No Knead Crusty Artisan Bread

[ShadowsDad]

Artisan no-knead Crusty Bread

This is an exceptionally easy to make, minimal equipment required, recipe that yields a fantastic loaf. It trades a mixer for time. It takes time.

I’d make this again in a heartbeat!

3 cups unbleached all purpose flour
1 3/4 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon instant yeast
1 1/2 cups water (if you need to proof yeast use part of this)
In a large mixing bowl, whisk together flour, salt and yeast.

Add water and mix until a shaggy mixture forms. It won’t be pretty, just mix it, no kneading!

Cover bowl with plastic wrap and set aside for 12 - 18 hours. Overnight works great.

Heat oven to 450 degrees. When the oven has reached 450 degrees place a cast iron pot with a lid in the oven and heat the pot for 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, pour dough onto a heavily floured surface (a silicone mat insures no sticking) and shape into a general ball shape. Just relax it won’t hold the shape, so don’t sweat it. You tried. Flour the upper surface of the dough also. Cover with plastic wrap and let set while the pot is heating. Reshape the dough again (final shaping). Remove hot pot from the oven and drop the dough in. Everything you turned under to make a nice smooth ball should be next to the bottom of the pot. DO NOT grease or oil the pot in any way (SMOKE!). Have no fear, as long as you preheat the pot your loaf won’t stick. If you have a dedicated water sprayer (for food) give the loaf a few spritzes, but it’s no big deal if you don’t.

Cover and return to oven to bake for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes remove the lid and bake an additional 15 minutes. Bread should be browned and the interior 200°F - 206°F. Remove bread from oven, remove from vessel, and place on a cooling rack to cool. Internal temp’ is important regardless of the exterior. A dark brown crust is even better if you can manage to do both.

If someone wants to use parchment fold a piece of parchment multiple times, until you can’t fold anymore, then measure off the radius of your cooking vessel from the apex of the parchment and snip with kitchen shears. (Note: I used parchment once, but it simply isn’t needed. I’ve had to nudge only one loaf out of the dutch oven with a metal spatula. )

**** OPTIONAL! ****
Notes to tweak the recipe: These are completely optional, but they make the recipe even simpler and easier in some ways, but also yield a better loaf with almost no additional work.

>use bread flour.

> Buy a large silicone work mat. I bought a Paderno from Amazon. It was the most cost effective and really large. You might not want large now, but you might. I think it was near $20. Far less expensive for its size as compared to any of the others. (I just checked,mine is Pederno and is 17.5 x 25.5 inches)

>Buy a bench scraper designed for cooking. It needn’t be the most expensive. Mine cost $5. (Not for the work shop scraper) The bench scraper will have a dull edge, mine has a wooden handle. But there are many designs. Don’t pay extra for a cooks name being attached to it.

>buy a hand sprayer for water and designate it exclusively for food. Don’t use the sprayer you used for RoundUp or to kill the whiteflies on your indoor plants.

> Now that you have a work mat, bench scraper, and sprayer don’t flour the surface as per the recipe. Instead turn the dough onto one section of the work mat (nothing on the mat) and allow it to rise as the cooking pot and oven come up to heat. Take your bench scraper and bring the dough edges up over the rest of the dough a few times. It’s play, but it‘s also a very mild kneading. It won’t get more intense than that. Work your way around the dough bringing the edges up over the dough and letting them “come together”. Fill your sprayer with enough water to effectively spray. After the vessel has warmed up and is awaiting the dough, raise the temperature of your oven to 500°F then spray another section of the mat with water. Using the same bench scraper technique you used earlier, move the dough onto the watered section of work mat. Wet your hands so that they are visibly and liberally wet. Lift the dough and plop it into the hot vessel. Spray the top of the dough with water so that it’s visibly wet, cover and bake for 30 minutes. After 10 minutes lower the oven temp back down to 450°F and proceed with the remainder of the 30 minutes of covered bake time. The water you used makes nothing stick to the dough, makes for a better crust, and gives a slightly higher loaf.

>Your silicone work mat only needs to be squeegeed off with the bench scraper, and maybe a towel to sop up the water/flour slurry. You’ll have the bowl and a bench scraper to wash, but no flour mess to clean up. Plus the dough handles much easier, and the crust is better because of the additional water. Don’t forget to empty your dedicated water sprayer and leave the top loose so as to allow it to dry out.

[Squire]

Have you tried cooking the bread uncovered with another vessel in the oven containing water to create a steam bath?

