one for the sling files
While I know I’m not the first food blogger to post about the magical, no-knead bread of Jim Lahey at the Sullivan Street Bakery fame in the five whole days since The New York Times published the recipe, since I am the only one to do it one-handed, I believe I should win. (Also, please tell me you know I am joking.) But really, we all win because … Look, just make this bread, okay? It’s dense and chewy, but unbelievably moist. The crust is crisp but not leathery, you don’t need to gnash your teeth and injure your gums to get through it. The loaf rivals even the most exciting results of my fifteen hours of bread-baking classes, and aside from the part where Alex will be furious because I didn’t wait for him to get home and endangered myself lifting a 19-lb 450 degree pot out of the oven, it can totally be done one-handed.
This is why the bread is so vastly superior to other loaves: one, it has a very wet, sticky dough. Yeast loves this; it’s the ideal environment for it to invade and multiply. But, breads this wet are nearly impossible to knead - it’s more like smearing dough across the counter, doable, but not very pleasant. Two, it uses very little yeast and less is always more in bread-making. Sure, a bread that requires nearly a tablespoon of yeast is super-speedy to make, but it doesn’t have as much time to develop all of the rich flavor and texture in a long-tenured rise. Finally, as Bittman notes in the article, the bread is a dream-come-true because that crazy step at the end - baking it in a covered Dutch oven, or a casserole dish if you don’t have one - creates a misty, humid environment like the one introduced in the early stages in a professional bread oven. This moisture keeps the bread chewy and delightful, and allows for a dreamy crust to form.
And this is the part where I show you a way around the ingredient New York City ran out of faster than pumpkin puree the day before Thanksgiving: instant yeast. I had none, Fresh Direct had none, and rather than sending my already-overworked husband on a wild goose chase through our neighborhood grocery stores for it, I did a little Googling, finding none other that Rose Levy Berenbaum explaining what the big instant brouhaha is all about.
Instant yeast is also known as Rapid Rise, Bread Machine, SAF, QuickRise, Instant Active Dry, and Gourmet Perfect Rise. …The process by which the instant yeast is dried and put into dormancy results in more live yeast cells when the yeast is activated, which means that you use only 3/4 the volume of active dry yeast. The goal here is reliability and ease, not speed. The yeast came about with the advent of bread machines, as proofing yeast in warm water would have been an extra step, and with a bread machine most people want to put everything in it at once and walk away, or even leave it overnight to wake up to freshly baked bread the next morning.
Did you catch that part about the ¾-volume? A little math, and we determined that 1/3 of a teaspoon of the active dry yeast we had in the fridge would be an ideal exchange — even better, it worked — so fret not if your store, too, is out of this suddenly-vaunted ingredient.
“No-knead” bread, glorified elsewhere:
- Karen at Bake My Day
- Leland at Eat
- Life Begins At Sixty-Five
- Lindy at Lindy’s Toast
- Luisa at The Wednesday Chef
- Tanna at My Kitchen in Half Cups
- And check out these ever-growing tags on Flickr!
No-Knead Bread
Jim Lahey at the Sullivan Street Bakery via Mark Bittman at New York Times
Yields one 1 1/2 pound loaf
3 cups all-purpose or bread flour, more for dusting
1/4 teaspoon instant yeast
1 1/4 teaspoons salt
Cornmeal or wheat bran as needed.
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°. 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 O.K. Shake pan 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.
Mmm…bread. Nothing is better than fresh baked bread. I’ll have to try this one.
ahhh
question: I have a coverd Le Creuset deep dish baker.. would heating this pan empty in the oven be ok and would putting the room temp dough in crack it?
I havnt used this pan yet, im a huge fan of their line of cast iron but am leary on the stoneware. I know it can be tempermental.
Ask me anything on cake/cookie baking but when it comes to bread and pans, oy, forget it.
Wow this is too funny…I had printed up this recipe from the nytimes.com website last week and was itching to try it…glad to hear that it is actually good!!!
