Thursday, January 29, 2009

The Easiest Bread EVER

Last fall I started making baguettes from scratch. Pre-pregnancy, you know. Since I've been feeling consistently better these past couple of weeks, I wanted to try my hand at this easy bread recipe I found online (my notes are in bold).
No Knead, Dutch Oven Bread
1/4 tsp active dry yeast
1 1/2 cups warm water
3 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting.
You may use white, whole wheat or a combination of the two.
1 1/2 tsp salt
Cornmeal or wheat bran for dusting
In a large bowl, dissolve yeast in water. Add the flour and salt, stirring until blended. The dough will be shaggy and sticky. Seriously sticky.
Cover bowl with plastic wrap. Let the dough rest at least 8 hours, preferably 12 to 18, at warm room temperature, about 70 degrees.
The dough is ready when its surface is 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 it rest for about 15 minutes.
Using just enough flour to keep the dough from sticking to the work surface or to your fingers, gently shape it into a ball. Generously coat a clean dish towel with flour, wheat bran or cornmeal. Put the seam side of the dough down on the towel and dust with more flour, bran or cornmeal. Cover with another towel and let rise for about 1 to 2 hours. Or three, which I should have done because my kitchen is c-c-c-cold. I was afraid it was never going to rise!!
When it’s ready, the dough will have doubled in size and will not readily spring back when poked with a finger.

At least 20 minutes before the dough is ready, heat oven to 475 degrees. Put a 6- to 8-quart heavy covered pot (cast iron, enamel, Pyrex or ceramic--I used my stainless stock pot) in the oven as it heats.
When the dough is ready, carefully remove the pot from the oven and lift off the lid. Slide your hand under the towel and turn the dough over into the pot, seam side up. The dough will lose its shape a bit in the process, but that’s OK. Give the pan a firm shake or two to help distribute the dough evenly, but don’t worry if it’s not perfect; it will straighten out as it bakes. I sprinkled the top with course salt cuz it's yummy.

Cover and bake for 30 minutes. Remove the lid and bake another 15 to 20 minutes, until the loaf is beautifully browned. Remove the bread from the Dutch oven and let it cool on a rack for at least 1 hour before slicing. I opened the lid and took the above picture. I couldn't believe how rustic and pretty it was for the little amount of time and fuss involved. We couldn't wait and dinner was ready, so we dove right into it and it was delish.
Easy no-fuss, no-knead, through-it-together-and-forget-about-it-for-a-day bread.
Let me know if you try it!

5 comments:

Vicki said...

I'll for sure try it! How deep does the dish you bake it in need to be? I don't have a dutch oven, will a covered Pyrex casserole dish work? Looks like you could mix it all together at night before bed and then eat for dinner the next day? (without me stopping to add up all the rest times involved :))

la femme elisabeth said...

Vicki-
Yes, you can bake it in a casserole dish with a lid--as long as it's big enough. The loaf wasn't huge, but it get's kinda tall. And the rest times involved are only twice, and I think they are way easier than making normal bread. Hope you like it!

Lylah Ledner said...

this is so weird...was just saying to myself, "SELF, you need to find that bread recipe you found on one of those MOM BLOGS." Pulled up google reader...and oila...you popped up with a bread recipe. Wasn't the one I was looking for BUT - mind you - it's fantastic. I love how God works.

Just what I needed! Thanks oh cute one! :-)

Leire said...

it looks sooo good!!

i'll write you soon!

love you, family

leire

JamieB said...

can i put this on my food blog??? i'm gonna try it for tomorrow.
love ya and see ya soon!!