I just used my big metal roasting pan with a piece of parchment paper on the bottom
  • Because I used the metal pan I reduced the lidless baking time to 10 minutes instead of 15 because the loaf was getting pretty dark
  • I wrote the time that I started the bread on the plastic wrap so I wouldn't forget
  • I went the entire 20 hours with my dough because I have all the windows open at night and it gets nice and cool, not optimal bread-rising conditions



So here's the entire timeline for my loaf:

  • About 2 minutes to get the ingredients out and mix up the dough and cover and label it
  • 20 hours for the dough to sit out on the counter
  • About 3 minutes to scrape the dough out of the bowl, tuck and roll it and transfer it to a floured towel in a tall bowl
  • 30 minutes baked with the lid on my roasting pan
  • 10 minutes baked uncovered

We were into the loaf within 15 minutes of it being out of the oven, it was so good. We ended up eating about half of it right away even though we had just eaten dinner. We'll probably have the rest today, maybe make grilled cheese or something.



4 comments:

  1. Hi! yesterday I tried the recipe, following the NYT instructions and I should have sticked to your recipe, 20 min was way too long - the whole crust burnt black. :-(
    I will give it another try.

    My Le Creuseut has a plastic knob, unfortunately, so I take the Pyrex glass ware instead.

    I like the round shape of the loaf!

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  2. Thanks for commenting Paula!

    Last time I baked this bread I did it for only 15 minutes with the lid and 15 without and it still turned out great.

    I also just plunked the ball of dough onto a metal pie plate and stuck the lid from my roasting pan over it, it wasn't even sealed and the lid was touching the dough.

    I don't really see why the original author puts so much importance on the type of pan.

    Next time I might even try just baking it on a cookie sheet.

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  3. Oops, forgot to add that I have also baked it at 400 at the original baking time and it turned out great.

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  4. The next dough is getting ready in my kitchen, when I come home from work I will go for the 2nd attempt.
    Btw - we have more than just the bread in common, I am on the saving-trip, too. After spending quite a lot during the first half of the year. Have a nice day! Paula

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