No Knead Bread, Basic Dough Recipe.
Nov 20th, 2008 by Paul
I’ve been reading about this no knead bread phenomena that’s been flying around the internets tubes for some months now, and have remained skeptical about it. I mean, it’s too easy right? How can real bread be made without beating the crap out of it to develop the gluten? it’s crazy talk!
Earlier in the week I promised a collegue that I’d teach him how to make pizza from scratch, and was thinking about the logistics and mess behind making pizza dough at work. I was about to tell him to forget it when I remembered about the no knead method.
After making it, I’m a total convert. I think it will be a rare occurance from now on for me not to have some dough in the fridge ready to bake bread at any time. I can’t wait to try out all different types of bread to see how versatile it really is.
No Knead Bread
- 6 1/2 cups of all purpose flour ( the skeptic in me made me use bread flour )
- 1.5 TB salt
- 1.5 TB yeast ( I used 2Tb, but that’s just how I roll )
- 3 tsp sugar
- 3 cups of tepid water
Put the salt, yeast and sugar into a large mixing bowl ( I used a big salad bowl ) give it a quick mix to combine then add the flour and mix again.
Pour in the water and stir with a wooden spoon until the dough is evenly moist throughout. It will be quite sticky.
Cover the bowl with a teatowel and put in a dark warm place for a few hours. Then cover with plastic wrap and put the bowl into the fridge for at least two days, and up to two weeks. The bread flavours mature and start to develop sourdough characteristics the longer it’s left.
To make a simple loaf of bread simply remove about a quarter of the dough and flour it and your hands well as it will be quite sticky. Holding the dough in your hands, slowly fold the edges underneath itself being careful not to knock out the air stored inside.
Sprinkle some polenta on a sheet of greaseproof paper and put the dough on top. Leave it to rest and preheat your oven to 180 C, preferably with a pizza stone on the top shelf and a pan of water on the bottom. I didn’t have any paper, so I used a thin aluminium pan.
When the dough is at room temperature put it in the oven for about 20 minutes.
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