Forget fancy starter recipes—especially ones telling you to add baker’s yeast! Just put a little whole wheat flour in a small dish and mix in some water till it’s like pancake batter. Then cover it and set in a warm place, but out of direct sunlight.
Exact amounts really don’t matter, but if you need a guideline, try half a cup of flour with an equal amount of water. After evaporation, that should yield about half a cup of starter.
The starter mixture is meant to feed and fuel growth of wild “yeast”—actually a blend of various species of yeast and bacteria. Some of this yeast is in the air—especially if you’re working somewhere you’ve already made sourdough—but most is in the flour itself.
Within a few hours to a few days, the mixture should bubble and smell sour. If the mixture crusts over before that, just stir it up. If it picks up the wrong microorganisms and smells foul, throw it out and try again.
Some flour may give you a harder time making the starter because processing may have killed or removed the wild yeast. This can be true even if you grind your own—say, with an impact mill.
Your best bet may be stone-ground flour, because it stays coolest during milling. You can also try flour from different whole or refined grains. Some people say whole rye is the best source of all for wild yeast.
If you get really desperate, you can always buy some starter! You should only have to do it one time.
Once the mixture bubbles, put your starter in a loosely covered jar or crock—no metal—and refrigerate it. Don’t worry about “feeding the starter” to keep it fresh. Left alone, it will stay good for at least two months. When you’re ready to use it, just pour off any black liquid that has formed on top.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/08/dining/081mrex.html
Recipe: No-Knead Bread
Sign In to E-Mail or Save This
Reprints
Published: November 8, 2006
Adapted from Jim Lahey, Sullivan Street Bakery
Time: About 1½ hours plus 14 to 20 hours’ rising
Skip to next paragraph
Related
The Minimalist: The Secret of Great Bread: Let Time Do the Work (November 8, 2006)
Readers’ Opinions
Forum: Cooking and Recipes
3 cups all-purpose or bread flour, more for dusting
¼ teaspoon instant yeast
1¼ teaspoons salt
Cornmeal or wheat bran as needed.
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.
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.
4. At least a half-hour before dough is ready, heat oven to 450 degrees. Put a 6- to 8-quart heavy covered pot (cast iron, enamel, Pyrex or ceramic) in oven as it heats. When dough is ready, carefully remove pot from oven. Slide your hand under towel and turn dough over into 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.
Yield: One 1½-pound loaf.
October 8, 2008, 4:01 pm
Faster No-Knead Bread
By Mark Bittman
(Evan Sung for The New York Times)
In this week’s Minimalist column I talk about a faster way to make no-knead bread, which I originally wrote about two years ago. Although the speed is appealing, I especially like it because the bread is whole grain. One hundred percent real whole grain, almost no other ingredients.
I’d like to hear your thoughts on the bread, and any variations you develop. To get the conversation going, here are some comments from Bitten reader Mary Germain on ways to play with the recipe:
“. . . I bake the bread using the original recipe method, in an oven-proof bowl, with a lid on top. The other day I was in a hurry, so after the initial rise and shaping the dough into a loaf, I plopped it into the cold bowl, and put it in a cold oven (no preheating). Then I turned the oven to 450 degrees, baked the bread for 30 minutes with the lid on and 30 minutes with the lid off. The bread was fantastic. The crust was crispy on the outside, and the inside was delicious.
“The next day I tried this with dough that was refrigerated overnight. No extra rising, I just sprinkled the dough with flour, shaped a quick round loaf, and plopped it in the cold baking dish, and baked it. It was great! This saves me a lot of time, and I don’t have to preheat the oven. Just thought I would pass this on.”
Hmm. Wish I’d thought of that. I’ll be trying it, and other suggestions too . . .
E-mail This Print Share
Digg
Mixx
Yahoo! BuzzPermalink
bread, kneading, whole wheat Related Posts
From Bitten
About That Whole Wheat ‘Brick…’
No-Knead Dough Again–This Time, For Pizza
Recipe of the Day: Fresh Bread Stuffing
The Wonders of Stale Bread
Ligurian Olive Balls
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Previous post
Recipe of the Day: Clam Chowder
Next post
Recipe of the Day: Roasted and Braised Duck With Sauerkraut
From 1 to 25 of 117 Comments
1 2 3 ... 5 Next »
1. October 8, 2008
4:52 pm
Link
How is it that there is not even a bit of sugar in these recipes? I have always heard that the yeast needs a bit of sugar to eat.
