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photo from seriouseats.com
J. KENJI LÓPEZ-ALT over at Serious Eats lays it all out for you in his Food Lab article The Science Of No-Knead Dough.
He also has an improved version of the no-knead bread recipe that has better flavor, check it out at http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2011/06/better-no-knead-bread-recipe.html . This recipe keeps the dough for 3 days for a cold rise which helps the dough not have such a sour yeasty taste.
Last year I dabbled with some no-knead pizzas with a couple of friends on a bread forum but I have just been informed that the forum is calling it quits. I decided to post some of our work from that forum here to preserve it.
We had so much fun making no-knead pizza and they turned out great. I have included some pictures of our adventures in no-knead pizza throughout this article. I have also included 3 recipes for pizza crusts that we used.
Ingredients for No-Knead Potato Pizza Crust:
- 4 cups all-purpose flour or bread flour
- 1/2 cup instant potato flakes
- 1/2 teaspoon instant yeast
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 1 3/4 cups water
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
Ingredients for No-Knead Durum Pizza Crust:
- 1 cup durum wheat flour
- 3 cups white bread flour
- 1/2 teaspoon yeast
- 2 tablespoons salt
- 1 3/4 cups water
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
Ingredients for No-Knead White Bread Pizza Crust:
- 4 cups all-purpose flour or bread flour
- 1/2 teaspoon instant yeast
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 2 1/4 cups water
- 3 Tablespoons Olive Oil
Instructions for All Recipes:
- Mix all dry ingredients in a 3+ quart bowl.
- Stir water and olive oil together in a separate container (some people put the yeast in the wet ingredients but I don’t).
- Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and mix together till all dry ingredients are combined, you may have to add another 1/8 cup of water if it doesn’t pickup all the flour.
- Loosely put a plastic wrap over the top and let it sit overnight (10-20 hours).
- Flour counter top, pour dough on the floured surface, and sprinkle flour on top of the dough.
- Press out dough to a thick rectangle shape. Fold the left and right sides over each other. Fold it in half from bottom to top.
- While letting the dough rest there for about 10 minutes, place the pizza stone in the oven and set oven to 500 degrees and prepare the parchment paper.
- Spray to pieces of parchment paper with oil (preferable light olive oil).
- Cut the dough in half.
- Slowly stretch, without tearing, one of the dough pieces as long the pizza stone and place it on the oiled parchment paper. Let the dough rest on the parchment paper for 1 minute.
- Slowly stretch the dough out into a rectangle shape, letting it rest here and there to keep from tearing it.
- Repeat steps 10-11 with the other dough piece.
- Once the oven has been pre-heating for about 30+ minutes, slide one of the parchment paper with dough onto a cookie sheet (or something similar) to transfer to the oven. Open oven and pull the pizza stone rack out. Grab the edge of the parchment paper and slide it off onto the pizza stone. Slide rack back in and bake crust for 4 minutes at 500 degrees.
- To remove from the oven, grab the edge of the parchment paper again and slide it back onto the cookie sheet.
- Add sauce and toppings to your half baked pizza crust and place back on the pizza stone, using the same methods as before. Reduce heat to 450 degrees and bake for 7 minutes. First pizza is done.
- Set oven back to 500 degrees and let it heat back up for 5-10 minutes.
- Repeat steps 13-15 with second pizza.
- Eat up, its dang good.
This recipe will make a large sized sandwich loaf that is as great tasting and a great change from the regular sandwich bread that we commonly eat. The crust is soft like a sandwich bread, not as crisp as traditional no-knead bread. It is so easy to make and with little time invested (unless you count the 12+ hours of rising). I believe anyone could make this no-knead dark rye bread with great results, even without a kitchen mixer or any other special equipment. I did use my WonderMill grain mill to make the rye flour but you can buy rye flour at some stores.
Ingredients:
- 1 1/2 cups Rye flour (preferably fresh ground for better taste)
WonderMill Grain Mill
- 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour or bread flour
- 1/2 teaspoon caraway seeds
- 3 tablespoons cocoa powder
- 1/4 cup molasses
- 1/2 teaspoon instant yeast
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 1 3/4 cups water
Instructions:
- Combine all the dry ingredients (wheat flour, white flour, caraway seeds, cocoa, yeast, salt) in the large bowl and stir with spoon for about 15 seconds.
- Combine water and molasses in a separate bowl and stir till molasses is dissolved into the water.
- Add water molasses mix to the dry ingredients bowl and stir for about 3 minutes until the flour is mostly stuck to the dough (it won’t look that good but that doesn’t matter).
- Cover the top of the bowl loosely with plastic wrap.
- Let sit on counter top for about 12 to 18 hours (I ussually do this for about 13 hours), the dough will look all bubbly on the top.
- Generously sprinkle flour the top of your clean counter top or a cutting board (don’t worry about using too much flour, it won’t hurt it).
- Slowly pour the dough from the bowl on to the floured surface, using the silicone spatula to help it peal off the sides of the bowl.
- Sprinkle a little flour on top of the dough and rub your hands together with flour.
- With you hands, gently stretch the dough out to a rectangle shape.
