Member
Central Maine
(This post was last modified: 12-13-2015, 06:33 PM by ShadowsDad.)
Before you get into the recipe, you must know that the recipe stops before the "optional " notes begin. What follows after the recipe are my notes to myself so that when I forget what I've done I can return to doing what's already been tried. Feel free to ignore what follows the recipe, but if one is into bread baking it might help save you some time in your variations. My recipe has pictures of loaves, but they don't come through here. I'll see what I have in Photobucket. (I found the same pix that I have pictured in my recipe)
The recipe follows. Trust me, you can make this bread. I state that I'd make this again in a heartbeat. I have made it dozens of times. I've given the recipe to other bakers and they tell me that they make it frequently also. One bakers family has begged that she make an different bread in the past. Not that it's not delicious but just for some variety.
Artisan no-knead Crusty Bread
This is an exceptionally easy to make, minimal equipment required, recipe that yields a fantastic loaf. It trades a mixer for time. It does take time. But not your time. This is not my recipe, but was developed by another gent and freely given to the public domain. I wish I could remember his name but I can't.
I’d make this again in a heartbeat!
[Image: DSC04103_zps426462a8.jpg]
3 cups unbleached all purpose flour
1 3/4 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon instant yeast
1 1/2 cups water (if you need to proof yeast use part of this)
In a large mixing bowl, whisk together flour, salt and yeast.
Add water and mix until a shaggy mixture forms. It won’t be pretty, just mix it, no kneading!
Cover bowl with plastic wrap and set aside for 12 - 18 hours. Overnight works great.
Heat oven to 450 degrees. When the oven has reached 450 degrees place a cast iron pot with a lid in the oven and heat the pot for 30 minutes.
Meanwhile, pour dough onto a heavily floured surface (a silicone mat insures no sticking) and shape into a general ball shape. Just relax it won’t hold the shape, so don’t sweat it. You tried. Flour the upper surface of the dough also. Cover with plastic wrap and let set while the pot is heating. Reshape the dough again (final shaping). Remove hot pot from the oven and drop the dough in. Everything you turned under to make a nice smooth ball should be next to the bottom of the pot. DO NOT grease or oil the pot in any way (SMOKE!). Have no fear, as long as you preheat the pot your loaf won’t stick. If you have a dedicated water sprayer (for food) give the loaf a few spritzes, but it’s no big deal if you don’t.
Cover and return to oven to bake for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes remove the lid and bake an additional 15 minutes. Bread should be browned and the interior 200°F - 206°F. Remove bread from oven, remove from vessel, and place on a cooling rack to cool. Internal temp’ is important regardless of the exterior. A dark brown crust is even better if you can manage to do both.
If someone wants to use parchment fold a piece of parchment multiple times, until you can’t fold anymore, then measure off the radius of your cooking vessel from the apex of the parchment and snip with kitchen shears. (Note: I used parchment once, but it simply isn’t needed. I’ve had to nudge only one loaf out of the dutch oven with a metal spatula. )
[Image: DSC04143_zps863c9b67.jpg]
**** OPTIONAL! ****
Notes to tweak the recipe: These are completely optional, but they make the recipe even simpler and easier in some ways, but also yield a better loaf with almost no additional work.
>use bread flour.
> Buy a large silicone work mat. I bought a Paderno from Amazon. It was the most cost effective and really large. You might not want large now, but you might. I think it was near $20. Far less expensive for its size as compared to any of the others. (I just checked,mine is Pederno and is 17.5 x 25.5 inches)
>Buy a bench scraper designed for cooking. It needn’t be the most expensive. Mine cost $5. (Not for the work shop scraper) The bench scraper will have a dull edge, mine has a wooden handle. But there are many designs. Don’t pay extra for a cooks name being attached to it.
>buy a hand sprayer for water and designate it exclusively for food. Don’t use the sprayer you used for RoundUp or to kill the whiteflies on your indoor plants.