[ShadowsDad]

I've done that with other loaves of bread. The crust is much better with the dutch oven idea.

[kronos9]

I tried this recipe today. Actually, I started it last night since the recipe calls for the dough to rise for 12-18 hours.

Short review: It works. You end up with a loaf of bread with real crust and real flavor. How that happens with such simple ingredients is a mystery to me.

Long story: You're working with heavy pieces of cast iron heated to 450 degrees. This is seriously hot and demands serious oven mitt protection. Wrapping a dish towel around the handle is not going to work. I used mitts rated at 480 and still felt the heat after a few seconds. As Brian says, do NOT use oil or similar spray. It WILL smoke. I had some residual oil from a previous imperfect seasoning and it smoked up during the initial heating of the cast iron. (Probably completed that seasoning process.) Flour is your friend, as I'm learning. Keeps dough from sticking to your fingers and surfaces. I extended the times by five minutes to compensate for the heat loss from opening the oven door. The loaf really does simply fall out of the cast iron. You may be shocked by what looks like a layer of rust on the bottom of your skillet. It's actually burnt flour and easily wipes out with a wet cloth.

Brian, thanks for the recipe.

[ShadowsDad]

Thanks Ed, and thanks for the reminder. I need to mix a batch right now.

[fallingwickets]

Ive made this bread many times over the years.... I think it became a big hit circa 2008 or 2010 when mark bittman published it in the new york times. anyway, if you want to eat a tasty bread, i highly recommend following this recipe........so easy and everyone that eats it will love you.....for a few hours anyway HAHAHAHA

[jww]

Indeed this is great stuff ..... we're off bread for the moment in preparation for our trip to The North later this year and in recovery from 2 weeks' holidays at the seaside in southern Maine. But -- once the winter weather rolls around, you can be sure we'll be making some. It is fabulous in grilled cheese sandwiches.

[brothers]

Maybe I can round up a cast iron Dutch Oven with a lid somewhere along the way. They're not cheap at retail. I'd be buying one just to make a loaf of bread. Might be something I could pick up at an estate sale or flea market.

[ShadowsDad]

That's where I'd look Gary. I use a Taiwanese D'O' that I bought as part of a set close to 40 years ago now. It works fine. It doesn't need to be pristine or expensive. Even if it's rusty, it can be cleaned up.

You don't think you'd use it for making stews and such? Or baked beans? I don't need an answer to that.

I'd like to try the bread in the shape of a rectangular loaf. I just got done looking for a CI loaf pan with a domed lid online and came up with nothing. Sure they are made, but nothing reasonably priced. Too, the lids weren't domed. I did find an old Griswold with a domed lid, but the price was $1600 - a collectors item.

[brothers]

We've got a cast aluminum dutch oven that was given to us as a wedding present back in the Middle Ages, and that's what we've been using forever. I'm just wondering if it has to be to cast iron to work properly.

[Squire]

Don't see why aluminum wouldn't work, I'm planning to use stainless steel.

[jww]

We use a very large Calphalon sauce pan which is good to temps up to something like 500F. Lined with baking paper, it works perfectly.

[ShadowsDad]

Last night I did a huge amount of searching for a CI loaf pan with a domed lid, but I'll get back to that. I ran into a lot of folks who used different vessels to cook the bread in. Cast iron is ideal because of the heat that it stores. Aluminum and SS will work, but there store and transfer heat differently. But try them. Be sure any handles are oven safe to 450°. I also ran into folks using vessels that I don't think should encounter the sort of thermal shock we force on it with this recipe, so I won't mention them. Be sure that whatever is used has a lid. It's the moist atmosphere held in by the lid that allows the huge oven spring and crispy crust. A friend makes this bread and has tried it without a lid and reports the loaf as being far less crisp/crusty on top. The bottom has the same crust covered or not.

OK, back to my lidded loaf pan search. I did find 2 reasonably priced ones; both far more than I want to spend, over $100. I also found a very rare collectible Griswold lidded loaf pan, absolutely perfect, for $1600. Just a smidge' further out of my price range. So I contacted Lodge who does make a CI loaf pan, but no domed lid. I got a reply back today and the lady writing told me that she was forwarding my suggestion to product development and she wanted the recipe. If they ever make what we need I'll be sure to let folks know. I'll also be first in line to buy 2 of them.

[kronos9]

Here's what I used, a Lodge deep cast iron skillet, more than spacious enough for the loaf of bread. Already had the lid.

