No Knead Bread

I originally found this recipe on NewYorkTimes.com, when talking with a friend about the easiest way to make bread. This recipe is not only easy it is the best homemade bread I have ever had, if you are looking for a crusty outside, fluffy inside Italian style loaf. The secret is letting the yeast do the work for you, and knowing you want bread in 20 hours. Follow the video and add your own ingredients to make a personalized loaf. I add some whole wheat flour, sourdough from a starter, onion, garlic, or seeds.

No Knead Bread Recipe

2 1/2 cups non-bleached white flour

1/2 cup wheat flour

1 1/4 teaspoons salt

1/4 teaspoon yeast

1 1/2 cups water

Mix white and wheat flour with salt and yeast well in big glass bowl (don't use metal, the dough will not rise as well.) Add water and mix dough with your hands until mixed well and there are no clumps of flour. Leave dough in bowl and place a damp cloth over bowl so that mixture stays moist. Let sit for 12-20 hours. I usually allow my dough to rise as long as possible as your dough will become a little sour with time. Make sure you leave your dough in a warm area, in the very cold of winter, your dough may not rise as well, if so, keep dough near radiator (if you are an east coaster like myself and have one now) or on a warm oven. Your dough should rise about 3 times its size.

20 hours later preheat oven for as hot as it will go. Once preheated, place dutch oven style pot (like a Le Creuset if you are so lucky) in oven and heat pot for 30 minuets. Once pot is heated carefully remove from oven and scrap dough out of bowl onto a well floured surface. The dough will be perfectly formed, all you need to do is stretch the dough out a bit, add a little flour to the edges, fold one side of dough over half the length of the dough, and the other side over that side, so that you make a pocket. The goal is to make a nice crevice on the top of your bread. If this proves too difficult, skip it! It is not necessary, simply cosmetic. Next, carefully plop your dough in the center of your very hot pot, (you can use a towel to help you) put the lid on and cook dough for 25 minutes. Remove lid after 25 min and cook for another 15-20 minutes. (Every oven is different, and through my experience cooking in very strange places, for example a crappy trailer in Big Sur, a tiny tiny cabin oven in Santa Cruz , it takes some practice to get the temperature just right.) Hotter ovens may only require 15 minuets with the lid on and 15 minutes with the lid off, keep an eye on your bread the first time you make it. Once done baking remove from pot carefully and place on a cooling rack for about 20 minutes. Warm bread with butter is just about one of the most simple pleasure I can think of.