Bread without the effort
No-knead bread baking will absolutely revolutionize your life! Well at least your bread baking life.
The no-knead method yields a chewy, thick crusted and full flavoured bread. Not to mention that it's a very low impact activity for those of you with wrist injuries!
This style of recipe generally calls for a Dutch oven, but I found that a similar result can be achieved using a regular bread pan.
Below are 2 versions based on the amazing Jim Lahey's technique.
Basic white loaf
Ingredients:
3 cups unbleached bread flour (I like Robin Hood best)
1.25 tsp fine sea salt
.25 tsp active dry yeast
1-1.25 cups room temperature, filtered water
Multigrain loaf
Ingredients:
2.5 cups unbleached bread flour (I like Robin Hood best)
.5 cups whole wheat flour
.5 cups old fashioned rolled oats (or try steel cut)
.25 cups flax meal
.25 cups sesame seeds
1 tsp fine sea salt
1 tsp brown sugar
.25-.5 tsp active dry yeast
1-1.5 cups room temperature filtered water
Method:
- Combine the dry ingredients in a large bowl and whisk to combine.
- Stir in enough of the water to make a very sticky dough. It will look lumpy. Resist the urge to knead or to over mix the dough since this is after all a knead-free recipe! Too much gluten development will prevent the loaf from reaching its full rising potential later on.
- Cover the bowl, and allow dough to rise for 18-25 hours at room temperature or until 1.5-2 times its original volume. The amount of time is dependent on room temperature and on the quantity of yeast used. (For the multigrain, I used .25 tsp of yeast and allowed it to rise in my relatively cold kitchen for about 24 hours.)
- Once you're ready to bake your bread, grease and flour a medium size loaf pan. Generously flour your dough and shape it to fit into a loaf shape. It will be sticky.
- Preheat your oven to 450F.
- Cover loaf pan with a dish towel and allow to rise a second time for 1-2 hours or until almost doubled.
- Score loaf with a very sharp razor blade or pairing knife (optional).
- Bake loaf for 30-35 minutes or until internal temperature reaches a minimum of 190F and crust is a nice deep brown colour. Remove loaf from pan to cool on a cooling rack. And try and allow the bread to cool before slicing into it! I know it's hard!! :) This is all to make sure that you won't end up with a gummy, low flavour bread!
The no-knead method yields a chewy, thick crusted and full flavoured bread. Not to mention that it's a very low impact activity for those of you with wrist injuries!
This style of recipe generally calls for a Dutch oven, but I found that a similar result can be achieved using a regular bread pan.
Below are 2 versions based on the amazing Jim Lahey's technique.
 |
| Multigrain dough at hour 24 |
 |
| Multigrain loaf |
Basic white loaf
Ingredients:
3 cups unbleached bread flour (I like Robin Hood best)
1.25 tsp fine sea salt
.25 tsp active dry yeast
1-1.25 cups room temperature, filtered water
Multigrain loaf
Ingredients:
2.5 cups unbleached bread flour (I like Robin Hood best)
.5 cups whole wheat flour
.5 cups old fashioned rolled oats (or try steel cut)
.25 cups flax meal
.25 cups sesame seeds
1 tsp fine sea salt
1 tsp brown sugar
.25-.5 tsp active dry yeast
1-1.5 cups room temperature filtered water
Method:
- Combine the dry ingredients in a large bowl and whisk to combine.
- Stir in enough of the water to make a very sticky dough. It will look lumpy. Resist the urge to knead or to over mix the dough since this is after all a knead-free recipe! Too much gluten development will prevent the loaf from reaching its full rising potential later on.
- Cover the bowl, and allow dough to rise for 18-25 hours at room temperature or until 1.5-2 times its original volume. The amount of time is dependent on room temperature and on the quantity of yeast used. (For the multigrain, I used .25 tsp of yeast and allowed it to rise in my relatively cold kitchen for about 24 hours.)
- Once you're ready to bake your bread, grease and flour a medium size loaf pan. Generously flour your dough and shape it to fit into a loaf shape. It will be sticky.
- Preheat your oven to 450F.
- Cover loaf pan with a dish towel and allow to rise a second time for 1-2 hours or until almost doubled.
- Score loaf with a very sharp razor blade or pairing knife (optional).
- Bake loaf for 30-35 minutes or until internal temperature reaches a minimum of 190F and crust is a nice deep brown colour. Remove loaf from pan to cool on a cooling rack. And try and allow the bread to cool before slicing into it! I know it's hard!! :) This is all to make sure that you won't end up with a gummy, low flavour bread!
Thanks for sharing the recipe with us, will be giving it try and hope that it will be delicious and worth having.
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