Its the easiest recipe ever - Andrew helped me make it! The recipe is adapted from NY Times article on Jim Lahey on "No Knead Bread." Here is the article, but more importantly, here is the video to show how simple it is.
I have some adjustments to the recipe - first of all, there is no way that "room temp" is 70 degrees here. Its more like 77 in November. Secondly, I have a convection oven that I like to use. The ease of this bread and combination of different bread baking techniques makes this recipe one that will be passed down generations.
The Perfect Loaf
Adapted from Jim Lahey "No Knead Bread" published by NY Times
3 cups bread flour (16.5 oz)
1 1/2 cups warm room temp water
1/4 teaspoon yeast
1 tablespoon kosher salt
1. In bowl, combine all ingredients until it comes together into a doughy mass. I use my hands like a dough hook, but you could certainly use a big wooden spoon. This should only take a minute or two. The dough will be shaggy looking and wet. Cover tightly with plastic wrap.
2. Let dough rest for at least 12 hours like this. Ideal is 18 hours, but since it is warmer than 70 degrees in my home, I usually leave it for 12 hours.
3. About 2 hours before you want to bake, put dough on floured counter, stretch it out long
vertically. Take top end, fold down. Take bottom end, fold up (sort of like an envelope). Take left end, fold to the right. Take right end, fold to left. The goal is to the the dough into a round ball shape. Place dough, seam side down on a floured towel. Let sit for 2 hours.
4. One hour before you want to bake, turn on your oven to 450 degrees, place a covered pot in the oven to pre-heat. Some home ovens don't go that high in temp, just use the highest setting you have.
5. When you are ready to bake, carefully dump the dough in the pot, trying to get the seam side up. Cover with lid. Turn oven down to 425 (convection) or keep at 450 (regular oven). Bake 27 minutes. Uncover. Bake additional 15-20 minutes, until nicely browned - burnt caramel color. (internal temperature of bread should be 210 degrees)
Thats it! You will be rewarded with a thin, crunchy brown crust, large, open holes. The bread is slightly chewy, flavorful and perfect texture.
Baking your own bread is deeply soul satisfying, it makes me feel like I am so close to the earth. I can taste the wheat.
Tonight, as I placed the tip of my knife into the bread and moved down through the crust, the snap and crunch of the crust gave way to tender, spongy body. I knew even without tasting it, that it was the most perfect loaf of bread that I have ever made.
Andrew and I slathered butter on our slices. We sat on the kitchen floor, my hands still with traces of flour, and had a wonderful moment of just enjoying bread that we made together.
Just like his Po-Po, Andrew loves bread. Each time, he would come ask, "More bread please" with arms outstretched. I would place a warm buttered slice in his small hands - he cradled it so gently, carefully ran to the stairs, never taking his eyes off the prize. He sat on the third step and ate his bread, wiggling his toes between bites. Three times he did this.
Yes, this is my son. Perhaps one day when he is older, he will read this recipe and story and remember how his Mommy taught him how to eat homemade
bread - with lots of butter and with eyes closed, totally savoring every single bite.
