This recipe for No-Knead Country bread has turned my bread baking world upside down! When I first saw this recipe I thought why would anyone bake bread in a pot? But after trying it I can definitely see why and I am quite sure I will continue doing it for years to come. It is such a wonderful bread I am going to see if I can find a rectangular covered pot so I can make an actual loaf shape – not that there was anything wrong with the round loaf. But it does make for a good excuse to buy another cast-iron pan.
The crust on the loaf is dark and chewy while the inside is soft and full of wonderful air pockets – perfect for holding a thick layer of butter. The time it takes to create this beautiful loaf of bread is so worth the investment. There is very little actual working time -most of it is waiting and letting the magic happen. The timing that worked best for me was mixing up the dough before bed and letting it sit all night. Late the next morning I formed the bread and let it rise again. Then baked it – talk about an amazing smell, baking bread has to be right up there on the list of the most wonderful aromas.
The original recipe for No-Knead Bread and video from the New York Times uses bran to dust the dough and the loaf before baking but I just used regular flour and the crust was perfect. The other change I made was to use parchment paper rather than a towel to hold the dough during the second rise. First reason is that I am always looking for the easy way to do things and using parchment meant I could place the entire thing directly into the pot for baking – no flipping required! When the loaf was turned out of the pot onto a rack to cool you could hear the crust still cracking. It took a lot of restraint not to slice into the loaf right away but it was definitely worth the wait – to let it cool a bit.
Kudos goes out to the person who figured out this method of No-Knead Bread – it is the most amazing discovery and now anyone can make a beautiful and tasty crusty bread at home!
- 3 cups all-purpose or bread flour, more for dusting
- ¼ teaspoon instant yeast
- 1 ¼ teaspoons salt
- 1½ cups room temp water
- In a large bowl combine flour, yeast and salt. Add the water, and stir with the stick end of a wooden spoon until all of the flour is incorporated; 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.
- Dough is ready when its surface is dotted with bubbles. Lightly flour a work surface and turn out dough on it; sprinkle it with a little more flour and fold it over on itself once or twice using a bench scrape. 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. Sprinkle a large piece of parchment paper with flour; put dough seam side down on paper and dust with more flour. Cover loosely with plastic wrap 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. Pick up the parchment paper by the ends and gently lower into the hot pan. 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 20 to 30 minutes, until loaf is beautifully browned. Cool on a rack.
- adapted from the NY Times
Tammy
During these pandemic times,I have made foods that I have always wanted to try but never did.
Thank you for your no knead country bread recipe. It is so easy and very rewarding. I have even made varations of the recipe such as jalapeño, cheddar and kalamara olive. I will never buy a loaf of artisan bread again. Terri
so glad you did!!