Best Bread Ever

I am writing today about No-Knead Bread. I may be coming late to this party, though I have been making this bread for 7 years now. 

The first time I ever heard of No-Knead Bread, was at the Farmers' Market here in town, in 2011. It is a small affair, as we are a small town, but there are interesting things going on here, nonetheless. I saw a lady with a basket of bread that looked to be artisanal in style, with a nice crusty exterior, and promising to be nicely full of holes inside. The sign on her basket read, "No-Knead Bread." I asked what that was, and she gave me a sketchy account, advising that I look it up online. I bought a loaf.

No Knead Bread

Once I tasted the loaf, I went online immediately. The first thing I came upon was a recipe from "The Minimalist," written by Mark Bittman in 2006, about the bread made famous (then why am I only NOW finding out about it!?!?) by Jim Lahey of Sullivan Street Bakery. I tried the bread recipe cited by Bittman immediately. Well, as immediately as I could get my hands on an enameled cast iron pot. I found out the hard way that the knob or handle on the lid must be metal, to stand the high oven temperatures. When I borrowed my sister-in-law's 4 quart Le Creuset, with a resin knob on the lid, it exploded in the oven!

Script "L" as Lid Handle

The bread came out great, but I went in search of an enameled cast iron pot of my own, making sure it had a metal handle on the lid. It was a signature series Lodge enameled cast iron Dutch oven, with the handle made into a script shaped letter "L". This pot has been used so much and so often that the insides are completely blackened, never to be white again, but it keeps on working just fine, no matter what gets cooked inside! Supposedly, you can use Pyrex or other oven safe pots, and also clay pots. I do not own a clay baker and am afraid to subject any glassware to the intensely high heat in the oven needed for this bread. 

Meanwhile, I also bought Jim Lahey's book, "My Bread." I wanted to know everything I could find out about it. When it comes down to it though, I just love the plain, original No-Knead Bread best of all. I made the loaf with cheese chunks in it. I made a loaf with bacon in it. I made a loaf using Guinness Stout and buttermilk. Another with Walnuts. All great. I just liked the original best, and have made it more times than I can count.

What, Exactly, is No-Knead Bread?

Over the course of many years, I have learned over and over that flour, in and of itself, is rather bland and tasteless. Witness the plain white bread in the grocery store. What gives flavor to white or whole wheat flour alike is time, and some form of fermentation, whether warm, cold or a combination. This process also unlocks some hard to digest goodness from the grain. Sourdough bread has been famous forever, and the particular flavors from sourdough starters comes from long, slow fermenting. If you don't care for sourdough bread (my husband is not fond of it), just understand that rather than keeping a starter going for years, decades or more, No-Knead Bread only ferments (in the main) for 12 to 18 hours, or overnight. This is enough to get the dough going, fermentation underway, and then it is shaped and baked. The goodness in the flour is unlocked, and the bread is just fantastic.

Rough dough in PM then Risen and bubbly in the AM

The key to this bread is in the process. A rough and shaggy dough is mixed up the night before you plan to make the bread. A quick stir to get all the ingredients dampened is all you need do. Cover and set in a place at least 70 degrees, but not more than about 75, and let the magic happen. What occurs is that the tiny ¼-teaspoon of yeast that is added to give the fermentation a kick-start, takes over on its own, and in the morning, after about 12 -18 hours, you will see a very jiggly-wet dough that oozes to one side or other of the bowl when tilted, and a whole lot of bubbles dotting the surface. In this way, you have the time and fermentation that has taken place and flavors are developed. The next step is setting the dough to rise and then baking it.

No Knead Bread

The reason the enameled cast iron pot works so well is first of all its weight. The nice, thick, heavy pot holds heat. This kind of heat mimics the heat in the kinds of ovens used in bakeries, and the method we sometimes try to copy by spraying water into the oven or setting ice cubes in a container on the oven floor. The risen dough is flipped into the screaming hot pot, the lid replaced, trapping steam from this very wet dough. The steam makes that nice crisp-chewy exterior, and the heat expands the loaf into beautiful inner holes. 

The Process

As shown in the photo above, the dough is mixed in the evening around 7 or 8 PM (if it is terribly cold outside, it may need to start around 6 PM or even earlier, in order to rise enough by morning), then in the morning will have risen and be evenly dotted with bubbles and be very jiggly.

When ready in the morning, you will need a clean surface on which to work, sprinkled liberally with flour. The dough is very wet and needs quick and light handling. 

1. Turn the dough out onto the floured surface, then toss quickly together to coat. Sprinkle with more flour and cover for 15 minutes with plastic wrap or a clean flour sack towel (any smooth towel, not terrycloth!). 
2. In this time period, have ready a baking sheet with a flour sack towel or clean, smooth kitchen towel placed on it. Liberally sprinkle an area about 12-inches in diameter with cornmeal or wheat bran. Once the 15 minutes have passed,  quickly toss the dough into a ball shape and set with the seam tucked underneath onto the center of the cornmeal or bran strewn towel.
3. Sprinkle the top of the dough with more cornmeal or bran, then cover with another clean, smooth towel - or, if using a flour sack towel, which tend to be large, put the dough onto one end, then flip the other end of the towel over top.
4. Let the dough rise for 2 hours.
5. Thirty minutes before the 2 hours are elapsed, place your enameled cast iron pot with lid on, into the oven, then set the oven to pre-heat to 475 degrees for the remaining half-hour of rising time.
6. Once the half hour is elapsed, remove the pot from the oven, being exceedingly careful, as it is screaming hot! Remove the lid and set aside. Immediately, lift the cover back from the risen dough. Slide your hand underneath the cloth to support the dough, then lift and invert the dough (bottom side upwards) into the hot pot. Quickly replace the lid.
7. Place the pot back into the oven and set a timer for 30 minutes. 
8. At thirty minutes, remove the lid and bake the bread uncovered for another 8 to twenty minutes.
9. Use a wide spatula to lift the bread out of the exceedingly hot pot and set on a rack to cool. 
10. Listen to the bread "sing." It will pop, crack, whistle and otherwise make lovely sounds as it cools. 

