Ever wanted to have fresh artisan style bread right out of the oven? The kind with an amazing crumb texture, thick developed crust, and an amazing rustic flavor? With no timely prep work? NO kneading? And even when dinner is on in an hour? Yeah, me too! But if I had thought or dreamed of the possibility before yesterday I would have thought it was a pipe dream. Not that I even know what one of those are LOL.But I am happy, excited, estatic to report you can do this!! I came across a very interesting blogsite the other day (about homesteading off of the power grid- SO me, I know) and while browsing through the posts, I came across a recipe for bread with a droolicious picture that made me pause and take another look. The recipe sounded simple, too simple honestly, and I wanted to see if this magic worked. Mixed up the couple ingredients- water, yeast, and flour (never been successful with just those before), covered the bowl and threw it in the fridge overnight. Pulled it out this morning, let it sit out for about 1/2 hour, divided it into three balls that I placed on a flour-dusted baking sheet, and threw it in the oven with a dash of water into a preheated pan on a lower rack to induce steam, quickly shut the door and then was intensely curious to see if this would work. I wasn't even sure the yeast was still alive because little or no rising had taken place prior to going in the oven. Everything I know of baking bread was thrown out the window and the one experience I have had with a no-knead bread recipe in the past was very different and very involved.
When smoke started to come out of the oven exhaust I *muttered* and pulled out what I thought would be a monstrosity. I had one of those quick blink, happy shock moments when I saw the round loaves that came out. It was a little overbaked, but the smoke had come from the loose flour on the baking sheet burning. Still, it was fantastic! I wondered at the lack of salt when I first saw the recipe, but decided at the time to stick with what she had wrote- and I would now def. add salt. The flavor was very developed, but too muted for my taste.
So then I found a link to another website describing almost the same process of baking artisan bread, with just a couple variations (like including salt and upping the yeast) but the water to flour ratio was the same. It also recommeded letting the dough rise for about two hours prior to putting it in the fridge. I liked that they suggested making a large batch that will keep in the fridge for up to two weeks, and when you want some bread you just cut some out of the bowl with a serated knife, shape it into a ball, let it sit on the counter for about 20 min and then pop it in the oven. The longer it sits in the fridge the more flavor it develops.
So what is the magical property that makes this possible? Apparently how wet the dough is. It is a very wet and sticky dough and I frankly would not have thought a dough this wet could hold it's form but my free form loaves came out of the oven looking like balls. It was a sweet moment looking back on all my fallen disasters over the years. I don't have a picture of mine- but it looks significantly like the picture posted on Jane's Hardwork Homestead blog which is above.
Here is how wet the dough is (again a picture from her blog):
When I read her recipe I assumed she meant to let the dough rise overnight in the fridge, so that is what I did- but she clarified in a response to my questions that she lets it rise overnight covered on the counter. I have had dough rise too long before and it fermented in a very unpleasant way- but she notes that because of the small amount of yeast the counter works best. So I may giver that recipe a go again in the future- but right now I have dough in my fridge from the Mother Earth News recipe that will go in the oven in the morning. :)
Here is the link to Jane's recipe: http://hardworkhomestead.blogspot.com/2010/09/nooks-and-crannies.html?showComment=1319780980557#c3462264498039527161
and the link to the mother earth news recipe:
*UPDATE: a link to a great youtube video:
Enjoy!
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