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No-Knead Bread

Ellen Lee <leep34@frontiernet.net>
Tue, 26 Dec 2006 09:23:51 -0500
v106.n048.6
D. Beeckler:

I hope you'll give the recipe another try. Many bread recipes don't 
include sugar; the carbohydrate in flour feeds the yeasties, as it 
does in sourdough. I made the bread according to the recipe and 
Bittman's notes, although I started out with reservations. I used 
half bread flour and half whole wheat flour, and I used 3/4 tsp. 
yeast because my house temperature is under 70 F in winter. I 
expected the slack, wet dough to be sticky and messy after the 
18-hour resting period. I dumped the dough onto a floured board and 
gingerly did the fold over a couple of times bit. It had an almost 
soft and silky, not a sticky texture. My hands stayed clean. I baked 
it in a 4-quart Calphalon Dutch oven (lightly oiled, with the excess 
oil wiped off with a paper towel), but I'll try other pans: a regular 
bread pan and a 9"x13" baking pan, with an aluminum foil cover the 
first 30 minutes of baking. I think it would make a wonderful 
focaccia.  It literally is the easiest, least time consuming, in 
terms of labor, bread I ever have made. It has a texture I tried and 
failed to achieve previously. If you have eaten a crumpet, it's 
similar to that: moist, chewy, full of small holes to soak up butter 
(or Smart Balance) and jam if you want to add it - but with a crisp, 
crackling crust. It makes wonderful toast, too. I sliced it and froze 
the slices in plastic sandwich bags; freezing does not affect the 
texture, and it thaws in minutes. Although I'll continue to use my 
old tried-and-true recipes, no-knead bread joins the tried-and-true list.

Ellen Lee