June 29, 2010

• no-knead bread

  So I’ve been experimenting with the Mark Bittman/Jim Lahey No-Knead Bread recipe. The idea is you let the dough sit for about 18 hours and that does the work of kneading. Then you bake it in a dutch oven which simulates the effect of a professional steam-injection oven.  I bought this Lodge dutch oven which was way less expensive than the fancy Le Creuset one and seems to work wonderfully. I also bought a stainless steel Le Creuset knob to replace the plastic one on the Lodge — making it oven safe to much higher temperatures.  And now it says “Le Creuset” on top!  Fancy and sneaky, eh? It isn’t gorgeously purple, however. Le Sigh.  

  I made one loaf yesterday, and it came out beautiful.  I didn’t let it cool enough before cutting into it so it was a little doughy and a bit on the bland side. 

  The first really wet dough after 18 hours:

  

  finished loaf:

  

  a pretty slice:

   

  For the second effort I used more yeast and more salt to improve the flavor. I also used this technique of letting it rise in parchment paper instead of in a cotton towel.  Then you use the parchment paper as a sling to get it from one place to another. See here, before rising:

  

  Today’s bread, now cooling:

  

  I am dedicated to letting this one cool for a reasonable amount of time.  It’s less rustic looking because I had an easier time transferring it to the dutch oven — using the parchment sling.  See it in the background there? It just peeled off, easy peasy.

  If you’ve made this sort of bread, do let me know your insights on improving it.  I don’t actually mind kneading bread… but this is a fun experiment. Will let you know in an update how the tasting part works out. 

  I’m going to go smell it now.  It actually crackles as it cools.  Pretty awesome.

  • 12:00 am
  • 3 Comments