- Roll up the dough from one end to the other.
Place the dough into a lightly greased bread pan (seem side down).
- Let dough rise till it is a bit above the top of the bread pan (about double in size or 1.5 to 2 hours).
- Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees.
- Place bread in the oven for 40 minutes to 45 minutes.
- Remove from oven and let it cool on a cooling rack or your counter top.
Note: Rye flour and rye grains are not always available in the grocery stores, you may have to find a specialty kitchen store, organic store, or buy it online
.
Dark rye bread is one of my favorite breads and I can eat a whole loaf my self, I think it is that good. It took me a while to get this recipe to work well with a no-knead bread method but it turned out awesome. I hope you enjoy it!
As I watch many people measure flour for recipes I have noticed a very common mistake that can hurt the end result of your baked good. This mistake is that we measure flour incorrectly. Flour becomes packed very easily and a packed cup of flour weighs quite a bit more that a properly measured cup of flour. Many people just scoop up a cup of flour right out of the container which just packs it even more, I have made this mistake many times when I first started baking. A properly measured cup of white flour should weigh about 4.25 ounces.
So What is a Proper Way to Measure Flour
See video for a demonstration of how-to do this properly.
You will have the best results with the recipes on this website if you properly measure your flour.
If you have a kitchen scale, you can measure it to exactly 4.25 ounces if you like.
I have really struggled to come up with a 100% whole wheat no-knead bread recipe that I can feel satisfied with, and from searching the web I am not the only one. A friend of a friend of mine made up a seeded 100% whole wheat no-knead bread that I actually liked, she called it her "No-Knead version of Dave’s Killer Seed Bread". I took her recipe and made a 100% whole wheat no-knead bread that I like, the seeds help the final product greatly. The bread does come out somewhat dense but there is no way to avoid that with whole wheat used in a no-knead method, if anyone has found a recipe of 100% whole wheat no-knead bread that has a light crumb please post it in the comments.
Ingredients:
- 3 1/2 cups whole wheat flour (fresh ground is best)
WonderMill Grain Mill- 1/2 cup raw sunflower seeds
- 1/2 cup mixed seeds and/or small grains
(like: pumpkin seeds, sesame seeds, flax, chia seeds, amaranth, millet, and cracked grains; Just pick 2 or 4 or all of them)- 1 tablespoon honey
- 3/4 teaspoon instant yeast
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 2 cups water
Instructions:
- Combine all the dry ingredients (wheat flour, sunflower seeds, mixed seeds and/or small grains, yeast, salt) in the large bowl (3 quart or larger) and stir with a mixing spoon for about 30 seconds or more.
- Combine water and honey in a separate bowl and stir till honey is dissolved into the water.
- Add water honey mix to the dry ingredients bowl and stir for about 3 minutes, make sure all flour is incorporated into the dough (it won’t look that good but that doesn’t matter).
- Cover the top of the bowl loosely with plastic wrap.
- Let sit on counter top for about 12 to 18 hours (I usually do this for about 13 hours), the dough will have small bubble holes on the top.
- Generously sprinkle flour the top of your clean counter top or a cutting board (I do use white flour for this part because it works better but you can use whole wheat if you want).
- Slowly pour the dough from the bowl on to the floured surface, using the silicone spatula to help it peal off the sides of the bowl.
- Sprinkle a little flour on top of the dough and rub your hands together with flour.
- With you hands, gently stretch the dough out to a rectangle shape.
Fold the left side half way over and then fold the right side over it.
- Place the dough into a lightly greased bread pan (seem side down).
- Let dough rise till it is a bit above the top of the bread pan (almost double in size or 1.5 to 2 hours).
- Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees.
- Place bread in the oven for 40 minutes to 45 minutes.
- Remove from oven and let it cool on a cooling rack or your counter top.
This 100% whole wheat seed bread is so very filling and a big change from the regular bread we eat so often.
This recipe will make a large sized light oat bread sandwich loaf that is a great tasting and a great texture for sandwich bread. The crust is softer like a sandwich bread, not as crisp as traditional no-knead bread. Its a great way to use those quick oats that you have in your food storage or whip out your grain mill and grind some oat groats into fresh oat flour. It is so easy to make and with little time invested (unless you count the 12+ hours of rising). I believe anyone could make this no-knead light oat bread with great results, even without a kitchen mixer or any other special equipment.
Ingredients:
- 1 cup wheat flour (preferably fresh ground for better taste)
WonderMill Grain Mill- 3/4 cup quick oats or oat flour
- 2 1/2 cups white flour
- 1/4 cup honey
- 1/2 teaspoon instant yeast
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 1 3/4 cups water
Instructions:
- Combine all the dry ingredients (white flour, wheat flour, quick oats or oat flour, yeast, salt) in the large bowl (3 quart or larger) and stir with a mixing spoon for about 15 seconds or more.
- Combine water and honey in a separate bowl and stir till honey is dissolved into the water.
- Add water honey mix to the dry ingredients bowl and stir for about 3 minutes until the flour is mostly stuck to the dough (it won’t look that good but that doesn’t matter).