> Now that you have a work mat, bench scraper, and sprayer don’t flour the surface as per the recipe. Instead turn the dough onto one section of the work mat (nothing on the mat) and allow it to rise as the cooking pot and oven come up to heat. Take your bench scraper and bring the dough edges up over the rest of the dough a few times. It’s play, but it‘s also a very mild kneading. It won’t get more intense than that. Work your way around the dough bringing the edges up over the dough and letting them “come together”. Fill your sprayer with enough water to effectively spray. After the vessel has warmed up and is awaiting the dough, very generously sprinkle semolina or corn meal into the bottom of the pot to prevent it from sticking. Use enough so that the bottom of the pot can't be seen through it. Raise the temperature of your oven to 500°F then spray another section of the mat with water. Using the same bench scraper technique you used earlier, move the dough onto the watered section of work mat. Wet your hands so that they are visibly and liberally wet. Lift the dough and plop it into the hot vessel. Spray the top of the dough with water so that it’s visibly wet, cover and bake for 30 minutes. After 10 minutes lower the oven temp back down to 450°F and proceed with the remainder of the 30 minutes of covered bake time. The water you used makes nothing stick to the dough, makes for a better crust, and gives a slightly higher loaf.
>Your silicone work mat only needs to be squeegeed off with the bench scraper, and maybe a towel to sop up the water/flour slurry. You’ll have the bowl and a bench scraper to wash, but no flour mess to clean up. Plus the dough handles much easier, and the crust is better because of the additional water. Don’t forget to empty your dedicated water sprayer and leave the top loose so as to allow it to dry out.
For the same bread with fewer holes I use the following recipe and work it a bit on the countertop after it rises and before it gets baked. Working it removes some of the gas, and increasing the amounts gives a slightly larger loaf. Just guesstimate the amounts that you can’t measure.
3 3/4 cups flour
2.2 tsps salt
5/8 tsp yeast
scant 2 cups water
6/6/14
The KA bread flour worked great. Slightly more rise than with the AP flour.
The recipe with bread flour.
The procedure is exactly the same as the original recipe. The ingredients are as follows:
410g bread flour (3 cups) Note: this weight will be different for AP flour
9g salt (1 3/4 tsps)
2g yeast (½ tsp)
333g water ( 1 ½ cups)
6/9/14
Made with 100% homeground whole wheat flour
note: the first try with this did NOT work! Next time I plan to sift out the bran. That will at least give the full nutrition of the whole wheat, and the flavor.
381g fresh ground whole hard white wheat flour (3 cups)
1 slightly rounded tsp of ascorbic acid (vitamin C) ______ g
9g salt (1 3/4 tsps)
2g yeast (½ tsp)
333g water ( 1 ½ cups) + _________________________________g
Unknown date
For making in a loaf pan
[Image: DSC04235_zpsme4uvj1o.jpg]
3 3/4 cups bread flour
2.2 tsps salt
5/8 tsp yeast
scant 2 cups water
After knocking the large bubbles out of the dough by rough handling I put it into a sprayed loaf pan to rise until it touched the sprayed plastic wrap. Then baked on the lowest rack in the oven @ 425°F for 45 minutes, 5 minutes in the oven with it turned off, then another 5 minutes in the pyrex loaf pan, then turned out onto a cooling rack and 20 minutes or so to cool off before slicing.
It could use a bit more loft in the final loaf. But this is nothing to turn ones nose up at. It’s a fine loaf.
5/2/15
2nd loaf pan try
[Image: DSC04241_zpsb3wqxbgn.jpg]
I increased the ingredients by 50% over the original recipe
4 ½ cups bread flour
2 5/8 tsps salt
3/4 tsp yeast
2 1/4 cups water (plus a hair more since the dough was too dry IMO)
Same procedure as the loaf directly above, but this dough filled the pan 3/4 full. I allowed it to completely fill the pan before removing the plastic wrap.
Bake it on the lowest rack in the oven. I wound up baking at 425°F for 45 minutes, then another 25 minutes @ 375, and then 10 minutes with the oven off and the door closed. Then out of the oven and keep it in the pyrex loaf pan for another 10 minutes, then turn it out to cool on a rack.
This was good and gave me the loft I was looking for. For more rise try allowing it to rise a bit more before baking.
But this loaf is basically done at this point.
It’s a nice loaf with a very chewy and flavorful interior, and the crust is close to perfect. The hole in the loaf was made by the instant read thermometer probe being inserted 3x.
5/7/15
Used the same 50% increase in ingredients, but to get a bit more oven spring I baked at:
450°F for 20 minutes
Then dropped the temp to 420°F for 25 minutes.
Then 375°F for 10 minutes.
Turned the oven off and kept the loaf in it for another 10 minutes.