I knew you wouldn´t be able to resist, broken clavicle and all ;) And yep, even though you won´t win any awards for making bread with just one hand, you might win an award for a stubborness that isn´t that far away from good old lunacy :P
I´ve given in to the temptation and disregarded my concerns about temperature (summer has arrived so it´s around 78°F at night), and I´ve just prepared the dough, I´m crossing my fingers for everything to turn out fine, since this recipe is quite unusual in many ways.
the “h” has serious bread issues. the man can make and cook anything, except bread - it’s awful. i see the hope in his eyes to be later filled with saddness when he takes a bite of the bread and i can hear it drop to the bottom of his stomach like a hugh rock in water… oh the bread issues i’ve had to hear about… i will pass this along, thank you!
Wonderful research on the yeast! But drats, I didn’t know I wanted that book too!
This bread is amazing and stunning AND it’s really good to eat. I’m starting another batch to day for soup tomorrow.
Thanks for the mention, I’m adding you to my list of Global No-Kneaders.
One arm with that hot pot…glad there is no burn in this report!
I looked at those pics and instantly wanted to cut off a slice, dunk it in an egg/cinnamon mixture and fry it up for french toast.
Your bread looks darker, like you used a whole wheat or rye mix… Is that just an photo-illusion? I love the top picture, where you can see the flip of dough over the top of the loaf. Lovely! And done one-handed: you’re a star.
Wow, I’m definitely going to make this. I can see why it has such appeal. Thanks!!
I have been thinking about that article since I read it aloud to my husband on the road this weekend. Actually, first I described the article — especially the part about creating that miraculous crust sans squirtgun — then I had to read it again for his benefit. It looks absolutely amazing; I cannot believe you did it one-handed. You’ve got some crazy skillz, clearly.
This bread strikes me as a weekend-type activity. It’s the only time I can think about time in terms of 12 or 18 hours! This bread is definitely on my to-do list for Friday/Saturday, and I hope mine comes out as well. I’m glad to hear that this recipe is right up there with those other yummy ones you baked in your class, too.
Your bread looks ‘prettier’ than mine turned out and I’m 2 handed!!
Thanks for a great site with wonderful recipes & pictures.
I’m making the Stout cake for my birthday this week :)
And I agree with a pp that your bread looks like you used whole wheat flour.
I’ve got my second batch currently raising. It’s challenging to make in a cold climate. Our house temp is 60F. I have it in the oven with the light on.
Delurking to write:
Oooh, goody. Glad to see that this recipe works in the real world. Now, I must ask: did you make a whole wheat version of this bread (Bittman writes that one can do so), and if so, how did you calculate the proportion of wheat flour to bread flour?
Wow! Don’t know how I missed this, but now I’ll have to try it.
On yeast: I’ve been baking bread for over 40 years and have never used instant yeast when it’s called for–why have two kinds of yeast hanging around. I’ve always been in the “cool rise camp” though, so maybe that has something to do with it working for me.
(Having said that about two kinds of yeast, I do love using cakes of fresh yeast when I can find it. I think it’s just a nostalgia thing–the wonderful aroma when I’m squishing it up in the water reminds me of helping my grandmother bake bread when I was a kid. I don’t think it really makes a difference in the finished product.)
Mm, you make me almost willing to try baking bread!!! That looks delicious, chewy and crispy all at the same time- the way bread is meant to be. Sigh! With some really good olive oil and you may find me at your door, “Please sir (ma’am), may I have some more?” :)
Jessie - And this is even better than typical fresh bread. I love it.
Cupcakes - I’m so afraid to answer because I’d hate to be the cause of a busted dish, but the dough is really not cold after sitting out for a day, it’s even on the warm side, so I don’t see why it would crack the dish. I’d say it’s safe, but I also kind of hope someone else answers, too.
Sharon - Make it! It’s so good.
Marce - I hope you like it.
Tammy - This recipe can cure anyone. Not that you asked, but often overly-hard or dense breads, if the yeast is fine, have just been over-proofed. Like way over-proofed. But, again, have him try this. You’ll love this.
Tanna - Thanks!
Jenifer - You’re brilliant. Maybe I should do that tomorrow… hmm.