- Cover the top of the bowl loosely with plastic wrap.
- Let sit on counter top for about 12 to 18 hours (I ussually do this for about 13 hours), the dough will look all bubbly on the top.
- Generously sprinkle flour the top of your clean counter top or a cutting board (don’t worry about using too much flour, it won’t hurt it).
- Slowly pour the dough from the bowl on to the floured surface, using the silicone spatula to help it peal off the sides of the bowl.
- Sprinkle a little flour on top of the dough and rub your hands together with flour.
- With you hands, gently stretch the dough out to a rectangle shape.
- Roll up the dough from one end to the other.
- Place the dough into a lightly greased bread pan (seem side down).
- Let dough rise till it is a bit above the top of the bread pan (about double in size or 1.5 to 2 hours).
- Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees.
- Place bread in the oven for 40 minutes to 45 minutes.
- Remove from oven and let it cool on a cooling rack or your counter top.
This light oat bread is so cheap and simple to make that there is no reason to buy bread from the store anymore. I just love light oat bread for sandwiches, toast and jam, and toast and butter.
This recipe will make a large sized potato bread sandwich loaf that is a great tasting and a great texture for sandwich bread. The crust is softer like a sandwich bread, not as crisp as traditional no-knead bread. Its a great way to use those instant potato flakes that are just not as good as the real stuff. It is so easy to make and with little time invested (unless you count the 12+ hours of rising). I believe anyone could make this no-knead potato bread with great results, even without a kitchen mixer or any other special equipment.
Ingredients:
- 4 cups all-purpose flour or bread flour
- 1/2 cup instant potato flakes
- 1/2 teaspoon instant yeast
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 1 3/4 cups water
Instructions:
- Combine all the dry ingredients (white flour, yeast, salt, potato flakes) in the large bowl (3 quart or larger) and stir with a mixing spoon for about 15 seconds or more.
- Add water to the dry ingredients and stir for about 3 minutes until the flour is mostly stuck to the dough (it won’t look that good but that doesn’t matter).
- Cover the top of the bowl loosely with plastic wrap.
- Let sit on counter top for about 12 to 18 hours (I ussually do this for about 13 hours), the dough will look all bubbly on the top.
- Generously sprinkle flour the top of your clean counter top or a cutting board (don’t worry about using too much flour, it won’t hurt it).
- Slowly pour the dough from the bowl on to the floured surface, using the silicone spatula to help it peal off the sides of the bowl.
- Sprinkle a little flour on top of the dough and rub your hands together with flour.
- With you hands, gently stretch the dough out to a rectangle shape.
- Roll up the dough from one end to the other.
- Place the dough into a lightly greased bread pan (seem side down).
- Let dough rise till it is a bit above the top of the bread pan (about double in size or 1.5 to 2 hours).
- Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees.
- Place bread in the oven for 40 minutes to 45 minutes.
- Remove from oven and let it cool on a cooling rack or your counter top.
This potato bread is so cheap and simple to make that there is no reason to buy bread from the store anymore. I just love potato bread for sandwiches, meatloaf sandwiches, pulled pork sandwiches, toast and jam, and toast and butter.
This recipe will make a large sized light wheat sandwich loaf that is a great tasting and a great texture for sandwich bread. The crust is soft like a sandwich bread, not as crisp as traditional no-knead bread. It is so easy to make and with little time invested (unless you count the 12+ hours of rising). I believe anyone could make this no-knead light wheat bread with great results, even without a kitchen mixer or any other special equipment.
Ingredients:
- 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour or bread flour
- 1 1/2 cups wheat flour (preferably fresh ground for better taste)
WonderMill Grain Mill- 1/2 teaspoon instant yeast
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 1 1/2 tablespoons honey (optional)
- 1 3/4 cups water
Instructions:
- Combine all the dry ingredients (white flour, wheat flour, yeast, salt) in the large bowl (3 quart or larger) and stir with a mixing spoon for about 15 seconds or more.
- Combine water and honey in a separate bowl and stir till honey is dissolved into the water.
- Add water honey mix to the dry ingredients bowl and stir for about 3 minutes until the flour is mostly stuck to the dough (it won’t look that good but that doesn’t matter).
- Cover the top of the bowl loosely with plastic wrap.
- Let sit on counter top for about 12 to 18 hours (I ussually do this for about 13 hours), the dough will look all bubbly on the top.
- Generously sprinkle flour (wheat or white flour) the top of your clean counter top or a cutting board (don’t worry about using too much flour, it won’t hurt it).
- Slowly pour the dough from the bowl on to the floured surface, using the silicone spatula to help it peal off the sides of the bowl.
- Sprinkle a little flour on top of the dough and rub your hands together with flour.
- With you hands, gently stretch the dough out to a rectangle shape.
- Roll up the dough from one end to the other.
- Place the dough into a lightly greased bread pan (seem side down).
- Let dough rise till it is a bit above the top of the bread pan (about double in size or 1.5 to 2 hours).
- Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees.
- Place bread in the oven for 40 minutes to 45 minutes.
- Remove from oven and let it cool on a cooling rack or your counter top.
