No Knead Bread

January 28, 2013

When I was in high school, my sister went through a phase of making bread. She had a bread machine and would wake up early in the morning before school to make it. I would walk into the kitchen to the smell of freshly baked bread. There are not many things that beat that.

This bread recipe came from the Steamy Kitchen via StumbleUpon. What a great find!

Plan ahead if you want to make this bread, the first rise is 12-20 hours. You will also need a 5-quart or bigger pot that can withstand a 450 degree oven.

This bread is wonderful with olive oil & balsamic as well as for sandwiches or with eggs.

No Knead Bread

: Ginger Bear Kitchen from Steamy Kitchen

Recipe type: Bread

Serves: one loaf

Ingredients

3 cups bread flour
¼ teaspoon instant/quick rise yeast
1 teaspoon salt
1½ cups warm water (~115 degrees F)
Large covered pot that can sustain a 450 degree oven

Instructions

Mix all the ingredients in a large bowl with a wooden spoon until combined. It won’t be pretty at this point, you will have a messy ball lump of dough.
Cover bowl with plastic wrap and let rest on countertop for 12-20 hours.
Wet your hands and put the dough onto a well floured counter or cutting board. [The dough will be very sticky so keep your hands wet.] Fold the edges of the dough into the center a couple times and shape the dough into a ball.
Put the ball of dough onto a large piece of parchment paper. Lift the dough ball by the edges of the parchment and set into a large bowl. Cover the bowl with a towel and let rise on countertop for another 2 hours.
When you have about 30 minutes remaining, put your covered pot into the oven and preheat to 450 degrees.
Remove covered pot from oven and dump dough off of the parchment paper and into your heated pot [Your dough should have about doubled in size.]
Bake covered for 35 minutes. Uncover and bake for another 20-25 minutes until the crust is golden.
The middle of the loaf should be 210 degrees when the bread is done. If the center of your bread isn’t fully cooked but the outside is browned, cover the pot for the remaining time so the crust doesn’t burn.