Adapted from Jim Lahey, Sullivan Street Bakery
Originally published Nov. 8th, 2006 New York Times
This one is really easy, and the bread is as close to artisan you can get without going to all the trouble. A sourdough version follows.
There are 3 books we recommend, Lahey’s“My Bread”, Zoe Francois’ “Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day” , and Nancy Baggett’s “Kneadlessly SImple”.
No-Knead Bread
Yields one 1 1/2 pound loaf
3 cups all-purpose or bread flour, more for dusting
¼ teaspoon instant yeast
1¼ teaspoons salt (may take a hair more)
Cornmeal or wheat bran as needed. We, of course, recommend the Clay Coyote No-Knead Bread Bowl (shown in the pictures here) for mixing and baking. But, if you have to, any bowl will do. Interesting, a tagine makes a perfect baker also.
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. If your thermostat cuts back at night, place on stovetop, set obven to minimal temp (probably 150-170) and place a dish towel over the covered bowl.
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.
(Note, in the photos, I used a bread board, covered with the bowl in which the initial raising took place, and put the bowl over the dough upside down. Saves messing up a towel. If the bowl is warm, it will speed the raising).
4. At least a half-hour before dough is ready, heat oven to 450 degrees. Put your Clay Coyote No-Knead Bread bowl (or other bowl if you have to) with lid in oven as it heats. When dough is ready, use hot pads to carefully remove pot from oven. Slide your hand under towel and turn dough over into the 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.
SOURDOUGH OPTION
If you’ve got a starter, instead of yeast, put a 1/2 cup of starter in initial batter. Then follow the rest of the directions. Be sure to give it the full 18 hours or more. You’ll get a tangy sourdough loaf.
About claycoyote
Can I use the No Knead Bread Pot to cook kneaded breads? – or is it just for high water volume breads?
Thanks
Hi, Thanks for your question. Yes, you can use it for kneaded breads as well as a general casserole. I’d guess you’d need to raise the loaf in the pot before baking, otherwise you’d lose a lot of the raised volume in turning it into the warmed pot. But it would still probably function somewhat as a brick oven baker. Let us know how it turns out!
HI,
My bread is baking now and smells wonderful. Do you think the 1-5/8 cups of water is excessive? I added almost another whole cup of flour and still had a somewhat sticky dough. In Jim Lahey’s book, he uses 1-1/3 cups water. Before the final rise, I pinched off about 1/2 cup of the dough to use again as a faux sourdough starter. Each time you make bread, you can pinch off a piece to use again. It makes great bread each time! I love my pottery I have bought from your shop! Thanks.
Lynne
Hi Lynne
I use the whole 1 5/8 cups of water, and yes, it is a really sticky dough, more like a sponge. It makes a beautiful loaf of bread with that recipe. I know that pinching off the dough for the next loaf is the very old traditional way, have you done that with this one yet? If so, I would love to hear the results and also how you store it.
Let us know how your loaf turns out, it smells almost as good as it tastes!
Betsy
The bread turned out great! The piece of dough that I pinched off is in the refrigerator in a glass jar until I make another loaf. i use this method all the time on my French bread baguettes and they are fabulous. The bread doesn’t stale as fast and is very tasty. I will definitely let you know how the no knead recipe turns out with the inclusion of the “old dough”.
Lynne
Just thought I would get back with you on the success of the “old dough” I used to make another batch of the bread. What I did was-In the clay baker, I mixed the “old dough” with 2 cups of the flour and 1-1/3 cups of the water. I let it sit for 3 hours or so until it became slightly bubbly, then added the remaining 1 cup of flour and salt. I let it rest the 12-18 hours required and followed the rest of your directions for the no-knead bread. The bread had a nice mild sourdough flavor. Before letting the dough rise in the cotton towel for 2 hours, I pinched off another piece 1/2-3/4 cup to use in the next batch.
Wish I had read Tom Wirt’s comment before I made my first batch.
You can also use a “bread sling” — do the second rise on a piece of parchment paper in a small cast iron pan or pie plate, with long ends hanging over, with a bit of cooking spray (as well as the wheat bran). When the dough is ready and the pot (or bread bowl) is pre-heated, simply lift the dough by the ends of the parchment paper, and put it in the pre-heated pot/bowl.
What I like about this method: no sticking to the dish towel (though there’s less of that if you coat it with wheat bran or corn meal instead of extra flour), and no sending wheat bran flying as you tip the bread into the pot.
I could probably also start making the bread with a little more water again; after many frustrating experiences with batter (rather than dough or even sponge), I started using the weight measurements for the flour (I suspect Lahey did not fluffy and spoon his flour) and water provided in the NYT update to the recipe, instead of the volume measurements. Made for a lot less bother with having to add more and more flour.
A customer Penny C. sent this tip:
I used a floured towel for the second rise with my first loaf and unfortunately quite a bit of dough stuck to the towel. I just made my second load and used a Silpat mat instead. Worked beautifully! I was able to “pour” the dough into the hot bowl without deflating it and with no dough wasted.
Penny
Great idea, Penny.
LOVE the no knead bread recipe you have provided. But I really feel the clay baker is what makes it turn out so perfect. I have been making bread for a long time and have used the same recipe all these years. It was hard for me to make the change and try something new and now kicking myself I didn’t try it sooner. It turned out just like in your picture and wonderful flavor. Already have another in the process. Didn’t know it could get any easier than this! Can’t thank you enough! My next new favorite piece. And I have alot! I think the bread baker is a must!
If you don’t have an official no-knead bread baker, we have used a straight sided lidded ceramic casserole, and a ceramic tagine. Both worked equally well!