This light wheat bread is so cheap and simple to make that there is no reason to buy wheat bread from the store anymore. I just love light wheat bread for sandwiches, toast and jam, and toast and butter. The good thing about wheat bread is that it makes you fill fuller faster and longer.
This recipe will make a large sized white sandwich loaf that is as great tasting and a great texture for sandwich bread. The crust is soft like a sandwich bread, not as crisp as traditional no-knead bread. It is so easy to make and with little time invested (unless you count the 12+ hours of rising). I believe anyone could make this no-knead white bread with great results, even without a kitchen mixer or any other special equipment.
Ingredients:
- 4 cups all-purpose flour or bread flour
- 1/2 teaspoon instant yeast
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 1 3/4 cups water
Instructions:
- Combine all the dry ingredients (white flour, yeast, salt) in the large bowl (3 quart or larger) and stir with a mixing spoon for about 15 seconds.
- Add water to the bowl and stir for about 3 minutes until the flour is mostly stuck to the dough (it won’t look that good but that doesn’t matter).
- Cover the top of the bowl loosely with plastic wrap.
- Let sit on counter top for about 12 to 18 hours (I ussually do this for about 13 hours), the dough will look all bubbly on the top.
Generously sprinkle flour the top of your clean counter top or a cutting board (don’t worry about using too much flour, it won’t hurt it).
- Slowly pour the dough from the bowl on to the floured surface, using the silicone spatula to help it peal off the sides of the bowl.
- Sprinkle a little flour on top of the dough and rub your hands together with flour.
- With you hands, gently stretch the dough out to a rectangle shape.
- Roll up the dough from one end to the other.
- Place the dough into a lightly greased bread pan (seem side down).
Let dough rise till it is a bit above the top of the bread pan (about double in size or 1.5 to 2 hours).
- Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees.
- Place bread in the oven for 40 minutes to 45 minutes.
- Remove from oven and let it cool on a cooling rack or your counter top.
This white bread is so cheap and simple to make that there is no reason to buy white bread from the store anymore. I like wheat bread but for certain things I really like a good white bread, plus I like a variety of breads to eat. This is great for grilled cheese sandwiches and regular sandwiches.
This recipe will make a large sized sandwich loaf that is as great tasting and a great change from the regular loaf of bread. The crust is thin and crisp but the inside is moist with a great texture. It is so easy to make and with little time invested (unless you count the 12+ hours of rising). I believe anyone could make this no-knead onion dill wheat bread with great results, without a kitchen mixer, or any other special equipment. You could replace the wheat flour with white flour and the result would be still be great.
Ingredients:
- 1 1/2 cups Whole Wheat flour (preferably fresh ground for better taste)
- 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour or bread flour (you can use 4 cups white flour if you prefer not to use whole wheat flour)
- 4 tablespoons dry dill weed
- 1 tablespoon dry onion flakes
- 1/2 teaspoon instant yeast
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 2 1/4 cups water
Equipment needed:
- 3 quart bowl (or larger)
- Wooden spoon or a strong mixing spoon
- 1/2 teaspoon
- Silicone Spatula
- Plastic wrap (saran wrap)
- Bread Pan (not to small, large preferred)
- Kitchen oven
- Cooking spray (Pam)
Instructions:
- Combine all the dry ingredients (wheat flour, white flour, dill, onion flakes, yeast, salt) in the large bowl and stir with spoon for about 15 seconds.
Add water to the bowl and stir for about 1 or 2 minutes (it won’t look that good but that doesn’t matter).
- Cover the top of the bowl loosely with plastic wrap.
- Let sit on counter top for about 12 to 18 hours (I ussually do this for about 13 hours), the dough will look all bubbly on the top when done rising.
- Generously sprinkle flour the top of your clean counter top or a cutting board (don’t worry about using too much flour, it won’t hurt it).
- Slowly pour the dough from the bowl on to the floured surface, using the silicone spatula to help it peal off the sides of the bowl.
- Sprinkle a little flour on top of the dough and rub your hands together with flour.
- With you hands, gently stretch the dough out to a rectangle shape.
- Fold the left side half way over and then fold the right side over it.
- Fold the top and bottom in a similar fashion.
- Stretch the dough ball a little little longer so it can sit length wise in your bread pan.
- Place the dough into a lightly greased bread pan.
- Let dough rise till it is a bit above the top of the bread pan (about double in size or 1.5 to 2 hours).
- Pre-heat the oven to 450 degrees.
Place bread in the oven for 30 minutes.(if you have an instant read thermometer, the inside of the bread should reach at-least 190 degrees. If you don’t have an instant read thermometer, just leave it in for the full 30 minutes).
- Remove from oven and let it cool on a cooling rack or your counter top.
Note: This bread is best eaten fresh, and you’ll find that it will not last long either. The longer you store it, the softer the crust will get. When it is fresh, the crust will be thin and crunchy and the inside will be moist with great texture.
