At our annual pot-luck, Jeff Wigley brought in this great rustic bread. When I found out how easy it was to make and how great it tasted, I had to get the recipe. It comes from the New York Times: No-Knead Bread. I made it last night and I will definately be making it again. I think it would be great with some additional spices because it is pretty basic. It takes about 1 1/2 hours to prepare, plus 14 to 20 hours' rising time. It makes a 1 1/2 lb loaf.
Ingredients:
3 cups 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 very sticky. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap. Let dough rest at least 12 hours, preferably about 18-24, 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 quicklyshape dough into a ball. Generously coat a cotton towel (not terry cloth) with cornmeal; put dough seam side down on towel and dust with more 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. (Mine didn't rise much during this step, but it still turned out great!)
4. At least a half-hour before the dough is ready, heat oven to 450 degrees. Put a 6-8-quart heavy covered pot (cast iron, enamel, Pyrex, or ceramic) in oven as it heats. (I used a 3 quart dutch oven.) When dough is ready, carefully remove pot from the oven. Slide your hand under the towel and turn dough over into the pot, seam side up; it may look like a mess, but that is ok. Shake the pan once or twice if dough is unevenly distributed; it will straighten out as it bakes. Cover with lid and bake 30 minutes.
5. Then remove lid and bake another 15 to 30 minutes. This is what it looks like when you remove the lid.
6. After 15 more minutes it is beautifully browned.
7. Cool on a rack.
8. Enjoy!