The entire process of mixing the dough, working with it briefly in the morning and getting into pot to bake takes about 15 minutes in its entirety. It is needful to be there in the morning, while the dough is rising and baking, but without any more hands-on time. 

Things I Have Learned Over Time

• When mixing the dough, the recipe calls for 1½ to 1⅝ (or 1½ cups + 2 tablespoons) cups of cool water. Understand, the wetter the dough, the more hole structure will form in the finished bread. If you live in a very humid environment, your flour may already be retaining some humidity, and you may not need the extra two tablespoons of water. Making this bread in South Dakota, where it is far less humid than, say, Florida or Louisiana, I have needed the extra two tablespoons of water every time. The bread is great no matter which way. Just experiment to see how much water works best for you.

• I use a baking sheet to set the towel on for the rising period. This is never stated in the original recipe, but if you have a smaller kitchen, this allows you to move the bread out of your way if you need to work in that space. I cannot begin to state how this has helped me in past!

• Jim Lahey's recipe does not call for a 15 minute rest period before shaping the loaf and setting onto the cornmeal strewn cloth. Mark Bittman's recipe did. I have done it both ways, many times, and I will say that for whatever reason, the 15 minute rest makes the bread grow higher in the end.

• Jim Lahey has the oven set to 500 degrees. For me this is just too hot. I do not care for blackened loaves, though most of the photos in Lahey's book are at least slightly blackened. My husband will not touch a blackened loaf. I use a 475 degree oven.

• Lahey has the initial bake with lid on the pot for 30 minutes, but once the lid is taken off, he says to bake a further 15 to 30 minutes. I tried once to bake a further 15 minutes, and it was already starting to blacken in spots, so I removed it. After that, I have ALWAYS baked for only 8 further minutes. This is entirely subjective!

No-Knead Bread

No Knead Bread, just baked

Makes one loaf

3 cups bread flour
¼ teaspoon instant yeast
1¼ teaspoons salt
1½ to 1⅝ (just 2 TBSP more) cups cool water
Cornmeal, wheat bran and or flour for dusting

The evening before making the bread, place the flour, yeast and salt in a large mixing bowl. Add the water and using a wooden spoon, stir to a shaggy dough,  just moistening all the dry ingredients. Cover the bowl with plastic film, or a plate or a lid and set in a warm (not hot) place to ferment overnight.

After 12 to 18 hours (or even up to 24 if it is very cold), the dough should have risen, having bubbles dot the entire surface and the dough should be very jiggly upon moving the bowl. (See photos above).

Dust a clean surface with plenty of flour, then scrape the dough out onto the floured surface, as shown in the first photo below. Quickly bring up edges and then sprinkle with more flour if needed, covering the dough, allowing it to rest for a further 15 minutes, shown in photo 2. While the rest period is underway, place a clean, smooth towel, such as a flour sack towel (NO terrycloth) onto a baking sheet. Sprinkle the towel with cornmeal or wheat bran to a diameter of about 12-inches. Once the rest period ends, quickly form the dough into a ball, tucking the seams underneath, and place onto the prepared towel, shown in photo three below. The seams underneath will later form the pretty cracked pattern on top of the finished loaf.

The process of preparing and baking the loaf

Sprinkle the formed loaf with more cornmeal or bran if needed, then cover with another clean, smooth towel, shown in photo 4, above. Set aside to rise for 2 hours.

Thirty minutes prior to the two-hour rise period, place an enameled cast iron pot, with lid, into the oven. Set the oven to 475 degrees and time for 30 minutes. This is to get the pot screaming hot, approximating a bakery oven. Once the half hour is elapsed, carefully remove the pot from the oven, setting the lid aside, photo 6 above. Uncover the loaf, then slide a hand underneath the towel, supporting the loaf. In one quick movement, lift and invert the loaf into the hot pot. If it sticks to the side, give the pot a shake. It won't matter, in the end, see photo 7 above. Cover the pot with its lid, then return to the oven for 30 minutes. After the thirty minutes, remove the lid, leaving the bread to bake for at least a further 8 minutes and up to 30 minutes, if desired.

Once finished, remove the pot from the oven, then using a large spatula, lift the loaf out of the pot and onto a rack to cool. Allow the loaf to cool for at least an hour before cutting.



My passion is teaching people how to create a harmony of flavors with their cooking, and passing along my love and joy of food, both simple or exotic, plain or fancy. I continue my journey in ethnic and domestic cuisines, continuing my journey to explore diverse culinary experiences and hopefully to start you on a journey of your own. Join me also at A Harmony of Flavors on Facebook, and Pinterest.