http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=piZt9LpgoHw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WmF7Z03mDsw

Almost No Knead

15 oz white flour - 3.40 cups, about

1 1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp instant yeast

mix up

7 oz water (.875 cup)

3 oz beer (.375 cup)

1 tbs white vinegar

beer/vinegar simulates sour dough starter taste

mix up evenly

---

whole wheat

10 oz white flour (2.27 cups)

5 oz whole wheat (1.13 cup)

1 1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp instant yeast

2 tbs sugar

mix up

7 oz water (.875 cup)

3 oz beer (.375 cup)

1 tbs white vinegar

mix up

---

cover plastic, room temp 8 to 18 hours

---

dust table surface w/ flour, dust top dough and fingers

knead 10 to 15 times (not minutes), leave some air bubbles

pull edges/sides of dough up to create tight skin

pinch dough at top to seal

white round loaf, whole wheat oblong loaf

oil spray parchment paper surface, place dough on top

mist top of dough with oil, cover with plastic

let rise for two hours

set timer for 1:25 minutes, so can preheat oven for 35 min

preheat oven with la cloche or dutch oven inside at 500 degrees

score round loaf to 1/2" deep, oblong several scores

lift parchment paper into dutch oven

lower temp to 425, for 30 minutes with lids on,

then 10 with lids off, measure temp for 200 to 210 degrees

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eKtsMfmQ_0s&list=UUTOwn9vYm884S4thnqesfRQ&index=19

pizza

2 1/4 cup bread flour, some whole wheat

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp instant yeast (saf)

3/4 cup lukewarm later 80-90degrees

mix, then add

3 tbs olive oil

easy to knead, add flour if too sticky

knead until smooth and elastic 4-5 minutes in hands

divide half, place in well oiled bowls, cover in plastic wrap

coat top of flour with oil

put in warm spot, until has doubled in volume, about 2 hrs

can leave in fridge overnight, or put in freezer

if from freezer need several hours to thaw and rise

.

flour counter, roll out with rolling pin

coat pizza peel with flour and rub in

sprinkle peel with corn meal

place rolled out pizza flour on peel

coat top of rolled out dough or spray with olive oil

then brush on pizza sauce / toppings

preheat oven and pizza stone to 500 to 500 degrees

slide pizza from peel to stone and bake 7 to 10 minutes

a perfect pizza had the bottom of crust cooking at same rate as top

Ingredients for basic yeasted No Knead Method:

3 cups bread flour (the above video used 1 cup (5 oz.) whole wheat flour and 2 cups (10 1/2 oz.) white bread flour

1/4 tsp. instant yeast

1 1/2 tsp. salt

1 1/2 cups purified or spring water

• • Mix together the dry ingredients.

  • Mix in water until the water is incorporated.

  • Cover with plastic and let sit 12-18 hours.

  • Follow video instruction for folding.

  • Cover loosely with plastic and rest for 15 minutes.

  • Transfer to well floured towel or proofing basket. Cover with towel and let rise about 1 1/2 hours.

  • Bake in covered La Cloche or Dutch oven preheated to 500 degrees for 30 minutes.

  • Remove cover; reduce heat to 450 degrees and bake an additional 15 minutes.

  • Let cool completely on rack.

  • Consume bread, be happy.

Note: Regarding the 15 minute rest after the long proofing period; it’s a habit of mine from working with “regular” dough where it helps to have the dough rest after folding in order to relax it so it’s easier to shape for the final rise. With the wet no knead dough recipes, I’ve been skipping it and haven’t noticed any difference in the results.

No Knead Revisited – A Three Year Check Up

The original New York Times no knead bread recipe was published in 2006, about the same time Breadtopia was born. By far the most common difficulty people write or call in about is with the dough being too wet to handle at the end of the long first proofing period and also when it’s time to place the dough into a covered vessel to bake at the end of the second rise.

When you run into this, there’s not a whole lot you can do about it other than attempt to follow through on the instructions and ultimately wrest the dough into your heated baker and into the oven. Your “mistake” may turn out better than you expected and if nothing else, you’ll learn from it. The next time around you can do one or a combination of a couple things differently.

• 1. Add more flour and/or use less water than you did the first time. Dough has a way of getting more slack as it sits for many hours so if you start off with the dough being a little stiffer than you think it should be, that’s fine and maybe it’ll be easier to handle later.

  2. Consider reducing the long proofing time by several hours. Don’t get stuck on the idea of 18 hours. Depending on your room temperature and humidity, 18 hours may result in over proofing. When dough proofs too long, the gluten breaks down, the yeast looses some oomph and it can just get downright soupy. Most of the time, I find 12-14 hours to be about right (and sometimes even 9-10 hours during very warm weather). If you want or need to prolong the proofing time, but don’t want to risk over proofing, stick the dough in the fridge for several hours or overnight. That will slow things down a lot. Then resume proofing at room temp until it’s ready to bake.

The same principle holds true on the second rise. While 1-2 hours is the suggested range, I’m almost always at about 60 to 75 minutes.