Luisa - Good call! You’re absolutely right. All this one-handed posting is causing me to miss steps! I have this stuff called Bob’s Red Mill Vital Wheat Gluten Flour. It’s apparently made from “the natural protein found in the endosperm of the wheat berry” blah blah. Basically, you use one tablespoon of it for every cup of all-purpose or whole grain flour, and it helps add a wonderful springiness to the dough. It also makes it a little bit more beige.
I bought this bag (super-inexpensively) at the Garden of Eden on 23rd Street, but I know there are a lot of other “bread helpers” out there. Great stuff to have around if, like me, you can never find bread flour anywhere.
Tammi - Let us know how it goes.
Nancy - Skillz? Perhaps. Madness? Certainly. It was fun, though. I admit. ;)
RA - I agree with the weekend thing, or perhaps if you were forced to work from home for a week or two, ahem. I mean, if it was a clean 24 hours, you could start it at 6 p.m. one day, and finish it the next after work. But, 12-18? Always puts you during work hours if you start it the night before. That said, it’s almost no work. You don’t have to watch it or do anything more than mix it, fold it once or twice, and then dump it in the oven, unceremoniously. Have fun!
Mel - The appearance is dumb luck. Literally - it stuck to the towel and having no way to pry it off while I tried to dump it into the oven, I just let it peel and peel, finally plopping and tucking over like a beak. Quack!
Colleen - Whenever you use whole wheat flour, it’s always safest never to go over 50% of the total flour amount, at least until you’ve tried the recipe first that way. I didn’t use wheat flour, but a flour additive I mentioned in my comment above to Luisa. If you can find that, it’s really great stuff for working with whole wheat flour. Otherwise, at 50/50, I’m sure you can’t go wrong.
PennyZ - I love cake yeast, but I rarely buy it because I’m always warned it goes bad so fast. But check this out: this place where I get lunch by my office makes their own bread, and their starter is now two years old! The guys say I can have some, whenever I want to try it out. Cool, huh?
Yvo - I keep thinking I’ll dip it in olive oil, but it’s so good, it doesn’t even need it. Now you must try it!
OK, about Step 3: Seriously? Form the dough into a ball? because it was almost as much of a bubbly liquid mess as it was in Step 2, after 18 hours of fermenting or whatever it does.
I plastered it with flour, which made it like working with over-watered grout, and poured it into the sacking, and am now hoping for the best during its final 2-hour rise.
I also documented this with my camera phone. I’ll be inflicting photos on the Internet at some point.
I saw you were baking this! Fear not - mine did NOT come into a ball either. In fact, no matter how much I floured the towel, it still stuck. But, it baked up like a charm. I’m sure yours will too.
Thank God! Because now it’s almost time to put them in the oven and I’m really hungry.
Thanks, Deb! You rule.
I used this recipe, but did not bake in the cast iron/stoneware. (I didn’t have a large enough vessel.)
Baked in a silcone loaf pan, the result was still outstanding!
I used a lid on the loaf pan for the first ten minutes, and then baked until it looked ready.
The crust did not have the “artisan bread” crunch, but was close.
I’d post a picture, but my wife made short work of the loaf :-).
Deb, you goddess of the kitchen blog, that bread is addictive! It turned out perfectly. We made one loaf in a Crueset, and two others (we made two batches, and cut the second in half) in two smaller Pyrex bowls with lids - and they turned out two of the most perfect tiny campagne-like loaves I’ve ever seen, the perfect amount for dinner. Thank you!
You know, I bet it would make great French toast. We had oxtail soup for dinner and cut up a couple slices to act as croutons. Oh my GOD it was good.
i’m going to make this bread this weekend and still have a question about the yeast.
so if i get fleishmann’s yeast, i should use the “rapid rise” and not the “active dry” yeast–correct?
I have made several batches of this great bread. It always looks beautiful, has a marvelous crust and everyone loves it, but— I don’t like the crumb. It is quite gooey. It doesn’t seem to be done. I tried turning the oven down and cooking it longer, but I don’t notice any difference. Does anyone else dislike the internal texture of the bread? Has anyone been able to get the texture that you find in good German bread? I have tried rye and whole wheat and they are all marvelous. The crust is the best I have ever tasted, everything is great except this rather wet interior. Please, help!
