Almost No Knead Bread

One of my goals this year is to master bread making. How is it that store bought breads have so many ingredients that we don't recognize as well as high levels of salt & sugar. The ingredients are very basic. Flour, yeast,water and salt. How can you go wrong. Well there is an art to bread making as I am discovering. It turns out that temperature, moisture and time play a big part in the success of a loaf of bread. I have had a few successes and some failures so far and it is still only January. I made a Rosemary Walnut bread which was delicious and this almost no knead bread didn't even last 24 hours. We ate it with a delicious bowl of homemade minestrone style soup last night for dinner and had it toasted with a poached egg for breakfast. Connor liked it so much she took what was left for lunch. I asked her if she wanted some butter on it and she declined choosing to eat it as is. Must be good!

Connor is quite the food critic in our house. She has a great sense of adventure when it comes to trying new foods. She is always open to trying something new and often makes suggestions as to what I should make. I always look forward to her feedback.

Now this method of making bread was developed by Jim Lahey of the Sullivan Street Bakery in Manhattan. I follow many blogs and have watched many food shows over the years and almost everyone has featured a version of this bread. One of my failures early this month was a version of this bread so I continued my research and referred to a copy of Cook's Illustrated. This is a food mag that Chris introduced me to and I have treasured ever since. It not only features recipes but explains the science behind them. It highlights what works and what doesn't with a recipe which is so helpful. One of the finding highlighted in the article was that the bread lacked flavour. This was addressed by adding a touch of white vinegar and some beer. It really made the difference in my opinion and Connor agreed. One other suggestion is to add dried cranberries and toasted pecans. I look forward to trying this version at a later date.

The best way to bake this bread is in a cast iron dutch oven with a tight fitting lid but it will also work in a heavy oven proof stock pot. The other thing to keep in mind is time. I started this bread on Sunday evening and baked it off on Monday afternoon.

Ingredients:

3 cups of unbleached all purpose flour plus additional for dusting
1/4 t instant yeast
1 1/2 t table salt
3/4 cups plus 2 T room temp water
1/4 cup plus 2 T mild flavoured lager ( I used Sleemans ale)
1 T white vinegar

1. Whisk flour, yeast and salt in a large bowl. Add water, beer & vinegar. Using a rubber spatula, fold mixture, scraping up dry flour from the bottom of bowl until shaggy ball forms. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and let sit at room temperature for 8 to 18 hours.

2. Lay a 12 x 18 inch sheet of parchment paper inside a 10 inch skillet and spray with non stick cooking spray. Transfer dough to lightly floured work surface and knead 10 to 12 times. Shape dough into a ball by pulling edges into middle. Transfer dough seam side down to parchment lined skillet and spray surface of dough with non stick cooking spray. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rise at room temperature until dough has doubled in size and does not readily spring back when poked with finger, approx 2 hours.

3. About 30 minutes before baking, set oven to 500 degrees with rack on lower position. Place dutch oven on rack and heat. Lightly flour top of dough and using a razor blade or very sharp knife make a 6 inch long 1/2 inch deep slit along top of dough. Carefully remove dutch oven and remove lid. pick up dough by lifting parchment overhang and lower into pot ( let any excess parchment hang over pot edge ) Cover pot and place in oven. Reduce oven temp to 425 and bake covered for 30 minutes. Remove lid and continue to bake until loaf is deep brown approx 20 minutes longer. Carefully remove bread from pot; transfer to wire rack and cool to room temperature, about 2 hours.