No Knead Bread from NY Times

[Amber]

Did anyone catch the recipe in the NY Times last November about No Knead Bread? Has anyone made it and if so what did you think of it?

 

In explanation to everyone else, the article said this is a high hydration bread dough and you mix it up and let it sit for 16-20 hours to raise in a warm (70 degree) spot and then punch it down and form it and let raise another 2 hours and then bake it in a heavy casserole (cast iron, pyrex, anchor hocking) with lid on and then off. It only takes 1/4 tsp of yeast that is why the long raise, but there is reason for the gluten to form, etc.

 

I thought this might be good for WTSHTF to be only using yeast sparingly. Some people on a blog or email place said they had tried using sourdough starter with it for flavor and it worked, but that was after doing the basic recipe to see how it worked. Others said they had tried other flours to vary the taste and had good luck. A couple of people messed with the basic recipe on starting and had bad luck with it. The general majority concensus was that it was a super bread with good crust (artisan type) and crumb & holes were small.

 

Has anyone tried it?

 

Amber

[Grubby]

Here is the article from The New York Times .

 

I didn't see an actual recipe for the bread. I did only

skim the article. I did look up the recipe for

those of you who are interested.

 

No-knead Bread recipe

 

Ingredients

3 cups All purpose flour (or bread flour), more for dusting

1/4 teaspoon Instant yeast

1 1/4 teaspoons Salt

Cornmeal (or wheat bran), as needed

1 5/8 cups Water

 

Directions

1. In a large bowl combine flour, yeast and salt. Add 1 5/8 cups water, and stir until blended; dough will be shaggy and sticky. Cover bowl with plastic wrap. Let dough rest at least 12 hours, preferably about 18, at warm room temperature, about 70 degrees.

 

2. 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 rest about 15 minutes.

 

3. Using just enough flour to keep dough from sticking to work surface or to your fingers, gently and quickly shape dough into a ball. Generously coat a cotton towel (not terry cloth) with flour, wheat bran or cornmeal; put dough seam side down on towel and dust with more flour, bran or cornmeal. Cover with another cotton towel and let rise for about 2 hours. When it is ready, dough will be more than double in size and will not readily spring back when poked with a finger.

 

4. At least a half-hour before dough is ready, heat oven to 450 degrees. 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. Slide your hand under towel and turn dough over into pot, seam side up; it may look like a mess, but that is okay. Carefully shake pan (it's hot) 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 15 to 30 minutes, until loaf is beautifully browned. Cool on a rack.

 

http://www.bigoven.com/recipe162432

[quiltys41]

I did make this about two weeks ago as a practice for when TSHTF. It makes a good bread in a cast iron pot. Make sure you cover it tight though to keep the heat inside. We had ours with stew one night. It sure hit the spot! I used flour on the bottom of mine instead of the corn meal though. Oh one more thing, make sure you flour BOTH towels or it will stick to the top one.

 

Q

[Leah]

Is instant yeast the same as normal dried yeast? I never heard it called that...

[Pixie]

i bought instant yeast once by mistake, and the yeast was very very samll. i bought regular yeast, and the yeast was like larger balls. is that the only difference between instant and regular yeast? i always let my yeast sit warm water with honey untill it foams up, then i add it to my recipe.

[Sunnyboysx3]

I don't have a no knead recipe but I do have a no rise recipe.

[Belle]

I'd be inclined to use my ceramic pots (can't think of the real name for them) for this, after soaking them in water. I've used them to bake regular bread with much success. The steam makes the crust nice and chewy, while keeping the inside moist.

 

Amber, thank you for bringing this to our attention. Grubby, thank you for posting the recipe, as well as formatting it for easy printing.

[Amber]

Leah, on the site I was searching this under, one of the people said that instant yeast was the same as bread machine yeast. I have some notes at home, but they said they were using a brand I never heard of, I think it was SAR red (red band? or red package?). It is not the quick dissolve.

 

EDIT: My notes say the brand was SAF (red).

 

Pixie, Definitely DO NOT sugar or honey the yeast to get it going in this recipe. Follow the recipe the way it said. The yeast and gluten do their thing chemically over the long rising period. Most people said the longer rising, the better the flavor, and the second rising should also be towards the 2 hour period rather than shorter.

 

One lady said she used rice flour on the towels and her bread just popped right out of the pan. Some people had problems with the bread sticking in Le Cruset pans. Others had very good luck in the cast iron dutch ovens, and one other did well with an Anchor Hocking glass bowl and old pyrex lid.