So I got a little past traditional on this experiment but I had to try it. I searching out sprouted grain bread and came across an article that a lady cooked it in a crock pot for 8 hours on low heat. I didn’t think bread in crock pots was possible, nor did it ever cross my mind. I did a little more searching and found others who had tried it, most had done it with an insert like a empty coffee can or a glass Pyrex container for 3 hours on high heat. Most said the results where just OK but I had to give it a try, since no-knead dough is a lot wetter than most doughs I thought it might work better.
One of my old doughmakers bread pans luckily fit in my large oval crock pot, it got caught on the sides of the crock pot about an 1/8 of an inch from the bottom. You wil want to keep the container from touching the bottom so it will heat more evenly, you may have to crumple up aluminum foil and place it on the bottom of your crock pot for your pan to sit on. You don’t have to use a bread pan, you could also use a pyrex glass container or other oven save container. You will want to lightly grease the container to keep the bread from sticking.
Recipe Instruction Changes:
I used my White Sandwich Loaf No-Knead Bread Recipe, except I had to change some of the recipe directions. After the overnight rise, flour and fold the dough as normal. Now, instead of letting the dough do a second rise before baking, place the dough in the greased pan inside of the crock pot. Imediately close lid and turn the crock pot to high heat, the dough will rise just fine while the crock pot heats up. Let the dough bake for 3 hours in the crock pot, remove from crock pot and let cool on a cooling rack or counter. The bread will look pail on the top but it is still done.
Makes Decent Bread
Like I said above, the top was pail and soft but the rest of the crust was nice and crisp. The loaf came out a nice shape, which surprised me. The bread tasted great but did lack in the great crust and texture that you get by baking with an oven.
I would not recommend baking your bread this way unless you:
Can I Bake it Without a Pan?
I also tried baking the bread in the crock pot without an insert pan or container, the bread didn’t come out as well this way. It didn’t bake as consistent, the side crust was to hard, and the shape was not good. The crumb still tasted quite good but the bread over all came out below satisfactory in my opinion.
After making no-knead bread in my cheap and small 2.5 quart covered stoneware, I decided I wanted to try baking it in a Kitchen Dutch oven. I also wanted to make the bread larger, so I decided wanted to get a 5 or 6 quart dutch oven. I really didn’t want a dutch oven that required much maintenance so I decided to go with an enamel coated dutch oven, even though they cost more. Amazon has a few of these enamel coated cast iron dutch ovens for a good price and free shipping, or you can usually find them at Fred Meyers, Wall Mart, or Costco. I ended up getting a 6 quart dutch oven so it would be big enough for me to experiment with.
I used my White Sandwich Loaf No-Knead Bread Recipe, except I put some Mrs. Dash Tomato & Basil Garlic seasoning and a hand full of shredded parmesan cheese in the dough mix, just for a new taste. I also had to change some of the recipe directions.
Recipe Instruction Changes:
Instead of putting the dough into the bread pan to rise, you will put it in a greased 3 quart bowl to rise and follow the directions here instead of the rest of the steps in the recipe. After the dough has risen for about an hour, place your empty dutch oven cookware in the oven turn the oven to 450 degrees (to preheat the dutch oven). After 30 minutes of preheating the dutch oven, it is ready to start baking bread. Open the oven, take the lid off the dutch oven and (being very careful not to get burned) dump the dough out of the greased bowl into the dutch oven. Place lid back on the dutch oven and close the oven door. After baking for 30 minutes, remove the lid of the dutch oven and continue baking in without the lid for 15 minutes. Remove dutch oven from stove and dump the bread onto a cooling rack t cool.
Makes Outstanding Bread
The dutch oven gave me an large and awesome looking round artisan looking bread. The crust and the crumb of this bread came out great, again better than baking in a bread pan. This one disappeared fast, what a hit this bread is with me, my family, and friends.
I would definitely recommend giving a dutch oven some consideration when making no-knead bread. If you have never made no-knead bread before, I would still start with the bread pans first before buying any special pans like this. I am sure you will be addicted to making bread after the first few loafs of no-knead bread.
This recipe will make a large sized sandwich loaf that is as great tasting. The crust is crisp but the inside is moist with a great texture. I just created this version of Anadama bread recently after learning about this interesting bread from a bread forum I joined. It is so easy to make and with little time invested (unless you count the 12+ hours of rising).
You can buy fine or coarse cornmeal from most grocery stores or grind your own in a hand grain mill, I prefer fresh ground popcorn kernels for the better taste. You can grind fine cornmeal meal in all electric grain mills but you will most likely need a hand grain mill to grind course cornmeal.
Ingredients:
- 3 cups all-purpose flour or bread flour
- 1 cup cornmeal (course ground cornmeal is preferred by some)
- 1/2 teaspoon instant yeast
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 2 tablespoons molasses
- 2 cups water
Instructions:
- Combine all the dry ingredients (flour, yeast, salt) in the large bowl and stir with spoon for about 15 seconds.
- Pour molasses on top.
- Add water to the bowl and stir for about 1 or 2 minutes (it won’t look that good but that doesn’t matter).
- Cover the top of the bowl loosely with plastic wrap.
- Let sit on counter top for about 12 to 16 hours (I ussually do this for about 13 hours), the dough will look all bubbly on the top when done rising.