That is a great looking bread for sure! I love the colour of the crumb on yours, but as JoAnn here, I have a bit of a problem with the interior, too gummy for my taste. Haven’t had the time to try a fourth batch with all the Christmas baking going on…
Thanks for the mention!
Out of ignorance, I used active yeast instead of instant yeast. It was a cool day in the Georgia mountains, and even with a fire the warmest spot in the cabin was about 63 degrees F. Maybe that’w why it worked? Even after 18 hours rising, my dough was much wetter than Leahy’s in the Bittman video. But it came out perfectly after 30 min covered and 15 min uncovered at 450. My center did not come out gooey at all. Maybe it was the Le Cruset enameled iron pot I cooked it in.
I Am an italian woman and I have tried to do this wonderful bread.
It came out good but with very very little holes.
The fact is I have add some flour because I have found very difficult to put the liquid dough on the cloth.
How can I do?
How do you do to put the liquid dough on the cloth?
Thank you if you can answer me.
Cheers
Pandora
I’ve baked two loaves of no-knead bread, in a pot borrowed from a friend. Now I need (no pun intended) one of my own. I decided that an amorphous blob of dough on a towel would be difficult to handle. My technique, which works like a charm - put a Silpat mat on a cookie sheet. Dust with flour. Flop the dough on the mat for it’s final rise, covered with a floured towel. Very easy to carry cookie sheet from here to there, then “pour” dough in hot pot.
Also, being a belt-and-suspender person, I periodically (every couple of weeks) check oven temperature with a Taylor thermometer, rather than relying on where I twist the oven temperature knob to as being accurate. Gave my daughter an oven thermometer after getting tired of her complaints about how bad her DCS range was for baking. Smart mommy - her oven was off by 50° Fahrenheit.
I’ve been baking the loaves at 450° Fahrenheit for 30 minutes covered, an additional 20 minutes uncovered. No issue with gummy / soggy center.
Happy, tasty new year.
Judy
After baking a dozen or so of these loaves I have decided to push the envelope of laziness (in the spirit of the article in ReadyMade Blog that refers to this recipe as “Lazy Bread”).
First, I tried cutting down the first rise time from the recommended 12-18 hours to as little as 8 hours. I placed the bowl in a warm oven (warmed only by the oven light which maintains a ~85 deg F. temperature). After baking a few of these “reduced time” loaves I found absolutely no difference.
Next, I decided to do something about the sticky towel syndrome. About half the time I found that the dough would stick to the towel so I decided to get rid of the towel. I replaced it with plenty of flour and cornmeal placed in the bottom of the rising bowl (a large stainless steel variety with about 6″ of flat bottom and curving edges). After placing the dough in for the second rising, I sprinkle plenty of flour around the edges of the bowl so it will adhere to the rising mass and thus prevent the sticking. When I am ready to deposit the second rise in the cast iron pot, I gently pull the dough from the edge of the bowl and let it roll into the pot with no sticking problems.
With these adaptations, I have had perfect results - plus no cleanup of messy towels! I’ve also been baking the loaves at 450° Fahrenheit for 30 minutes covered, an additional 15 minutes uncovered. No issue with gummy centers either.
I’ve tried this recipe with my La Crueset round casserole and had good results. Now I want to try a larger, oblong shaped loaf, more like Italian bread. The problem is finding the right pot to cook it in. I was given a beautiful Emile Henry oval casserole and it is exactly the right size, and heavy to boot. However, I am terrified that dropping the cool, wet loaf into the hot casserole will create too much thermal stress and crack the casserole. Has anyone tried this kind of ceramic pot?
For all you people with the sticky cloth problems, spend $23.00 and purchase a Fiberlux Non-Stick Baking Mat-works great!!
Better yet, use parchment paper, costs next to nothing and sticks not a bit!!!
Deb:
I’m having a very hard time finding inactive yeast (I have looked everywhere and very much want to try this bread). Any advice?
I made this for for the first time for a party, and invited people with intimidatingly good taste. After one bite, I was asked if it was purchased at the fancy pants grocery store down the street. I wanted to throw my arms in the air and dance around Rocky-style in the kitchen. “Nope. I made that.”