Another concern we hear a lot is about the dough not rising much during that second short proofing period. I don’t see mine rise much then either and it doesn’t matter so long as you see a good rise during the first several minutes that the dough is in the oven. That’s called oven spring and it’s a very good thing. By keeping your proofing periods on the shorter side, you’re more likely to get good oven spring from the still vigorous yeast or sourdough starter.

Of course all of the above is assuming your yeast or sourdough starter is fresh and viable to start with.

In summary, most problems can be helped or solved by stiffening the dough a little and/or shortening the rising times.

If you’re new to bread baking, don’t think from reading this that it’s difficult or tricky to get great results. Most people find it a breeze and enjoy success right out of the blocks. Others may find it takes a few tries. It’s important to have fun with it and don’t worry about bombing. There’s no significant downside to bread baking but the upside can be fabulous. Enjoy!

This method of baking is quite forgiving if you alter the ingredients and proportions. One of the great things about a bread recipe that is so easy and involves just one loaf at a time is you don’t feel like you’re risking a lot if your experimenting goes awry.

Try using different flours and/or different proportions of flour and play around with the water measurement a little.

We’d would love to hear from anyone with their experiences using this technique, both successful and otherwise. Please share your experiences below.

Note: Here are some great dough handling tips from Breadtopia reader Mark Liptak. Also, check out these no knead baking techniques by Margaret Ball.

It’s Bread Baking Season

Mark Liptak, who has graciously shared with us on prior occasions, sent in an email the other day appropriately titled “Back At It”. “It” being bread baking, of course.

Mark’s got some great tips for handling his no knead bread dough with some excellent photos. Good stuff!

In his words…

Now that we’re back into cooler weather I’ve started making bread

again. The engineer in me is always looking for process improvement,

I think I have found one.

I’ve noticed that I typically have a bit of difficulty transferring

the proofed dough from the proofer into the hot La Cloche. When the

dough drops out it seems to upset the yeast gassing and resulting

crumb structure and loaf height. I’ve now started using parchment

paper to transfer the proofed dough. When the dough is fully proofed

(about 2 hours), I put a sheet of parchment paper on top and gently

turn it upside down, leaving the proofing bowl on top. Then, grabbing

the corners of the parchment paper I can gently place the dough and

bowl into the waiting preheated La Cloche bottom. Then gently remove

the proofing bowl and cover the La Cloche with the parchment still

under the dough and let it bake. The result is a significantly taller

loaf with better crumb structure. The parchment paper comes out

looking quite scorched, but the loaf easily comes out with absolutely

no sticking or other problems associated with having the parchment

paper along for the whole bake cycle.

Give it a try, I think you’ll find it improves the final result. I’ve

included a few photos, lucky I didn’t scorch my camera lens, a 500

degree oven really gives a bit of a blast when you open it! BTW, I

use corn meal rather than wheat germ, that’s what gives some yellow

color to the dough in the photos.

Mark

Great No-Knead Baking Techniques

Many thanks to Margaret for this well detailed outline of her no-knead baking techniques.

Perhaps the best thing about the no-knead method is that it makes quality home bread baking possible for so many more people who would otherwise not have the time or inclination to bother or venture past the bread machine. Margaret notches up "easy" to another level.

In her words…

About the no-knead bread, I’m on something between loaf 30 and loaf 40. What fun! My latest experiments, which are geared toward simplicity, are:

• 1. When the dough has risen (after the first 18 hours or so), I wet the dough scraper (so it doesn’t stick to the dough) and turn the dough within the bowl to rest (without dumping it out, and without using any flour).

  2. Then, I shape the rested dough, again wetting the dough scraper, by folding the dough inside the bowl.

  3. I then wet my hands and scoop the dough into them, quickly rounding the dough. (Speed is important here. You have to get rid of the dough before it thinks about sticking to you.)

  4. Then I place it to rise onto a piece of parchment paper about 12 to 16-inches square. I gather the edges of the parchment and lower the whole thing into a bowl that is slightly smaller than the pot I’m baking it in. Optionally, I would think the new Reynolds Release Foil (non-stick aluminum foil) might work in place of the parchment.

  5. I may or may not dust the top of the dough with wheat bran.

  6. When it’s ready to go into the oven, I snip 3 slashes into the top of the dough with my kitchen scissors, if I remember.

  7. Then I again gather the edges of the parchment, lift it from the bowl, lower the dough into the preheated cooking pot and put the cover on. It doesn’t matter if the top squashes the edges of the parchment.

Alternatively, if you have a baking stone, you can leave the parchment flat in step 4, then put the dough onto the stone on the flat parchment, and COVER it with an inverted pre-heated pot (assuming the handles of the pot allow it to sit flat on the stone).

This works no matter how dry or soupy your dough is. I keep mine pretty wet.

None of this is particularly original. I’ve gleaned the bits from other generous experimenters and simplifiers. The advantages are not having to use or clean up the additional flour, not worrying as much about burning yourself or deflating the dough when it’s "dumped" into the pot, and very little cleanup since the pot stays clean and the kitchen isn’t dusted with flour.

Margaret, Ball Ground, GA, www.margaretberthold.com

---------------------------------

Cook’s Illustrated Almost No Knead

A Clever Variation of an “Old” Theme

Almost No Knead Sandwich Loaf Recipe