- Generously sprinkle cornmeal or flour the top of your clean counter top or a cutting board (don’t worry about using too much, it won’t hurt it).
- Slowly pour the dough from the bowl on to the floured surface, using the silicone spatula to help it peal off the sides of the bowl.
- Sprinkle a little cornmeal or flour on top of the dough and rub your hands together with flour.
- With you hands, gently stretch the dough out to a rectangle shape.
- Follow instructions below for the cookware you will be using.
Bread Pan Instructions:
Roll up the dough from one end to the other.
- Place the dough into a lightly greased bread pan (seam side down).
- Let dough rise till it is a bit above the top of the bread pan (about double in size or 1 to 1.5 hours).
- Pre-heat the oven to 450 degrees.
- Place bread in the oven for 30 minutes.
- Remove from oven, dump bread out on a cooling rack or your counter top and allow it to cool.
- Enjoy!
Covered Bakeware Instructions:
Fold the left side half way over and then fold the right side over it.
- Fold the top to the bottom.
- lightly grease a 3 quart (or larger) bowl and sprinkle flour in it to lightly cover the sides and bottom of bowl.
- Place the dough into the lightly greased and floured bowl.
- Let dough rise till it is almost doubled in size (about 1 to 1.5 hours).
- Place empty bakeware in oven and turn oven to 450 degrees, to pre-heat bakeware for 15 minutes.
- Open oven, remove bakeware lid, pour dough from the bowl into bakeware, replace lid, and close oven.
- Let bread bake for 30 minutes, then open oven and remove bakeware lid and close oven.
- Let bread bake for another 15 minutes without the bakeware lid.
- Remove from oven, dump bread out on a cooling rack or your counter top and allow it to cool.
- Enjoy!
French Bread Pan Instructions:
- Cut the rectangle dough in half.
- Roll up each dough rectable from one end to the other.
- Stretch the dough to desired length and place on a lightly greased french bread pan (seam side down).
- Let dough rise till it is almost doubled in size (about 1 to 1.5 hours).
- Pre-heat the oven to 450 degrees.
- Place bread in the oven for 30 minutes.
- Remove from oven, slide the bread out onto a cooling rack or your counter top and allow it to cool.
- Enjoy!
Note: This bread is best eaten fresh, and you’ll find that it will not last long either. The longer you store it, the softer the crust will get. When it is fresh, the crust will be thin and crunchy and the inside will be moist with great texture.
There some myths about how Anadama Bread got its name, the most common story goes like this:
"A fisherman, angry with his wife, Anna, for serving him nothing but cornmeal and molasses, one day adds flour and yeast to his porridge and eats the resultant bread, while cursing, "Anna, damn her." The neighbors baked it because it was so delicious and coined it Anadama or Anadamy. (see Wikipedia)
I have been avoiding baking no-knead bread as instructed on New York Times recipe page because I wanted to keep it simple, and I didn’t want to buy extra equipment. From all the blog posts I have read I people say that the no-knead bread tastes better when cooked in covered bakeware, dutch ovens, or covered stoneware. The process also gets a little more complicated transferring the dough into the pre-heated bakeware. A lot of the bakeware that can be used to make no-knead bread the traditional way can be expensive too, $50 and up depending on what you buy.
I decided to try the traditional way of making no-knead bread so I would knew how it compares to just baking it in the pan, am I really missing out on anything. I found a 2.5 quart Covered Oval Casserole stoneware at Walmart for about $30, cheapest I have found (the brand was Paula Deen). I used the recipe just as directed on New York Times no-knead bread recipe, except I added a little more salt. I also let it rise in a well floured glass bowl for the final rise which it dumped right our of into the pre-heated casserole dish, I was surprised that went easy. Other than those changes I followed the recipe instructions. I would much rather clean a glass bowl than a floured cloth any day.
One thing is for sure, no-knead bread is definitely cooler looking when cooked in covered bakeware. It looked much more like bread from a specialty bakery. The bread fit perfectly into the 2.5 quart stoneware but I kind of wish that I had got a 3 quart stoneware to give me some room to play with. Besides looking great, this bread tasted great too and the crust was definitely better, just like all the blog posts had told me. I will definitely be using this method of cooking no-knead bread again in the future.
Most of the covered stoneware out there is round but I really liked how this bread came out in the oval stoneware I got. Not only did it look cooler than a round loaf but the bread was easier to cut with a common length knife. The oval shape made the bread a little longer instead of wide all around. As it was, my knife was barely long enough to cut this oval loaf of bread I made.
It was easier to do than I thought but I don’t think it is the super easy bread that any college kid could feel comfortable making, for them I will still suggest starting with the bread pan and working up to using a covered stoneware. This method also required having the oven on for quite a bit longer than other methods of baking, for some that is a concern but not for me.
If you are looking for covered stoneware to make no-knead bread, you might checkout the Rachael Ray 4 Quart or 2 3/4 Quart Casserole stoneware which is fairly good priced. These covered casserole stonewares should be similar to the Paula Deen brand that I used from Walmart.
This recipe will make 2 small bread loafs that is as good, or better, than any restrant Italian bread I have had. The crust is thin and crisp but the inside is moist with a great texture and the taste of great Italian cheeses.