Hi Amy - Are you speaking of Instant Yeast? If so, I had success replacing it with 1/3 of a teaspoon of Active Dry Yeast. Or can you only find cake yeast? If so, let me know. I’m digging around for an exchange on it, but haven’t found a solid one yet.
Good job, WendyP!
kerry, sydney oz.
we had this recipe in SMH on New years day. what a great start to 2007.
I have made organic, rye, spelt, and even added olive, rosemary and red onion, at ‘countdown’ rise, eg last 2 hrs. fantastic, thanks Jim!
Great recipe. Thanks. Have baked six loaves. My question is this:
What is best safe temperature for the water? Is it 120 degrees F
or does some other temperature work best? Tepid is a broad term.
Does hot water work? I have used cast iron pot and a
Corningware pot. Corningware hotline said 450 degrees is o.k. if
you allow container to cool slowly in hot oven that is turned off.
Thanks. John Saunders, College Station, Texas
I have one quick question. I am brand new to the whole bread baking idea, but I really wanted to try your recipe. In your answer to luisa, you had mentioned vital wheat gluten flour. When did you put that in? In place of the regular flour or at the same time, and what ratio.
Thanks, I’m excited to try this
stacy
John — Tepid, in bread-making, means 110 degrees. The first time you do this, you might want to check the temperature, so you can remember how it feels in the future. However, warm-but-not-hot is a good guideline. Super-hot, like steaming or boiling, would kill the yeast, on the cool side won’t really keep it from working. Hope that helps!
Stacy — What I had used is simply an additive, something you use in addition to your flour to better the texture, chew and richness of a bread, but is in no way a necessity. I just had it on hand. It is especially useful when using whole wheat flour, as it adds glutens, making up for the lower gluten level in whole grain flours. For the brand I have, you add 1 tablespoon per cup of flour. This bread is wonderful with or without it.
Tried this recipe for the first time today, and wow! I used generic rapid rise yeast, 2/3 all purpose and 1/3 bread flour. I baked it 30 and 15. It reached 200 degrees but the crumb was still a little too moist for my taste. I will start to play, but will definitely make it again and again.
Deb, you are my new favorite cookbook. Everything I’ve made from your site has been awesome. I am not a baker (somehow I manage to screw up Tollhouse Chocolate Chip Cookies), but I dared to try this bread since everyone made it sound so easy. And surprisingly, it really was. I used the Fleishman’s Rapid Rise yeast because that’s all I could find, which seemed to work okay. Also, I do not have a heavy oven-proof pot. I decided to just use a baking pan, and covered the bread loosely with tin foil. The bread came out fantastically crunchy on the outside, and soft and yummy on the inside. If anyone uses the baking pan method, just make sure that the foil is not touching the top of the dough, or else you will lose some of the crust when you pull it off.
Deb,
I made the bread last week for a dinner party, it went over so well, that I’m making it again this weekend. Thanks for the helpfull instructions! I have a question though….can I make the dough and freeze it for later? Thanks!
Love the blog, it has rapidly become one of my favorite must-reads!
Tried the bread tonight for the first time. I also saw this in the NYT first, and was very pleased to see it here and linked to other foodie blogs. I didn’t think I had anything that would work to bake it in, but then inspiration hit me. I used the crockery insert to my crock pot, and used foil for the lid as the regular lid has a plastic handle. I left it rising for 26 hours because of my schedule. I did fill a pan with hot water on the lower rack and the crust was perfect - crunchy but not like iron.
I can’t imagine what anyone at home uses to bake in when they are making a full recipe; this batch made a giant loaf - enough that 3 hungry boys/man and a bread glutton mom only made it through half a loaf.
My most recent version used 1.5 cups of water instead of 1 5/8 cups and that seemed to work better. It handled easier and came out better than the previous versions. I also used .5 cup of wheat flour and 2.5 cups of bread flour, 1/3 teaspoon of active dry yeast.
