MADDIE DAY: After the worst of the warm weather abated earlier this month, I had a hankering for fresh bread, and it was finally cool enough to contemplate baking. I wasn't really up for my usual whole wheat yeasted kneaded recipe, and my sourdough starter is dead, so I hunted down a slow-rise, no-knead artisanal bread recipe.
It turned out to be easy to make. When the result was as pretty as it was tasty, I knew I wanted to share it here with all of you.
No Knead Bread
Adapted from NYT Cooking
Ingredients
3⅓ cups all-purpose or bread flour, plus more for dusting
Generous ¼ teaspoon yeast
2 teaspoons kosher salt
Cornmeal or wheat bran, as needed
Directions
In a large bowl combine flour, yeast and salt. Add 1½ cups/345 grams 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 (I turn on the light under the microwave and put the bread in the microwave, which keeps it gently warm and out of drafts). After twelve hours, I left mine overnight in the fridge and it came out fine. 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.
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. (I used my proofing bowl but it stuck a little trying to get it out.) Cover with another cotton towel and let rise for about 2 hours (I did 3 because the dough was cold from the fridge). When it is ready, dough will be more than double in size and will not readily spring back when poked with a finger.
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 OK.
Shake pan once or twice if dough is unevenly distributed; it will straighten out as it bakes. Cover with lid and bake 30 minutes.
Remove lid and bake another 15 minutes, until loaf is beautifully browned.
Remove from pot and cool on a rack before slicing.
Isn't it pretty?
The insides are chewy and the outside is crust. It sure goes well with butter!
Readers: If you are a bread maker, what kind do you bake? If not, what's your favorite bakery or memory of delicious fresh bread?
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We hope you'll visit Maddie and her Agatha Award-winning alter ego Edith Maxwell on our web site, sign up for our monthly newsletter, visit us on social media, and check our all our books and short stories.
Maddie Day (aka Edith Maxwell) is a talented amateur chef and holds a PhD in Linguistics from Indiana University. An Agatha Award-winning and bestselling author, she is a member of Sisters in Crime and Mystery Writers of America and also writes award-winning short crime fiction. She lives with her beau and sweet cat Martin north of Boston, where she’s currently working on her next mystery when she isn’t cooking up something delectable in the kitchen.
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