Then 10 minutes in the pyrex pan for 10 minutes before turning it out.
The loaf still had a tiny issue with being gummy in the center.
Next time try this:
450° for 20 minutes
then 400 for 50 minutes
10 or 15 minutes with the oven off
10 minutes in the pan
The recipe follows. Trust me, you can make this bread. I state that I'd make this again in a heartbeat. I have made it dozens of times. I've given the recipe to other bakers and they tell me that they make it frequently also. One bakers family has begged that she make an different bread in the past. Not that it's not delicious but just for some variety.
Artisan no-knead Crusty Bread
This is an exceptionally easy to make, minimal equipment required, recipe that yields a fantastic loaf. It trades a mixer for time. It does take time. But not your time. This is not my recipe, but was developed by another gent and freely given to the public domain. I wish I could remember his name but I can't.
I’d make this again in a heartbeat!
[Image: DSC04103_zps426462a8.jpg]
3 cups unbleached all purpose flour
1 3/4 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon instant yeast
1 1/2 cups water (if you need to proof yeast use part of this)
In a large mixing bowl, whisk together flour, salt and yeast.
Add water and mix until a shaggy mixture forms. It won’t be pretty, just mix it, no kneading!
Cover bowl with plastic wrap and set aside for 12 - 18 hours. Overnight works great.
Heat oven to 450 degrees. When the oven has reached 450 degrees place a cast iron pot with a lid in the oven and heat the pot for 30 minutes.
Meanwhile, pour dough onto a heavily floured surface (a silicone mat insures no sticking) and shape into a general ball shape. Just relax it won’t hold the shape, so don’t sweat it. You tried. Flour the upper surface of the dough also. Cover with plastic wrap and let set while the pot is heating. Reshape the dough again (final shaping). Remove hot pot from the oven and drop the dough in. Everything you turned under to make a nice smooth ball should be next to the bottom of the pot. DO NOT grease or oil the pot in any way (SMOKE!). Have no fear, as long as you preheat the pot your loaf won’t stick. If you have a dedicated water sprayer (for food) give the loaf a few spritzes, but it’s no big deal if you don’t.
Cover and return to oven to bake for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes remove the lid and bake an additional 15 minutes. Bread should be browned and the interior 200°F - 206°F. Remove bread from oven, remove from vessel, and place on a cooling rack to cool. Internal temp’ is important regardless of the exterior. A dark brown crust is even better if you can manage to do both.
If someone wants to use parchment fold a piece of parchment multiple times, until you can’t fold anymore, then measure off the radius of your cooking vessel from the apex of the parchment and snip with kitchen shears. (Note: I used parchment once, but it simply isn’t needed. I’ve had to nudge only one loaf out of the dutch oven with a metal spatula. )
[Image: DSC04143_zps863c9b67.jpg]
**** OPTIONAL! ****
Notes to tweak the recipe: These are completely optional, but they make the recipe even simpler and easier in some ways, but also yield a better loaf with almost no additional work.
>use bread flour.
> Buy a large silicone work mat. I bought a Paderno from Amazon. It was the most cost effective and really large. You might not want large now, but you might. I think it was near $20. Far less expensive for its size as compared to any of the others. (I just checked,mine is Pederno and is 17.5 x 25.5 inches)
>Buy a bench scraper designed for cooking. It needn’t be the most expensive. Mine cost $5. (Not for the work shop scraper) The bench scraper will have a dull edge, mine has a wooden handle. But there are many designs. Don’t pay extra for a cooks name being attached to it.
>buy a hand sprayer for water and designate it exclusively for food. Don’t use the sprayer you used for RoundUp or to kill the whiteflies on your indoor plants.
> Now that you have a work mat, bench scraper, and sprayer don’t flour the surface as per the recipe. Instead turn the dough onto one section of the work mat (nothing on the mat) and allow it to rise as the cooking pot and oven come up to heat. Take your bench scraper and bring the dough edges up over the rest of the dough a few times. It’s play, but it‘s also a very mild kneading. It won’t get more intense than that. Work your way around the dough bringing the edges up over the dough and letting them “come together”. Fill your sprayer with enough water to effectively spray. After the vessel has warmed up and is awaiting the dough, very generously sprinkle semolina or corn meal into the bottom of the pot to prevent it from sticking. Use enough so that the bottom of the pot can't be seen through it. Raise the temperature of your oven to 500°F then spray another section of the mat with water. Using the same bench scraper technique you used earlier, move the dough onto the watered section of work mat. Wet your hands so that they are visibly and liberally wet. Lift the dough and plop it into the hot vessel. Spray the top of the dough with water so that it’s visibly wet, cover and bake for 30 minutes. After 10 minutes lower the oven temp back down to 450°F and proceed with the remainder of the 30 minutes of covered bake time. The water you used makes nothing stick to the dough, makes for a better crust, and gives a slightly higher loaf.
