No Knead Bread - Easy Peasy!

I bet other seniors are ordering groceries online weekly like I've been doing.  It's become like one of those reality cooking shows at our house.  "See if you can come up with a meal that resembles the original menu you have planned, with these odd ingredients."  I wouldn't call myself an inventive cook, like those starting from scratch with ingredients I would never dream to combine with delicious results. But I can take a recipe fearlessly and make simple changes to use what is on hand. Within reason. (Ha!)

After venturing out to the grocery store, before I decided to use the pickup service, I was shocked by the bare bread shelves.  I ran across a no knead bread recipe in our local newspaper (a popular recipe from the New York Times). But after my first try, I didn't like the results, so I did some research and came up with my version which has given me great results with little effort. But it does take time, mainly rising time.  But I schedule most of that time while I sleep.  The steps can be adjusted to fit your personal schedule. 

No-Knead Bread

3 cups all-purpose or bread flour, more for dusting
1/2 teaspoon instant yeast
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 Tablespoon sugar
3/4 cups lukewarm water plus another 1/2 cup of lukewarm water  (I have used 1/2 cup beer which gives an additional depth to the flavor); for a total of 1 1/4 cups of liquid. 

butter as needed to coat the bowl
Flour (I used a light dusting of flour), cornmeal or wheat bran as needed

1)  (3pm) In a large bowl, combine flour, yeast, and salt. Add 1/2 cups water plus 1/2 cups of beer and stir with a wooden spoon or spatula until blended (do not use a hand mixer);  dough will be shaggy and sticky. (Shaggy, I learned, means to be the consistency like biscuit dough.)  Coat a second large bowl with oil or butter. Transfer dough to oiled bowl and cover bowl with plastic wrap. Let dough rest at least 12 hours, but preferably up to 18, in a room about 70 degrees in temperature. When surface is dotted with bubbles, dough is ready.

(Not the best of photos, above - looking through the plastic wrap

you can see the dough bubbling from the yeast.)

2)  (9am makes it 18 hours of rising) Lightly flour work surface. Place dough on work surface. Fold the dough over on itself once or twice. Loosely cover with plastic wrap and let rest about 15 minutes.

3)  Sprinkle just enough flour over the dough, and your fingers, to keep dough from sticking; quickly and gently shape dough into a ball. Lay parchment paper on counter, finely sprinkle with flour, cornmeal, or wheat bran; place dough seam side down on parchment paper and dust the top with more flour, cornmeal, or wheat bran.  Next move the dough and parchment paper to a large mixing bowl and cover bowl (I use a dinner plate).  Let the dough rise until it has more than doubled in size and does not readily spring back when poked with a finger, about 2 hours.

4)  After about 1 1/2 hours, preheat oven to 500 degrees. Place a 6- to 8-quart heavy covered pot, such as cast-iron or Pyrex, in oven as it heats. When dough has fully risen, carefully remove pot from oven. Remove the plate from the bowl of dough and gently remove the parchment paper and dough; set it in the hot Dutch Oven. Shake pan once or twice if dough looks unevenly distributed; it will straighten out as it bakes. Cover, and bake 30 minutes. Uncover, and continue baking until browned, about 15 to 30 minutes depending on your oven. ( Mine was golden at 30 min. when I removed the lid and I cooked an additional 15 min., making it 45 min. total.)   When done, lift the paper and bread out of the Dutch Oven (a pancake turner is helpful to prevent getting burned) and set the bread on a wire rack to cool.

The crust is crispy and the inside is moist.

This recipe is easy to make. It's great for toast, sandwiches and

 delicious just about anyway you want to serve it! 

Enjoy your day!