HOW TO MAKE NO-KNEAD BREAD – IN PHOTOS

Wow! My postings on “No-Knead Bread” are among the most popular sites here at Best Room in the House. There is tremendous interest in making the bread and a host of former non-bread bakers have taken up bread making because of the simplicity and near foolproof methods used for the bread. As a bonus, it costs about 85 cents, not counting the cost to heat your oven.

Did I mention the delicious taste and the wonderful crust? Once you try this bread, you won’t want to buy any more bread at the grocery store.I decided to provide a step-by-step photo guide to further tempt those of  you who have yet to give it a try. So, with the added proviso, “I am not a photographer”, let’s get started.

1. Here’s what you need:3 c. flour, 1-2 tsp. salt, 1/2 t. instant yeast, 1-1/2 cup water.

2. Mix the dry ingredients and stir just enough to make sure you get all the dry flour on the bottom of the bowl into the dough.

3. Add water.

4. Stir it up.

5. Now we’ll let the dough rise, covered with plastic wrap, for at least 12  hours.  

6. Presto! Risen dough.                                              

 7. Prepare a floured surface.                                                

8. Dump it out.                                             

9. See?  Wet and sticky.   

10. Sprinkle with a little flour.

11. Fold over all 4 sides like an envelop.   

12. Re-cover with plastic wrap and let rest for fifteen minutes.

13. Now we’ll let it rise the second time, but first, refold the dough into a rough loaf shape (it’s very fluid dough and won’t stay in a perfect loaf shape; it will be a roundish blob) and place on a 12 x 18 inch piece of parchment paper. Sprinkle top of loaf with wheat bran if desired. Cover with a non-terry cloth dish towel.    

14. Now it’s time for the second rising. After the dough has risen for 1 and 1/2 hours, preheat the oven to 450 degrees with the baking pan and lid inside. Let the dough rise for another half hour while the oven heats for the full 3o minutes. You want the oven and the pot “blazing hot.” 

  

15. Carefully remove the very hot pot from oven. Take the towel off the bread. Pick up the parchment paper with the dough on it and carefully lower both into the hot pot. Sprinkle with Kosher salt if desired.  

 

 16. Cover with lid and bake 30 minutes. (The parchment paper won’t burn.)

    

17. Remove the lid and bake another 15 minutes.

18. Remove the pot from the oven and carefully lift up the edges of paper and place it and the bread on a cooling rack. Pull the paper out from under the bread and let the bread cool before slicing… if you can resist the aroma of warm, fresh baked bread. (Sometimes, I brush butter over the top and sides.)

 

19. Enjoy.             

If you would like more information on No-Knead Bread, you can check my previous postings here, here, here, here and here. 

 There is also a veritable wealth of information on the internet on bread making in general and different methods of making the No-Knead Bread. I use a couple of different recipes, sometimes adding seeds to the topping, sometimes adding flavoring elements to the dough itself.

Be brave and go for it. Your waistline may suffer, but the rest of you won’t.