Sunday, January 6, 2008

The Bread That Lived...

According to all laws that govern the world, this bread should not have survived. I did SO MANY THINGS wrong! But against all odds, not only did this bread work, it tasted GREAT! My family of four ate nearly the entire thing in one sitting! It's chewy and soft, yeasty and moist, and down right addictive.


I'm new to baking with yeast, and I obviously still have a lot to learn. So if I can successfully bake this bread, so can you! Plus, since there's no fat or sugar, it's MUCH better for you than, for example, typical storebought sandwich bread.

I found this recipe on Smitten Kitchen, but out of necessity I did a few things differently, so I'll post it with my variations added. Click on the link to see the original, and make sure to check out all the other mouth-watering recipes there!!

No-Knead Bread
Slightly heaping 1/4 tsp active dry yeast
1-5/8 cup warm water, 105-115ºF
2 cups all purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1-1/4 tsp salt
Extra flour, as needed, for dusting and coating

The night before, start the bread (it will need to rise 18 hours). In a small bowl, dissolve the yeast and let stand for 5 minutes. In a large bowl combine flours and salt. Add water-yeast mixture, and stir until blended; dough will be shaggy and sticky. Cover bowl with plastic wrap. Let dough rest 18 hours at warm room temperature, about 70 degrees (an off oven works well).

Dough's surface should be 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 by folding the edges of it under itself. Sprinkle a paper plate with flour; put dough seam side down on plate and dust with more flour. Cover with a cotton towel and let rise for about 2-1/2 hours (mine really didn't actually rise much at all, but that's how long I let it sit).

At least a half-hour before dough is ready, heat oven to 450ºF. 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. Carefully turn dough over from the plate into the 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 10 to 15 minutes, until loaf is browned. Cool on a rack.

Yield: 1-1/2 ounce loaf
115 calories per 2-ounce (1/12th of the loaf) slice

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1 Comments:

Blogger Fiber said...

I've been wanting to make this bread for quite awhile and since it seems so easy, I'll have to give it a try!

January 8, 2008 at 6:59 AM  

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