Sunday, January 20, 2008

NYT No Knead Bread

Why am I the last to hear about the New York Times 'No Knead' bread recipe? I read about it only a couple of weeks ago, and although I'd read about slow-rise doughs, I didn't know you could let it rise at room temp that long. I'll admit I was a little skeptical, since I know kneading is important for gluten development. But I tried some at a friend's house the other day and was amazed! Seriously, I thought it was from one of our artisan bakeries! I was really excited to try it.

Last night I put all the ingredients together and set it on the counter overnight. I though briefly about taking a picture of the dough before & after the 18 hour rise, but I didn't. It was quite impressive though, and the smell... just a bit sour, so yummy. I also kinda wish I'd read the recipe a little better before I did the shaping... because I kinda skipped that step and had a problem peeling the dough off the tea towel after the second (much shorter) rise. But all is not lost...

Now, that's a gorgeous loaf if I do say so myself! But that's only part of the story.


Check out those big glossy holes... that's the mark of *serious* bread. Oh, when I saw the glossy inside, I was so thrilled. The crust is crunchy, the inside smooth and yummy. It's not *quite* as the bread I tried the other day, but it's good... very good. I'll be trying this one again... and again... and again!

It takes a long time, but the idea is that you let the dough do the work to get the flavor. There's a lot of chemistry involved, and you just can't take a short cut to get there. Ok... I need to be alone with my bread now. ;)

6 comments:

Zonda said...

Drooling here! That looks so good!

Olga said...

Hey I made this too! i'm a lurker on your blog but I gave you an award! Come over and see!

Michael5000 said...

No, no, you weren't the last.

Rebel said...

I have an award???? I'm so intrigued.

gl. said...

ooooo, you made it! isn't it fabulous? and it's -really- hard to mess it up. if you're an actual bread baker, whicih i am not, i'll bet you can do all sorts of snazzy modifications to make it even better.

my bread always sticks to the towel, too. is there a secret for making it come off?

also, cook's illustrated just came out w/ a "no-knead bread 2.0" recipe. i haven't tried it yet, though.

IamSusie said...

I keep reading various blog entries about that bread. At one point in my life, I tried doing homemade bread but it always turned out badly, even though I am a pretty good cook. Maybe I'll give this one a try.