Almost No-Knead Bread (from Cook’s Illustrated)
December 22, 2007
I’m a frustrated bread baker. I long for the crusty, open textured artisianal breads that only seem to be available at specialty breadshops in large cities. And I don’t live in or near a large city. Those wonderful chewy crusts and open texture, airy crumb breads have always been elusive to me. But wait! A no fuss recipe has been introduced that revolutionizes home baking. In November 2006, New York Times writer Mark Bittman published a recipe developed by Jim Lahey of the Sullivan Street Bakery in Manhattan. J. Kenji Alt of the Cook’s Illustrated staff, in the January/February 2008 addition, took this recipe and improved the taste significantly, with the addition of beer for the yeasty flavor and vinegar for the tang. I’ve made this recipe several times, and it is everything they say. The only downside is that it does use some unbleached white flour. But I don’t believe in being too rigid, so as a treat (and what a treat it is), here is the home made bread that looks and tastes like it has been produced in a professional bakery.
Almost No-Knead Bread (makes 1 large round loaf)
An enameled cast-iron Dutch oven with a tight fitting lid yields best results, but the recipe also works in a regular cast-iron Dutch oven (this is what I used) or heavy stockpot. Use a mild-flavored lager (non-alcoholic lager also works). The bread is best eaten the day it is baked, but can be wrapped up and stored in a cool, dry place for up to 2 days.
3 cups (15 ounces) unbleached all-purpose flour, plus additional for dusting work surface. (If you want, you can replace 1 cup all purpose flour with 1 cop whole wheat flour.)
¼ tsp dry yeast
1 ½ tsp salt
¾ cup plus 2 tablespoons water at room temperature (add 2 tablespoons honey to this when making the whole wheat version)
¼ cup plus 2 tablespoons mild-flavored lager
1 tablespoon vinegar
- Whisk flour, yeast, and salt in a large bowl. Add water, beer, and vinegar. Fold mixture together, scrapping up dry flour from the bottom of bowl until shaggy ball forms. Cover bowl and let sit at room temperature for 8 to 18 hours. NOTE: This dough is WET! But it needs to be. As the dough autolyses (autolysis is the rest after adding water to the flour but before kneading), enzymes naturally present in wheat act like scissors, cutting the balled-up proteins into smaller segments that are easier to straighten during kneading. This straightening out and alighning is usually accomplished by kneading. The more water there is, the more efficiently the cut-and-link process takes place
- Lay a 12 by 18 inch sheet of parchment paper inside a 10 inch skillet (or pie plate – don’t use a totally flat surface, use something with a slope to help the bread rise) and grease with coconut oil or lard. Transfer dough to lightly floured work surface and knead 10 to 15 times. Shape dough into ball by pulling edges into middle. Transfer dough, seam-side down, to parchment-lined skillet (pan) and grease top of bread with coconut oil or lard. Cover loosely to keep from drying out and let rise at room temperature until dough has doubled in size – about 2 hours.
- About 30 minutes before baking, adjust oven rack to lowest position, place your 6-8 quart heavy bottomed Dutch oven (with lid) on rack, and heat oven to 500 degrees. Note: my oven runs hot, so I use 450 degrees. Lightly flour top of dough and using a sharp knife, make a 6-inch long, ½ inch deep slit along the top of dough to “open it up”. Carefully remove very hot pot from oven and remove lid. Pick up dough by lifting parchment overhang and lower gently into the very hot pot. Cover pot and place in oven. Reduce oven temperature to 425 degrees (400 degrees in my oven) and bake covered for 30 minutes. Remove lid and continue to bake until loaf is deep brown and instant-read thermometer inserted into center registers 210 degrees, 20 to 30 minutes longer. Carefully remove bread from pot, transfer to wire rack to cool.
I have not made the following variations, but they sound wonderful.
Almost No-Knead Bread with Olives, rosemary and parmesan
Follow recipe for Amost No-Knead Bread, adding 4 ounces grated parmesan (about 2 cups) and 1 tablespoon minced fresh rosemary (I’d probably use 1 tsp dry if I didn’t have fresh) to dry flour mixture in step 1. Add ½ cup pitted, chopped green olives with water in step 1.
Almost No-Knead Seeded Rye Bread
Follow recipe for Almost No-Knead Bread, replacing 1 3/8 cups all-purpose flour with 1 1/8 cups rye flour. Add 2 tablespoons caraway seeds to flour mixture in step 1.
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Very interesting, thanks for the information. I need to just keep building.