I have made some perfect loaves this way. Pot-Buy a cast iron dutch oven by Lodge on Amazon
under $29.00 and comes preseasoned-cheaper than Calphalon, so you could get two and bake
two loaves! Okay I used 2 1/2 cups all purpose flour andthen for you whole grainers, add 1/2 cup of Bob’s Red Mill mix-they have from 6-10 grain cereal mixes. Forget using them for cereal, use em for bread! Mine has whole wheat rye, spelt, flax and other good stuff. (Barry Farms on Amazon has a ten grain mix that is cheap and bags of vital wheat gluten.) I have been using just over 1 1/2 cups of water…to be honest I eye this as I find each dogu batch may need a little more or less…start with 1 1/2 and add until its fairly mushy(practice makes perfect…but it’s really a no brainer!) Add to the flour the following 2 tsps salt,2 tsps sugar,1/4 tsp Saf Yeast (active works too with warm water!), mix this up then add a dash of drizzled olive oil and the water (warmish).
I have tried 12-18 hours all work…do the folding thing. Preheat the oven and the pot to 500 degrees,use the time for preheating for the second rise! Plop your dough into the pot, make a couple slashes on top of bread dough for artisanal look and bake 30 minutes covered, 15-30 minutes uncovered!
Regarding vital wheat gluten my box from whole foods says add 1 1/2 tsps to each cup of flour
that is whole grain, the purpose to add more protein, and better structure. I have tried a couple loves this way but have not seen a substantial difference. Not really needed as the bread comes out so well as is!
Would the bread be ruined if sugar or cinnamin were added? If not, how much should be added to make it taste more like cinnamin bread. I believe I read that raisins could be added also.
I hope I’m not out of line here in answering Mary’s comment…
I made a few loaves with different things added to the dough during the 2 hour resting period and they’ve turned out great. I made one with chopped up dried cranberries and orange zest with a tiny bit of sugar. I also made a multigrain bread using 1 1/4 cups of whole wheat to 1 3/4 cups of white flour, then I added wheat bran, oats, sunflower seeds, flax seeds and raisins (a few tbsps of each). Both turned out wonderful, so I’m sure raisins and a cinnamon/sugar mixture would make a wonderful combination. It’s just a great recipe to have fun with!
amazingly, this works! I kind of bungled through it. Didn’t bother with the whole cloth thing, just tossed it in a big pot and baked it. turned out BEAUTIFUL. I was really quite blown away. what a success!
This has got to be the MOST forgiving bread recipe ever… I also didn’t have instant yeast on hand so I had to attempt it with active-dry like you did. I don’t know if you had this problem, but the main fallback I had was that during the 2 hour rising period mine did not rise at ALL! But I had devoted so much time to it, I figured I’d go ahead and toss it in the oven anyway and just see what came out. And you know what- it was amazing! My family (of 4) ate ALL of it with dinner last night. Thank you so much for posting this recipe!
hey there!
I have made 4 loaves of this bread. the first one was a little wet. the second looked so much better. the third and fourth ones were really good and my family devoured it. but i keep getting the bottoms of the bread burnt. not just dark brown but black. i am baking it at 500 covered for 30 minutes and another 30 minutes without the cover. the top is not as dark looking as the ones i’ve seen online but it’s crispy. even if i put it in the fridge and then toast the following day it’s still crispy! i will definitely add sugar next time and maybe raisins or cheese! :)
so i hope i can get an answer as to how i keep the bottom from getting burnt. also it doesn’t come out as big as the ones i’ve seen in pictures.
I didn’t have an ovenproof dish large enough to do this bread in. I have a Rival 8 quart roaster oven that goes up to 450 degrees and I used it. As long as I don’t open the lid before the time is up - perfection!! Plug that sucker in on the countertop, heat it up screaming hot, throw in the weird gooey bread dough - set it and forget it.