I bought it to fit under the aforementioned cast iron lid that didn't fit my 12" skillet. Lodge has some strange naming conventions. Be careful when placing an order or you'll end up with pieces needing additional matching pieces.

[Ouchmychin]

Shadowdad, when I read your initial post it wasn't the way I saw it on a U-tube post from a bakery in New York. They mixed the flour water yeast salt and then they put the dough ball in a bowl and covered it and let it rise for 12-24 hours. They dumped it onto a lightly floured board and pressed it into a flat circle about an inch thick. They folded the two sides over the center and then the two ends. Then they scooped it up and dumped onto a towel that had been dusted with a meal like corn meal. They flipped it over and dusted the other side and used the towel to dump the folded sides down into the hot dutch oven. I have done that and it worked for me. I think the long rise time lets the flour denature and age in a beneficial way.

[ShadowsDad]

OK, going to get technical here. So just tune this out guys. Trust me, you can make this loaf without knowing any of what follows and it will come out just dandy. That's the attraction of the recipe.

Pete, I think it was in this thread where one gent mentioned that's it's an extreme "poolish". The basic technique of extreme poolish is the same however it's finished off. It enlists the ingredients and time to do the actual work. The rest of it, the finishing of the loaf, is optional. The punching down and 1" thick with folding is just a mild kneading. It will result in a better loaf and I use a similar technique when I make mine, but that's counterproductive when one is trying to produce a no knead loaf for gents who don't normally cook. If you check out the recipe I do mention it in options. One can make it in a mixer also, but again, counterproductive for the desired goal. After all, this is a shave forum. To go further would be fodder for a bread forum. Here's a good one: http://www.thefreshloaf.com/

OK, even for those with mixers and who know how to knead dough and such, I haven't used my mixer in months, this bread is just too easy to make. We have a friend who also hasn't used her mixer in months for the same reason. I don't know if she even does the fold kneading. As long as one remembers to get it mixed ahead of time it's virtually no work and that's a huge attraction. Too, it can be kept simple for folks who don't normally cook.

For my own bread I'm not allergic to going all the way back to selecting the wheat berry and grinding it myself, but this is not the audience for that. BTW, I haven't been successful yet with this loaf and a full 100% home ground whole wheat. Winter is coming and I'll have more time and colder temps for the indoor oven and still keep the house tolerable. I do intend to try that some more for the increased flavor and nutrition. Truth be told, the dogs like the failed experimental loaves when I turn them into crunchy dried treats. If successful I'll probably never post it here. It's just not the right audience and I don't mean that as a slur on the gents on this forum. Even on the bread forum few folks grind their own wheat into flour to make bread.

[ShadowsDad]

I've been playing with variations of this loaf.

The latest variation is baked in a greased pyrex loaf pan. The recipe is similar to the basic , but everything is increased by 25%. Baking was for 45 minutes @ 425°F, then 5 minutes with the oven turned off, then the loaf removed from the oven and another 5 minutes in the loaf pan. Then turned out for final cooling.

I have possibly 10 minutes of light "work" in the loaf. The rest is the doing of the yeast while I slept and did other things.

There are few things in this world that taste as good as fresh from the oven buttered yeast bread. That heel that you see there? Don't even think of it! That's MINE!

This makes a fantastic sandwich loaf, crunchy and chewy and holds together, really good toast, and as long as I've been playing with these loaves, a very passable substitute for a superior English muffin. I make a really good English muffin, but this bread is easier and is (IMO) just as good or even better in both crumb and flavor. I don't miss my English muffins and especially don't miss the effort that they demand. They aren't difficult to make, just demanding.

BTW, my stand mixer is getting lonely. This bread is just too good, and too easy. The bread makers in my life all report the same phenomenon... a drastic reduction in the use of stand mixers.

[CMur12]

That looks really good, Brian. I'm with you: the crust is my favorite part of the bread; hence, the heel is the best piece.

- Murray

[fallingwickets]

This bread is just too good, and too easy. The bread makers in my life all report the same phenomenon

I'd like to experience the phenomenon tooo...... .......is the recipe posted in the thread somewhere?

[brothers]

This bread is just too good, and too easy. The bread makers in my life all report the same phenomenon

I'd like to experience the phenomenon tooo...... .......is the recipe posted in the thread somewhere?

Clive, it's up above in this thread, the date of the post is August 22, 2014. Please make some and let us know how it turns out!