— Ivy
2. October 8, 2008
4:54 pm
Link
Would like to know the hydration by weight of water to flour rather than just No. of cups. Can you help? Thanks
— ChefEd
3. October 8, 2008
5:08 pm
Link
For many years just as a matter of convenience, I”ve put my dough in the refrigerator overnight or longer for the first rising. This came to mind when on the one hand you suggested using more yeast and said that Mr. Lahey would not approve because he wants slow fermentation. This system marries both concepts. I’ve always had raves using your original recepie, although I found the suggestion by COOKS Magazine of using parchment paper instead of hand or towels to be easier and safer. I look forward to trying your new variations, but I’ll stick to the parchment paper.
— sam brownstein
4. October 8, 2008
5:22 pm
Link
I followed today’s bread recipe step by step… it turned out very good! The only problem I had… the bread got stuck in the bottom of the baking pan… Should I have oiled the blazing hot pan before throwing in the dough?
— claire
5. October 8, 2008
5:35 pm
Link
I have not yet made this speedy no-knead bread but it specifies bread flour; is this all-purpose flour?
— Sandy Wise
6. October 8, 2008
5:38 pm
Link
Whether one goes “no-knead,” sticks with the dubious (in my opinion) pleasures of hand-kneading, or, like myself ,is a devotee of kneading with a Kitchen Aid using a dough hook ,or putting the dough in a food processor for a 45-second spin, please, please, please Mr. Bittman, give the flour and water amounts in grams or ounces. You are certainly aware that that detail is pretty much sine qua non for even the most weekend of bakers.
Norma Johnson
Montague, Ma
— norma johnson
7. October 8, 2008
6:25 pm
Link
This is a little unrelated but I have enjoyed all of the Lahey related recipes in the Minimalist column and have tried them all. There is a recipe in HOW TO COOK EVERYTHING I have tried at least four times and never have been able to get the dough to rise. It’s “Yeasted Coffee Cake” on p. 241. “Instant” yeast is hard to find in my grocery stores so I have tried a variety of quick rise and regular yeasts. I’d love to know if anyone has successfully made this!
— Emily Garratt
8. October 8, 2008
7:03 pm
Link
I just made a loaf of Jim Lahey’s variant using red wine vinegar. Very nice loaf - good to great crumb, flavor is good, but not as good as the original, slower recipe.
Here is what I did. I mixed 1/4 teaspoon of yeast into the flour, salt mixture. Then added 1.5 cup of 120f water + 1/4 teaspoon red wine vinegar to the dry ingredients. Preheated my oven to about 120f and turned off the heat. I then put the dough in a bowl into the oven for 4 hours. Dough tripled in volume. From here on out I followed the traditional recipe.
FWIW, it is not clear to me that the small amount of vinegar had any effect on the flavor. More experimentation is warranted.
— John
9. October 8, 2008
7:14 pm
Link
just curious, the faster whole grain calls for 1/2 whole rye flour. if I don’t have whole rye flour can I just sub that with 1/2 cup of whole grain?
Thanks
Jeff
— Jeff
10. October 8, 2008
7:22 pm
Link
I am confused - you say it’s whole-grain here but the recipe specifies all-purpose or bread flour. Please, please elaborate.
— Tia
11. October 8, 2008
8:15 pm
Link
You say this requires a “standard” loaf pan or the dough won’t rise. You describe that as 8? or 9? by 4.” Yet, the picture shows a round loaf? For those of us who are beginners, we need to know, is pan important?
Thanks.
— L. Cameron
12. October 8, 2008
8:23 pm
Link
Actually, I was going to thank Mark for using volume and not weight. A measuring cup costs 49 cents: a worthwhile scale costs $79.99 Canadian. I’m not spending that kind of money, no way, no how; I’ll just pass by recipes that require a scale, and count myself as just not good enough to be an elite baker.
My bread is always very good, though. Funny about that.
— Charlene
13. October 8, 2008
8:54 pm
Link
I mix the no-knead bread 2 cups white flour and 1 cup whole grain (e.g. rye or whole wheat, or both). I omit the 2nd rise, which avoids a mess. The bread is fantastic and I cannot detect any difference between the recipe with and without the messy 2nd rise. I also add 1/3 cup of walnuts to the mixture. Excellent!
— Lewis Greenwald
14. October 8, 2008
9:00 pm
Link
I’ve been making the “original recipe” for two years now with King Arthur white whole wheat flour. I generally substitute 1 c. oatmeal for 3/4 c. of wheat flour too for a bit of sweetness. A handful of chopped walnuts doesn’t hurt, either. The flavor does seem to improve with fermentation time though. I’m looking forward to trying the cold pan/cold oven variation this weekend.
— J Bean
15. October 8, 2008
9:17 pm
Link
The original was easy and had a good crust and crumb (like the San Francisco sour doughs), but unfortunately had no taste. Cooks Illustrated noted the same and added beer and vinegar that suprisingly did not improve the flavor. I wish Mark Bittman would comment on this.
