No Knead Bread

This week at IHCC it is potluck week again! I have many Mark Bittman recipes saved and on my "to do" list, So many recipes, so many possibilities. This week I chose Bittman's No Knead Bread and I chose this recipe for several different reasons. 1. It is an easy recipe. 2. It's practically "Hands off"3. The smell of hot bread is wonderful. 4. I am not a "baker" usually and this read as a no fail recipe.

Preparing the mix and walking away for so many hours was easy. (I recall doing the same with the overnight waffles.) I did let the mix rest, sit and work for 19 hours.
The most difficult part of this recipe was the wait. We could not wait to slather the loaf with butter, jam or jelly.

Adding sesame seeds to the top of the dough really worked well and tasted delish. I will experiment more with this recipe and see how adding different herbs and some spice will work out. However, on its own the bread was delicious!


No Knead Bread (Mark Bittman)

• 3 cups All purpose flour (or bread flour), more for dusting
• 1/4 teaspoon Instant yeast
• 1 1/4 teaspoons Salt
• Cornmeal (or wheat bran), as needed
• 1 5/8 cups Water

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 okay. Carefully shake pan (it's hot) 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.