I finally, FINALLY, made the no-knead bread. After months of being hampered/deterred by the “450degree maximum” warning that came with my Le Creuset black plastic knob, I finally found the Le Creuset “just see if you can try and break this” stainless knob! Thank you, Internet. Used half regular and half white whole wheat flour. Perhaps why we didn’t just devour the entire loaf like everyone else? (I am not one to feign disinterest in or lack of ability to consume copious quantities of fresh bread.) Bread was delicious, though I coated it in wheat germ, which blackened. Cooked 30 min covered in the Le Creuset, 15 min uncovered, and the bread tested at 207degrees. Any pointers for flour ratios? Is anyone coating with other things? Cornmeal, oatmeal, wheat bran? Thanks for the fabulous blog, Deb! Can’t wait to try that Leek & Chard Quiche!
My kids had off school today, so we started the bread last evening. I had Bob’s Red Mill Vital Wheat Gluten, so I used that along with regular white flour. My daughter stirred it together last evening & 12 hours later, it was just as expected. I used foil to cover my Calphalon 5 Qt. pot because I was worried that the glass lid would break. I baked it at 450 for 30 min., covered & about 12 min. uncovered. It worked perfectly and the bread is soo yummy. Perfect for a dreary winter day! We have already eaten 1/2 of the loaf and plan to start another this evening.
Our only complaint is “why didn’t we try this recipe sooner?”. Thanks for the recipe Deb.
I’ve made this many times now, using Jim Lahey’s recipe (thank you .. wow!!), Cooks Illustrated’s variation, and just subbing 1 T. white vinegar for 1 T. water (my favorite). Too lazy to dig out either my Dutch oven or La Cloche from years ago, I thought about what the La Cloche is and simulated it with less than $5 worth of gardening pottery. It works GREAT! I use a 10″ unglazed terra cotta saucer with a 10″ terra cotta bowl over it. What forms the crispy crust is the cover for the moist heat from the extra wet dough which, along with long fermentation, creates the holes). It doesn’t matter what it’s in as long as it’s food-safe and safe at 500 degrees. A Dutch oven, cast iron, stainless steel, Pyrex, ceramic, terra cotta, pizza stone with bowl over it .. they’ll all work (mine’s done sooner).
I skip the towel, too, and after using a round silicone mat for awhile for the second rise, I just put the folded dough in a floured Rubbermaid 6.25 cup Take Alongs disposable bowl, then pour it onto the hot saucer (or into pan).
Curious about getting a higher loaf with such wet dough, I just baked one in a 3 qt. Farberware stainless steel saucepan (said oven safe to 500) and it worked, too (stuck a little but worked it free with a sharp knife around the sides). With high hydration, covered HIGH heat, baking to 205-210 degrees inside, and letting it cool (slicing hot = wet and/or gummy crumb), this is pretty foolproof and AMAZING! I’ll be stuck on this bread for a long time to come .. I can just tell! I’ve longed to make bread like this for many years! Oh, I use 1 c. white whole wheat and 2 c. bread flour. Someone worked out all whole wheat (Google) and I’ll be trying that as soon as I’ve used my pre-measured bags of flour, yeast and salt (only takes a couple minutes to make then). (The dough makes yummy pizza, too!)
I’ve been making a variation of this bread, using a sourdough starter, for about a year now. I mix it and let it rise overnight in a covered bowl, then pour it out onto a well-floured board and sprinkle it with more flour. I poke and stretch it roughly into a rectangle and, using a dough-scraper, fold it in thirds in both directions. I pick it up, shape it loosely into a ball by gathering the edges and squeezing them together, and the put it seam-side down into a lightly-greased and floured pot (I use a large chinese clay pot). I put the lid on the pot, let it rise (4-5 more hours for sourdough), put the pot in a cold oven, turn the oven to 450° and bake it covered for an hour and ten minutes. I have never had so consistently excellent results. I made a great olive and rosemary loaf–just mixed in well-drained kalamata olives and chopped fresh rosemary (and I may have cut the salt back just slightly). I also made a walnut blue cheese loaf that was a bit denser than I’d have liked but which tasted pretty wonderful.
Hi, I am from South Africa and picked up the recipe on Youtube and have been baking loaves for months, they always turn out fantastically, what I have been doing lately is to put the dough in a cold pot and then into a 500f oven, leave the lid on for 40 minutes then take it out, I find the crust is not as jaw breaking as when you take the lid off for 15 minutes! the bread also rises a bit more as the pot heats up.