The Cooks Illustrated recommendation for transfering the bread on parchement paper made for a much nicer shaped loaf.
— Robert
16. October 8, 2008
9:56 pm
Link
for #2 ChefEd - Mark Bittman provided the ingredient weights in his Dec 06, 2006 column, “No Kneading, but Some Fine-Tuning” http://tinyurl.com/3otax3
“430 grams of flour, 345 grams of water, 1 gram of yeast and 8 grams of salt”
for the speedy version, double the yeast to 2 grams.
— Jim
17. October 8, 2008
10:02 pm
Link
does it have to be instant yeast? how about dry active yeast (red star) that i buy in costco once a year, at $2.79 for two pounds?
— faye
18. October 8, 2008
10:31 pm
Link
Mark, I have enjoyed your exploration of no-knead bread. Many years ago the Eugene Register Guard printed a bread recipe calling for the dry ingredients (flour, yeast, salt sugar) to be mixed in my Kitchen Aid and then the liquid are mixed in. I have used (and changed) this recipe for 40 years and it is the only one I now use.
Changes: I used my food processor. Add dry and then liquid. Pulse 30 seconds or less. (More likely less) Check dough, add a touch of flour if needed to get the consistency needed. Knead for 30 seconds or more. Place in buttered bowl. Rise in a cool or warm spot depending on how much time before needed. Rise once. Place in bread pan, pizza sheet, baguette pan or whatever. Rise and Bake at 400 degrees for 30 minutes, more or less.
I can change the flour, (whole wheat, cornmeal, etc.) add buttermilk, or sprinkle in garlic, herbs, eggs, butter or olive oil. A baker is only limited by the imagination. Crust can be crisp or soft depending on you.
Advantages of this recipe. I can put it together in 5 minutes and head out the door and have great bread for dinner. May I say modestly the praises I have received for the bread matches yours! The embarrassment is that I have done so little to accomplish such a lovely loaf of bread.
Aggie Moorad
— Aggie moorad
19. October 8, 2008
11:24 pm
Link
Can anyone tell me exactly what instant yeast is and where to get it? None of the yeasts in my supermarket are labelled “instant.” I live in Newtown, CT. Thanks!
— Lisa Romano
20. October 9, 2008
12:35 am
Link
What is the big deal about not kneading? That’s one of the pleasures of making bread — the work needed to do it.
Kneading bread is pretty easy. It just seems so lazy to make bread without doing it.
— Rochelle Carter
21. October 9, 2008
2:09 am
Link
Norma, here are the measurements in metric. Flour: 750ml or about 400g. Water (I use a little less than the original recipe): 375ml (which is equal to one and a half cups).
— Roanne
22. October 9, 2008
3:27 am
Link
Sandy (#5), bread flour is NOT the same as all-purpose.
bread flour has a higher gluten content, that makes that nice chewiness/webbing in the crumb (in contrast to pastry flour, which has a lower gluten content, and lets pastry dough flake… you see?). If i’m feeling too lazy to go out and buy more bread-flour, sometimes I’ll use all-purpose, but the texture’s never as good. You’ll also need to use less water with all purpose, or your dough will be too wet.
— Julia
23. October 9, 2008
4:08 am
Link
The best recommendation/adjustment to the process I have seen so far (online somewhere) is to flour the mixing bowl and put the dough back in it for the second rise. Using a towel is a mess and the bowl works great.
— Gary
24. October 9, 2008
7:02 am
Link
I love the seemingly infinite variations of this bread! Thanks for the whole-grain option. I, too, would love to have measures in grams and/or ounces, if possible.
— Alexandra
25. October 9, 2008
8:22 am
Link
Tasty Bread! 1 hr., 15 min,!!!!!
this bread was Always a hit at dinners. i used 1 cup of white all purpose flour, but i imagine you could use wheat pastry flour also. SMELLS GREAT WHEN BAKING! the original recipe says 3 C. flour, we did 1 C. and then added flour, beans, whatever.
BEER BREAD
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 1/2 tsp. salt
3 cups all purpose flour
1/4 cup sugar
1 egg
1 12 oz. bottle of beer
mix dry ingredients. add wet ingredients and mix lightly.
bake @ 350? for 50 minutes in a greased bread pan.
OATMEAL VARIATION
1 1/2 - 2 cups of all purpose flour
1 - 1 1/2 cup of oatmeal
CORNBREAD VARIATION
1 1/2 - 2 cups all purpose flour
1 - 1 1/2 cups cornmeal
kidney beans
— Carol Komstock