I must confess that I am a little behind, while many of you have already encountered this recipe all the way back in 2006. Just recently I came across this recipe of “no-knead bread” by Jim Lahey, from the Sullivan Bakery. Not to mention how excited I was to try, since one of my passion is BREAD. Anyway, without further saying, here is what I did…
Ingredients:
3 cups bread flour
¼ teaspoon yeast
1 ¼ teaspoon salt
1 5/8 cup water
Method:
In a bowl, combine all the ingredients, stir and blend well. The dough will be soggy and sticky (do not worry).
Cover the bowl and let it rest for 12-18 hours (I did it for 18 hours on the kitchen counter).
After the rest, the dough will be full of air bubbles, remove the dough and place in a lightly floury surface with the help of a wet spatula.
Shape the dough by folding the dough gently, again I kind of wet my fingers, so the dough will not stick to my hands. Once the dough is kind of a ball shape (no need to make it perfect, because it will change its shape), place the dough on a flour coated cotton towel, and gently place the towel with the dough into a container and cover with another towel, or if the towel that you are using is large enough, fold the towel to cover the dough.
Let it rise until the dough doubles in size, for approximately 2 to 2 ½ hours depending of the temperature of the room.
Pre-heat the oven to 450F, and place a ceramic pot with cover inside the oven as the oven heats.
When the dough reach the desired size, gently scoop the dough from beneath the towel and gently place the dough into the heated pot, by flipping upside down the towel, be careful since the pot is extremely hot. THIS IS THE HARDEST PART OF BAKING THE NO-KNEAD BREAD.
Cover the lid and bake for 30 minutes, then remove the lid and bake for another 15 minutes to brown the loaf. Remove from the pot and let it cool on a rack.
You will end up with a beautiful rustic looking bread, with a nice texture and crumb will be composed of lots and lots of holes.
Well, is was so easy and simple that I made two loaves in within two days…again, be very careful when transferring the dough to the hot pot, and do not worry if the shape of the dough looks weird, after all it is a rustic bread.
Did you know that the difference between common bread and artisan bread rest in the percentage of water? For instance, common table bread contain approximately 50% water, and the artisan bread contain approximately 60 to 75% water, therefore the crumb of the bread contain larger holes.
