SRC: No-Knead Bread

Bread, glorious bread.  I have a weakness for this stuff.  I love everything about it.  There’s nothing better than a hot piece of bread, straight from the oven that’s shmeared with a little butter.  Simple yet oh. so. good!  Probably the thing that intrigues me the most is watching very few, basic ingredients come together, double in size, bake and then what comes out of the oven is a delicious, buttery and fluffy bread.  It’s like magic.  Even better, I get to create that magic each and every. single. time I bake bread.  I love it.  I love the entire process, especially the kneading.  There’s just something about taking that raw dough in your hands, kneading it to the perfect consistency and texture, it’s relaxing and almost therapeutic. 

As much as I love the whole kneading process, I’m intrigued by no-knead breads.  Since kneading is such an essential process of bread making, it fascinates me that a delicious and fluffy bread can be made with no kneading required.  Is it possible?  I was skeptical, but I’m a believer now.  Thanks to this month’s secret recipe club I found a tried and true recipe that I just had to try.

For this month’s secret recipe club I was assigned K & K Test Kitchen.  Now, since I joined SRC I’ve eyed K & K Test Kitchen.  Not only is it a blog filled with recipes that will make your mouth water just reading about them, but I think my favorite part about this particular blog are the writers.  Kelsey and Kim are a mother-daughter duo that enjoy cooking; both trying new recipes (either  their own or one they came across in a cookbook, magazine or on the ol’ web) as well as those tried and true family favorites.  The blog, that was started as a way to pass the time is now so much more than that.  The blog is filled with classics, basics, as well as the occasional rest recipe or two.  One thing is common throughout all the recipes on their site, each recipe features common ingredients that are typically located in your pantry or fridge, ensuring that you won’t have to make a run to Timbuckto to get an ingredient.  As I browsed through their site, one thing after another jumped out at me. (side note-don’t browse through their site while you’re hungry.  If you do you’ll end up coating your arem in chocolate and gnawing it off).  From sweets like caramel peanut popcorn (you know I’m a sucker for sweet and salty), to flatbread pizzas and freezer jam, they have something on their site for everyone.  My decision was rather hard this month, but after much debate I finally decided on their no-knead bread for this month’s challenge, but with all intent to re-visit the above mentioned recipes and then some.

Can I just say how happy I was that I made this bread?  It’s delicious.  The process is incredibly easy, and requires very little work.  The rising process is the most time consuming part of this recipe, requiring an initial resting period of about 18 hours.  But let me tell you, it’s worth the wait!  The bread has a thick, crunchy exterior while yielding a fluffy, springy and perfectly moist interior.  This is the type of bread that dreams are made of, people.  It’s beautiful while rustic.  The flavor is simple, yet amazing.  This bread is the perfect thing to accompany any family dinner, or to just make and enjoy itself.  It’s life changing, I promise.  We enjoyed this bread for the first time with a delicious roasted chicken and vegetables, and used it to soak up every last ounce of the lemon sauce.  But I promise, this bread will be making regular appearances at our table.  So good!   

No-Knead Bread

Ingredients:

3 Cups bread flour
1/4 Tsp dry yeast
1 1/4 Tsp salt
1 5/8 Cups water

Directions:

In a large bowl combine the flour, yeast and salt and stir to combine.  Add the water and stir until blended and incorporated, the dough will be a bit sticky.  Tightly cover the bowl with plastic wrap and allow dough to rest for 12 to 18 hours at room temperature. 

The dough is ready when the top is dotted with bubbles.  Lightly flour a clean work surface and turn dough onto it.  Sprinkle the top with flour and fold the dough over on itself twice.  Cover loosely with plastic wrap and allow to rest for 15 minutes.

Turn dough back out on a lightly floured surface and gently shape dough into a ball.  Generously coat a cotton towel with flour and put dough seamed side down on the prepared towel, lightly dust the top with more flour and gently cover with another towel.  Allow the dough to rise for an additional 2 hours, or until doubled in size.

Half an hour before the dough is ready, preheat oven to 450.  Place an enamel coated cast iron in the oven while preheating.  When the dough is ready, carefully remove pot from the oven and lightly drizzle the bottom of the pan with non-stick cooking spray.  Slide your hand under the towel and turn dough over into the pot, seam side up.  Slightly shake the pan, if needed, to reshape.  Cover with lid and return to the oven and bake for 30 minutes, remove lid and bake for an additional 15-30 minutes.  Remove from pan and allow to cool on rack.

Recipe source: As seen on K & K Test Kitchen, originally from New York Times

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