No-Knead Bread from the New York Times

I don't know why I waited so long to try this.

I bought a dutch oven a few months ago, and so far I've used it for a lot of really delicious things. I've made meat, I've made sauces, I've made entire dinners in the thing, and they've all come out very well. But until now I hadn't made the one thing I really, really wanted to make: bread.

The No-Knead Bread recipe from the NYT has been making the rounds in the blog world since it printed in 2006, and I'm sure pretty much every one came out perfectly. The recipe is easy to follow and the technique is minimal. I was so happy with how this bread came out - crunchy brown crust, soft and holey crumb. And so tasty. Man, I love bread.

I had only one complaint with how my bread turned out, and I'm pretty sure it had nothing to do with the recipe. As usual, I think the humidity in my apartment did me no favors with my loaf. While the outside was crunchy the inside was a little moist, more so than I would have liked. Life is hard when you live so close to the beach, right?


No-Knead Bread
Adapted from the New York Times
Adapted from Jim Lahey, Sullivan Street Bakery

3 cups all-purpose or bread flour, more for dusting

¼ teaspoon instant yeast
1¼ teaspoons salt
Cornmeal or wheat bran as needed.

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.

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.

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 hours. When it is ready, dough will be more than double in size and will not readily spring back when poked with a finger.

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 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.