 

The lid on the casserole/dutch oven/heavy pot holds in the moisture during the first part of cooking, so there is no need for extra steam in the oven or water-soaked clay cookers for extra moisture.

 

Oh, and they said do not use an 8 qt. as it spread out too much. The pyrex casseroles were the 2-3 qt ones, and the cast iron I think were only up to 6 qts. & probably taller than wider.

 

The only real thing I got out of this is that it has a lot to do with the amount of moisture in the flour as to how your bread comes out. Some people had very wet dough and the response was to use the video recipe (never found that link) and cut the water back to 1 1/2 cups. I think it depends on where you live and how long your flour has been sitting around since being milled. (My gram could tell "old" flour by how much liquid the flour absorbed when she was making her holiday bread.)

 

I want to try it this weekend, so thanks, Grubby, so much for the recipe. I could not get into the NYTimes link without paying $4.95 for the article. Interesting that I found out all about it, but could not find the actual recipe. Just links to the NYTimes.

 

Quiltys, if I run into trouble, I may email you.. Thanks for the tip on flouring both towels. I would not have thought of it.

 

Now I am wondering what size is your cast iron pot? I have two sizes, but the larger ones are the outdoor camping ones so probably not appropriate. I want to try this outside when the weather is better to see if it will work at a campfire after sitting out all night -- or do I have to get up at 3 a.m. to start the thing so I can bake it by midnight, lol---well, that's never gonna happen at my house.

 

Thanks Ladies!

[Belle]

Quote:

The lid on the casserole/dutch oven/heavy pot holds in the moisture during the first part of cooking, so there is no need for extra steam in the oven or water-soaked clay cookers for extra moisture.

Okie-dokie. A word to the wise is sufficient.

[Amber]

Belle, I was not trying to be a party-pooper or mean or snarky...truly -- just that they told one lady not to put in a pan of water into the oven with the bread -- like would be done for French bread to get the crust. I jumped the gun on my answer.

 

Try your clay pot(s) and let us know how they worked out -- are they the ones that start with 'Rom'? I had one a long time ago, a roaster, and it got broken in the earthquake we had here in 1994. It could be they will work well for bread this bread. Let us know if you try the recipe. I've always wanted to get another clay roaster. I just looked up the name of the one I had and it was "romertopf." I loved the way roast meats turned out in that pan.

 

I will probably put it on my Christmas list, right after the AA canner I want. My DH will probably get the clay roaster as it will be cheaper. Right now, I will have to stick with my cast iron dutch oven.

 

Kindest Regards,

[Belle]

No, no, Amber, I was agreeing with you! You were absolutely correct! I will use my cast iron dutch oven instead. Prepping those roasters would unnecessarily complicate the recipe anyway.

 

I think that is the brand of one of my roasters. The other one is a different brand, but the same concept. Check flea markets. I got one of mine for $4 and the other for $6. Neither seller knew what they were, so they marked them low. One of the sellers thought it was some kind of flowerpot! LOL

[Amber]

OK,

[quiltys41]

The cast iron pot I used was a 6 quart. And I'll keep an eye out for you this week-end!

 

Q

[Amber]

Thanks, Q! I appreciate it. I think my kitchen DO is probably the same. It is a no name, therefore no marks to show how large it is, but definitely smaller than my 12" outdoor ones. If I felt like it I could pour quarts of water in there to measure, but just want to make the bread.

 

It is raining now, so hopefully it will be over by the weekend otherwise I will bake in the house. I have a firepit and saw some pictures of people cooking on those. Mine has a grill, so maybe I can haul that out and try it.

 

Oh, and I looked up the yeast mentioned in my initial web searching and the brand was SAF (red). I've never seen that brand.

 

One guy said the yeast was bread machine yeast and I have a jar of that still (uhm, that jar is over a year old) and I hope it will still work. It is going to be an interesting weekend for sure. I guess I should start on Friday night after I get off work, buy some bread flour, some rice flour if I can remember to buy it before I leave the town where I work, and then get started. I have a huge wooden bowl and have not used it for ages, I can hardly wait.

 

I think I will do another sourdough starter tonight. My other one died a nasty death. Oh boy, I think I am feeling bakeryitis again.

[Leah]

I located this: http://www.alpharubicon.com/primitive/easynokneadstella.htm

She talks about 'rapid rise yeast', and using a cookie sheet to bake on.