>Your silicone work mat only needs to be squeegeed off with the bench scraper, and maybe a towel to sop up the water/flour slurry. You’ll have the bowl and a bench scraper to wash, but no flour mess to clean up. Plus the dough handles much easier, and the crust is better because of the additional water. Don’t forget to empty your dedicated water sprayer and leave the top loose so as to allow it to dry out.
For the same bread with fewer holes I use the following recipe and work it a bit on the countertop after it rises and before it gets baked. Working it removes some of the gas, and increasing the amounts gives a slightly larger loaf. Just guesstimate the amounts that you can’t measure.
3 3/4 cups flour
2.2 tsps salt
5/8 tsp yeast
scant 2 cups water
6/6/14
The KA bread flour worked great. Slightly more rise than with the AP flour.
The recipe with bread flour.
The procedure is exactly the same as the original recipe. The ingredients are as follows:
410g bread flour (3 cups) Note: this weight will be different for AP flour
9g salt (1 3/4 tsps)
2g yeast (½ tsp)
333g water ( 1 ½ cups)
6/9/14
Made with 100% homeground whole wheat flour
note: the first try with this did NOT work! Next time I plan to sift out the bran. That will at least give the full nutrition of the whole wheat, and the flavor.
381g fresh ground whole hard white wheat flour (3 cups)
1 slightly rounded tsp of ascorbic acid (vitamin C) ______ g
9g salt (1 3/4 tsps)
2g yeast (½ tsp)
333g water ( 1 ½ cups) + _________________________________g
Unknown date
For making in a loaf pan
[Image: DSC04235_zpsme4uvj1o.jpg]
3 3/4 cups bread flour
2.2 tsps salt
5/8 tsp yeast
scant 2 cups water
After knocking the large bubbles out of the dough by rough handling I put it into a sprayed loaf pan to rise until it touched the sprayed plastic wrap. Then baked on the lowest rack in the oven @ 425°F for 45 minutes, 5 minutes in the oven with it turned off, then another 5 minutes in the pyrex loaf pan, then turned out onto a cooling rack and 20 minutes or so to cool off before slicing.
It could use a bit more loft in the final loaf. But this is nothing to turn ones nose up at. It’s a fine loaf.
5/2/15
2nd loaf pan try
[Image: DSC04241_zpsb3wqxbgn.jpg]
I increased the ingredients by 50% over the original recipe
4 ½ cups bread flour
2 5/8 tsps salt
3/4 tsp yeast
2 1/4 cups water (plus a hair more since the dough was too dry IMO)
Same procedure as the loaf directly above, but this dough filled the pan 3/4 full. I allowed it to completely fill the pan before removing the plastic wrap.
Bake it on the lowest rack in the oven. I wound up baking at 425°F for 45 minutes, then another 25 minutes @ 375, and then 10 minutes with the oven off and the door closed. Then out of the oven and keep it in the pyrex loaf pan for another 10 minutes, then turn it out to cool on a rack.
This was good and gave me the loft I was looking for. For more rise try allowing it to rise a bit more before baking.
But this loaf is basically done at this point.
It’s a nice loaf with a very chewy and flavorful interior, and the crust is close to perfect. The hole in the loaf was made by the instant read thermometer probe being inserted 3x.
5/7/15
Used the same 50% increase in ingredients, but to get a bit more oven spring I baked at:
450°F for 20 minutes
Then dropped the temp to 420°F for 25 minutes.
Then 375°F for 10 minutes.
Turned the oven off and kept the loaf in it for another 10 minutes.
Then 10 minutes in the pyrex pan for 10 minutes before turning it out.
The loaf still had a tiny issue with being gummy in the center.
Next time try this:
450° for 20 minutes
then 400 for 50 minutes
10 or 15 minutes with the oven off
10 minutes in the pan
Brian. Lover of SE razors.
