No knead to fuss Artisan Breads

Back in 2006 the New York Times (that other Gray Lady) had a piece on this new technique of making a perfect loaf of Artisan bakery quality bread in your own kitchen.

It is indeed easy-peasy, measure simple ingredients, mix with a spoon, let stand for 12 to 18 hours, no kneading, no proofing,  no fuss throw it into a dutch oven type covered pot . The crumb? The crust? The flavor? No worries. All you need is 5 minutes here and five minutes there and a place to put it while the unique dough does it's magic.

Here is the basic recipe and technique:

3 cups all-purpose or bread flour, more for dusting

¼ teaspoon instant yeast

1¼ teaspoons salt

Cornmeal or wheat bran as needed.

1. In a large bowl combine flour, yeast and salt. Add 1 5/8 cups water, and stir until blended; dough will be shaggy and sticky. Cover bowl with plastic wrap. Let dough rest at least 12 hours, preferably about 18, at warm room temperature, about 70 degrees.

2. Dough is ready when its surface is dotted with bubbles. Lightly flour a work surface and place dough on it; sprinkle it with a little more flour and fold it over on itself once or twice. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rest about 15 minutes.

3. Using just enough flour to keep dough from sticking to work surface or to your fingers, gently and quickly shape dough into a ball. Generously coat a cotton towel (not terry cloth) with flour, wheat bran or cornmeal; put dough seam side down on towel and dust with more flour, bran or cornmeal. Cover with another cotton towel and let rise for about 2 hours. When it is ready, dough will be more than double in size and will not readily spring back when poked with a finger.

4. At least a half-hour before dough is ready, heat oven to 450 degrees. Put a 6- to 8-quart heavy covered pot (cast iron, enamel, Pyrex or ceramic) in oven as it heats. When dough is ready, carefully remove pot from oven. Slide your hand under towel and turn dough over into pot, seam side up; it may look like a mess, but that is O.K. Shake pan once or twice if dough is unevenly distributed; it will straighten out as it bakes. Cover with lid and bake 30 minutes, then remove lid and bake another 15 to 30 minutes, until loaf is beautifully browned. Cool on a rack.

If I have made this clear as mud for you, here is a demonstration:






This simple time saving, idiot proof way of making fa-bu breads has swept thru kitchens across the world and has created a market for recipes since then. Who would have thunk you could improve on such an easy thing|? Well ya can and bakers have.

How about making the loaves more healthy, not just white flour? Whole grains? Gluten free your cup of tea? Yup!

How about making a batch of dough big enough to make up to four loaves that will stay good in your fridge for up to two weeks that you can just cut off a piece and use in 5 minutes? Yup they have figured that one out too.

I would hazard a guess that two of the best known/selling books based on this phenomena are:

Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day: The Discovery That Revolutionizes Home Baking

and their block buster sequel of healthy breads, Healthy Breads in Five minutes a day

Jeff Hertberg M.D. and Zoe Francois, the authors of the above two books have an awesome web site where you can go and get recipes, trouble shoot and their blog is pretty good reading too. I appreciated this when I first started, not only did it answer any questions I had but it gave inspiration too. They even provide their master recipe for white Flour dough so you can give this whole concept a try.

My only problem has been refrigerator space, when you make your own breads and this dough lasts up to two weeks, variety makes you spoiled for choice and I like choices, lots of choices, some for buns, some for breads, jeepers this bread would be great with pasta, whole wheat with the chili, focaccia for the sandwiches,  some 10 grain buns to go with the turkey, cheese bread buns for lunches, but this recipe is super for that stew and on and on I go...