Ingredients:
- 4 cups all-purpose flour or bread flour
- 1/2 teaspoon instant yeast
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 2 1/4 cups water
- Italian Blend shredded cheese
- Italian Seasoning (or Basil Seasoning)
Equipment needed:
- Very large bowl
- Wooden spoon or a strong mixing spoon
- 1/2 teaspoon
- Silicone Spatula
- Plastic wrap (saran wrap)
- Bread Pan (not to small, large preferred)
- Kitchen oven
- Cooking spray (Pam)
- Knife (or dough slicer of some sort)
Instructions:
- Combine all the dry ingredients (flour, yeast, salt) in the large bowl and stir with spoon for about 15 seconds.
- Add water to the bowl and stir for about 1 or 2 minutes (it won’t look that good but that doesn’t matter).
- Cover the top of the bowl loosely with plastic wrap.
- Let sit on counter top for about 12 to 16 hours (I ussually do this for about 13 hours), the dough will look all bubbly on the top when done rising.
- Generously sprinkle flour the top of your clean counter top or a cutting board (don’t worry about using too much flour, it won’t hurt it).
- Slowly pour the dough from the bowl on to the floured surface, using the silicone spatula to help it peal off the sides of the bowl.
- Sprinkle flour on top of the dough and rub your hands together with flour (so they won’t stick to the dough).
With you hands, gently stretch the dough out to a rectangle shape (if it is sticking to much to your hand, just sprinkle more flour on the dough).
- Cut the rectangle of dough in half.
- Sprinkle Italian Seasoning (or Basil Seasoning) over the dough.
- Generously sprinkle Italian Blend shredded cheese over the dough.
Roll each strip of dough from one end to the other.
- Place the rolled dough in lightly greased bread pans seam side down.
- Let dough rise till it is almost double in size (about 1.5 to 2 hours).
- Pre-heat the oven to 450 degrees.
- Place bread in the oven for 30 minutes.
- Remove from oven and let it cool on a cooling rack or your counter top.
Note: This bread is best eaten fresh, and you’ll find that it will not last long either. The longer you store it, the softer the crust will get (you can put a slice in the toster for just a little bit to get the original texture somewhat back). When it is fresh, the crust will be thin and crunchy and the inside will be moist with great texture.
I have been making a lot of no-knead bread this fall with great success. The only problem I have faced is getting my bread dough to rise in my cold house. It still rises but not near as fast as it would if my house was warmer. Yes, I’m to cheap to turn the heat up in my house to a good bread rising temperature. About 70 degrees or higher is good for rising bread dough. There are also times that I would have liked to give my bread dough a jump start on rising, especially on the second rise of my no-knead bread because I just can’t wait to bake it. The second rise for no-knead bread usually takes almost 2 hours but using the method discussed below you can lower that rising time to about 1 hour. The method I have found, to aid me in my rising needs, has been a slightly warm oven.
Now you can keep your house thermostat turned down in the fall and winter and still get your bread dough to rise in good time. Plus, you can get your bread dough to rise faster when needed using the warm oven method. I don’t claim to have invented the warm oven method, I’m sure it has been used by many home bread bakers of the past and present.
Feel free to share other rising methods you use in the comments section below, I’m sure there are many other good methods used by other bread bakers. I would love to learn some new methods.
This recipe will make a large sized sandwich loaf that is as good, or better, than any partial wheat bread I have ever had. The crust is thin and crisp but the inside is moist with a great texture. I have made it a few times this week and I just love the taste of it. It is so easy to make and with little time invested (unless you count the hours of rising). I believe anyone could make this no-knead 50 percent wheat bread with great results, without a kitchen mixer, or any other special equipment.
Ingredients:
- 2 cups Whole Wheat flour (preferably fresh ground for better taste)
WonderMill Grain Mill- 2 cups all-purpose flour or bread flour
- 1/2 teaspoon instant yeast
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 2 1/4 cups water
Equipment needed:
- Very large bowl
- Wooden spoon or a strong mixing spoon
- 1/2 teaspoon
- Silicone Spatula
- Plastic wrap (saran wrap)
- Bread Pan (not to small, large preferred)
- Kitchen oven
- Cooking spray (Pam).
Instructions:
- Combine all the dry ingredients (wheat flour, white flour, yeast, salt) in the large bowl and stir with spoon for about 15 seconds.
- Add water to the bowl and stir for about 1 or 2 minutes (it won’t look that good but that doesn’t matter).
- Cover the top of the bowl loosely with plastic wrap.
- Let sit on counter top for about 12 to 16 hours (I ussually do this for about 13 hours), the dough will look all bubbly on the top when done rising.
- Generously sprinkle flour the top of your clean counter top or a cutting board (don’t worry about using too much flour, it won’t hurt it).
- Slowly pour the dough from the bowl on to the floured surface, using the silicone spatula to help it peal off the sides of the bowl.
- Sprinkle a little flour on top of the dough and rub your hands together with flour.
- With you hands, gently stretch the dough out to a rectangle shape.
