Good, fresh bread is one of life's great pleasures, at least in my opinion. I love to go to a great bakery and pick up a loaf for a special occasion. I wish I could do that every day, but I know it would go bad in my house. We just don't go through bread fast enough.It would be even better if I could bake bread at home. I love to bake. Bread is usually just so time consuming and it rarely turns out at home like it does at the bakery.
I was reminded this week of an article I read in the New York Times food section from about a year ago that may change my mind. The Minimalist, Mark Bittman, interviewed/apprenticed with the owner of Sullivan Street Bakery, Jim Lahey. Together, they made a loaf using Mr. Lahey's innovative new method for making bread. The idea is to stir everything together(no kneading or anything), let it ferment (the yeast eats the flour to make alcohol and carbon dioxide) for a very long time, then bake it in a cast iron or ceramic covered pot.
The covered pot becomes a steamer once in the oven so you can get bakery level results from stuff you probably already have. The Minimalist had said that this is innovative, and it is. The only thing you need to make good, fresh bread at home is time, and a few things you more than likely have in your kitchen. The recipe and procedure are after the jump.No-Knead Bread
Adapted from Jim Lahey, Sullivan Street Bakery
Time: About 1 1/2 hours plus 14 to 20 hours' rising
3 cups all-purpose or bread flour, more for dusting
1/4 teaspoon instant yeast
1 1/4 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 1 1/2-pound loaf.
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