No Knead Bread With Crispy Crust

No Knead Bread With Crispy Crust

Ingredients
3 cups lukewarm water
6 1/2 to 7 1/2 cups King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour*
1 tablespoon salt
1 1/2 tablespoons instant or active dry yeast

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*TIP The flour/liquid ratio is important in this recipe. If you measure flour by sprinkling it into your measuring cup, then gently sweeping off the excess, use 7 1/2 cups. If you measure flour by dipping your cup into the canister, then sweeping off the excess, use 6 1/2 cups. Most accurate of all, and guaranteed to give you the best results, if you measure flour by weight, use 32 ounces.

Directions:

Combine all of the ingredients in a large mixing bowl, or a large (6-quart), food-safe plastic bucket. For first-timers, "lukewarm" means about 105°F, but don't stress over getting the temperatures exact here. Comfortably warm is fine; "OUCH, that's hot!" is not. Yeast is a living thing; treat it nicely.

Mix and stir everything together to make a very sticky, rough dough. If you have a stand mixer, beat at medium speed with the beater blade for 30 to 60 seconds. If you don't have a mixer, just stir-stir-stir with a big spoon or dough whisk till everything is combined.

Next, you're going to let the dough rise. If you've made the dough in a plastic bucket, you're all set — just let it stay there, covering the bucket with a lid or plastic wrap; a shower cap actually works well here. If you've made the dough in a bowl that's not at least 6-quart capacity, transfer it to a large bowl; it's going to rise a lot. There's no need to grease the bowl, though you can if you like; it makes it a bit easier to get the dough out when it's time to bake bread.

Cover the bowl or bucket, and let the dough rise at room temperature for 2 hours. Then refrigerate it for at least 2 hours, or for up to about 7 days. (If you're pressed for time, skip the room-temperature rise, and stick it right into the fridge). The longer you keep it in the fridge, the tangier it'll get; if you chill it for 7 days, it will taste like sourdough. Over the course of the first day or so, it'll rise, then fall. That's OK; that's what it's supposed to do.

When you're ready to make bread, sprinkle the top of the dough with flour; this will make it easier to grab a hunk. Grease your hands, and pull off about 1/4 to 1/3 of the dough — a 14-ounce to 19-ounce piece, if you have a scale. It'll be about the size of a softball, or a large grapefruit.

Plop the sticky dough onto a floured work surface, and round it into a ball, or a longer log. Don't fuss around trying to make it perfect; just do the best you can.
Place the loaf on a piece of parchment (if you're going to use a baking stone); or onto a lightly greased or parchment-lined baking sheet. Sift a light coating of flour over the top; this will help keep the bread moist as it rests before baking.

Let the loaf warm to room temperature and rise; this should take about 60 minutes (or longer, up to a couple of hours, if your house is cool). It won't appear to rise upwards that much; rather, it'll seem to settle and expand. Preheat your oven (and baking stone, if you're using one) to 450°F while the loaf rests. Place a shallow metal or cast iron pan (not glass, Pyrex, or ceramic) on the lowest oven rack, and have 1 cup of hot water ready to go.

When you're ready to bake, take a sharp knife and slash the bread 2 or 3 times, making a cut about 1/2" deep. The bread may deflate a bit; that's OK, it'll pick right up in the hot oven.

Place the bread in the oven, and carefully pour the 1 cup hot water into the shallow pan on the rack beneath. It'll bubble and steam; close the oven door quickly.

Bake the bread for 25 to 35 minutes, until it's a deep, golden brown.

Remove the bread from the oven, and cool it on a rack. Store leftover bread in a plastic bag at room temperature.

Famous No-Knead Bread

 

Famous No-Knead Bread

What is tastier than warm bread, fresh from the oven, with melting butter? Panini Girl Blog posted this recipe with photos. I went online to learn the source of the recipe as it sounded worth posting. The recipe was posted by The New York Times who said it circulated faster than an African get-rich scheme. The original source of the recipe was the Sullivan Street Bakery in New York City

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Ingredients

3 cups all purpose or bread flour
1/4 teaspoon yeast
2 teaspoons salt
1 5/8 cups tap water

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Directions: In a large bowl combine flour, yeast, and salt.

Add water and stir until blended. The dough will be shaggy and sticky. Cover bowl with plastic wrap.

Let dough rest at least 12 hours, preferably 18 hours, at warm room temperature, about 70 degrees F.

When the surface is dotted with bubbles, lightly flour a work surface or silicone mat 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 15 minutes.

Using just enough flour to keep dough from sticking to the work surface and your fingers, gently and quickly shape the dough into a ball.

Generously coat a lint-free linen towel with flour. Not a terrycloth towel. Put the dough seam side down on the towel and dust with more flour. Cover with another lint-free linen towel and let rise for 2 to 3 hours. Dough will be more than double in size and will not readily spring back when poked with a finger.

At least half an hour before baking, place a 3 to 4 quart heavy covered pot (cast iron, enamel, Pyrex, or ceramic) in the oven and preheat to 450F.

When the dough is ready, carefully remove the pot from the oven. Slide your hand under the towel and turn the dough over into the pot. seam side up. It may look like a mess, but that's okay.

Shake the pan once or twice if the dough is unevenly distributed; it will straighten out as it bakes.

Cover with lid and bake 30 minutes.

Remove the lid and bake 15 to 30 minutes more, until the loaf is beautifully browned.

Remove the loaf from the pot and cool on a rack.