Bready or Not: 24-Hour No-Knead Artisan Bread
Bread. It's my weakness. I love the smell of it, the taste, the texture. If fresh bread candles existed, I would burn them all day long. I also admit to some vanity. I like pretty bread. Pictures of artisan bread make me say, "Ooooooh" out loud. Add to that a caption that says the bread is, 1) not kneaded at all, and 2) takes 24-hours, and my curiosity is piqued.
The ingredients are simple: bread flour, a very small amount of yeast, salt, and warm water. This creates a dough that slowly grows and becomes very... slimey. The texture is very different than the usual roll or sandwich sort of bread because it grows differently.
Therefore, it also creates a very different texture in final form, and also requires a particular kind of pot for that whole "artisan thang." You need a five-quart of larger pot with a lid that is oven safe to high temperatures. I used my lidded Pampered Chef stoneware.
The bread at the end has a very thick, crunchy crust (and it's harder when it's fresh than the next day, oddly enough) and an interior that is hole-filled and chewy, with a slight tang like sour-dough.
The recipe is available on many sites, but I like the version on Steamy Kitchen because she uses the phrase "it's so easy a kid can do it," and has her kid make the bread.
24 Hour No-Knead Artisan Bread
Ingredients:
3 cups bread flour
1/4 teaspoon instant yeast
1 teaspoon fine table salt (or 3/4 tablespoon of kosher salt)
1 1/2 cups warm water
a lidded, oven-safe pot
Directions:
Mix the dough:
The day before, combine all ingredients in a big bowl until the dough just comes together. It will be a shaggy, doughy mess. Cover with plastic wrap and let sit 12-20 hours on the countertop. Just as with a Chia pet, sit back and watch it grow.
Shape & preheat:
The dough will have grown a lot and be very sticky and wet. First of all, prep a work surface by flouring it well. Also flour or wet your hands. To one side, set a floured cotton towel or floured parchment paper.
Dump the dough onto the flour surface; it will be very blobby. Fold it over a few times to coat it as you shape it into a ball. Transfer the blob to the floured towel/parchment and cover the top. (In my case, I had it in parchment and tented the top with a towel.) Let the dough nap for two hours. After an hour and a half has passed, put the empty covered pot in the oven and preheat at 450F.
Bake:
The dough should have doubled in size. Remove the pot from the oven. Dump the gelatinous dough into the pot, using your hands to get the dough off the material (and if you're like me and missed a few spots while flouring, it will stick a bit). It doesn't matter how it lands, and it'll likely flow out to fill the space of the pot. If not, use a floured spoon to even it out, or hold the pot with mitts and shake it even.
Cover the pot. Bake for 30 minutes. Uncover, then bake another 15-20 minutes or until the crust is beautifully golden and middle of loaf is 210F.
Remove and let cool on wired rack for 20 minutes or so before digging in. This stuff is amazing sliced thick and covered with melted butter.
OM NOM NOM.
The ingredients are simple: bread flour, a very small amount of yeast, salt, and warm water. This creates a dough that slowly grows and becomes very... slimey. The texture is very different than the usual roll or sandwich sort of bread because it grows differently.
Therefore, it also creates a very different texture in final form, and also requires a particular kind of pot for that whole "artisan thang." You need a five-quart of larger pot with a lid that is oven safe to high temperatures. I used my lidded Pampered Chef stoneware.
The bread at the end has a very thick, crunchy crust (and it's harder when it's fresh than the next day, oddly enough) and an interior that is hole-filled and chewy, with a slight tang like sour-dough.
The recipe is available on many sites, but I like the version on Steamy Kitchen because she uses the phrase "it's so easy a kid can do it," and has her kid make the bread.
24 Hour No-Knead Artisan Bread
Ingredients:
3 cups bread flour
1/4 teaspoon instant yeast
1 teaspoon fine table salt (or 3/4 tablespoon of kosher salt)
1 1/2 cups warm water
a lidded, oven-safe pot
Directions:
Mix the dough:
The day before, combine all ingredients in a big bowl until the dough just comes together. It will be a shaggy, doughy mess. Cover with plastic wrap and let sit 12-20 hours on the countertop. Just as with a Chia pet, sit back and watch it grow.
Shape & preheat:
The dough will have grown a lot and be very sticky and wet. First of all, prep a work surface by flouring it well. Also flour or wet your hands. To one side, set a floured cotton towel or floured parchment paper.
Dump the dough onto the flour surface; it will be very blobby. Fold it over a few times to coat it as you shape it into a ball. Transfer the blob to the floured towel/parchment and cover the top. (In my case, I had it in parchment and tented the top with a towel.) Let the dough nap for two hours. After an hour and a half has passed, put the empty covered pot in the oven and preheat at 450F.
Bake:
The dough should have doubled in size. Remove the pot from the oven. Dump the gelatinous dough into the pot, using your hands to get the dough off the material (and if you're like me and missed a few spots while flouring, it will stick a bit). It doesn't matter how it lands, and it'll likely flow out to fill the space of the pot. If not, use a floured spoon to even it out, or hold the pot with mitts and shake it even.
Cover the pot. Bake for 30 minutes. Uncover, then bake another 15-20 minutes or until the crust is beautifully golden and middle of loaf is 210F.
Remove and let cool on wired rack for 20 minutes or so before digging in. This stuff is amazing sliced thick and covered with melted butter.
OM NOM NOM.