- Fold the left side half way over and then fold the right side over it.
- Fold the top and bottom in a similar fashion.
- Stretch the dough ball a little little longer so it can sit length wise in your bread pan.
- Place the dough into a lightly greased bread pan.
Let dough rise till it is a bit above the top of the bread pan (about double in size or 1.5 to 2 hours).
- Pre-heat the oven to 450 degrees.
- Place bread in the oven for 30 minutes.(if you have an instant read thermometer, the inside of the bread should reach at-least 190 degrees. If you don’t have an instant read thermometer, just leave it in for the full 30 minutes).
- Remove from oven and let it cool on a cooling rack or your counter top.
Note: This bread is best eaten fresh, and you’ll find that it will not last long either. The longer you store it, the softer the crust will get. When it is fresh, the crust will be thin and crunchy and the inside will be moist with great texture.
This recipe will make a large sized artisian, bread loaf or french bread that is amazingly great tasting. The crust is thin and crisp but the inside is moist with a great texture. This bread is great with pastas, butter, or as an appitizer bread. It will work as a sandwich bread but our White No-Knead Bread Loaf Recipe works better for sandwiches. This recipe if fun to add seasoning, like italian seasoning, to the dry ingredients to give it a new taste. I sometimes add some shedded parmesian cheese to the dry ingredients for a nice taste addition to the bread. It is so easy to make and with little time invested (unless you count the 12+ hours of rising). I believe anyone could make this no-knead bread with great results, without a kitchen mixer or special equipment.
Ingredients:
- 4 cups all-purpose flour or bread flour
- 1/2 teaspoon instant yeast
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 2 1/4 cups water
Instructions:
- Combine all the dry ingredients (flour, yeast, salt) in the large bowl and stir with spoon for about 15 seconds.
Add water to the bowl and stir for about 1 or 2 minutes (it won’t look that good but that doesn’t matter).
- Cover the top of the bowl loosely with plastic wrap.
- Let sit on counter top for about 12 to 16 hours (I ussually do this for about 13 hours), the dough will look all bubbly on the top when done rising.
- Generously sprinkle flour the top of your clean counter top or a cutting board (don’t worry about using too much flour, it won’t hurt it).
- Slowly pour the dough from the bowl on to the floured surface, using the silicone spatula to help it peal off the sides of the bowl.
- Sprinkle a little flour on top of the dough and rub your hands together with flour.
- With you hands, gently stretch the dough out to a rectangle shape.
- Follow instructions below for the cookware you will be using.
Bread Pan Instructions:
Roll up the dough from one end to the other.
- Place the dough into a lightly greased bread pan (seam side down).
- Let dough rise till it is a bit above the top of the bread pan (about double in size or 1 to 1.5 hours).
- Pre-heat the oven to 450 degrees.
- Place bread in the oven for 30 minutes.
- Remove from oven, dump bread out on a cooling rack or your counter top and allow it to cool.
- Enjoy!
Covered Bakeware Instructions:
Fold the left side half way over and then fold the right side over it.
- Fold the top to the bottom.
- lightly grease a 3 quart (or larger) bowl and sprinkle flour in it to lightly cover the sides and bottom of bowl.
- Place the dough into the lightly greased and floured bowl.
- Let dough rise till it is almost doubled in size (about 1 to 1.5 hours).
- Place empty bakeware in oven and turn oven to 450 degrees, to pre-heat bakeware for 15 minutes.
- Open oven, remove bakeware lid, pour dough from the bowl into bakeware, replace lid, and close oven.
- Let bread bake for 30 minutes, then open oven and remove bakeware lid and close oven.
- Let bread bake for another 15 minutes without the bakeware lid.
- Remove from oven, dump bread out on a cooling rack or your counter top and allow it to cool.
- Enjoy!
French Bread Pan Instructions:
- Cut the rectangle dough in half.
- Roll up each dough rectable from one end to the other.
- Stretch the dough to desired length and place on a lightly greased french bread pan (seam side down).
- Let dough rise till it is almost doubled in size (about 1 to 1.5 hours).
- Pre-heat the oven to 450 degrees.
- Place bread in the oven for 30 minutes.
- Remove from oven, slide the bread out onto a cooling rack or your counter top and allow it to cool.
- Enjoy!
Note: This bread is best eaten fresh, and you’ll find that it will not last long either. The longer you store it, the softer the crust will get. When it is fresh, the crust will be thin and crunchy and the inside will be moist with great texture. There is no need to store this bread in a bag, just slice a peice off and place the sliced side of the loaf face down on a clean surface. Storing this bread in a bag will make the crust go soft fast.
After seeing all the hype about No-Knead Bread, which all started from an article at the New York Times, I was very interested in trying it out. One of the big hypes about this bread was how easy it was to make wonderful tasting bread in little time. As I researched how to make No-Knead bread, I became a little disappointed because it required cooking equipment that are not common to most peoples kitchen. I had envisioned the No-Knead Bread as something that my little brother, who doesn’t cook, could even make in his college apartment. Every recipe and method I read talked about using cast iron dutch ovens, stoneware ovens, large Pyrex pans with a lid, weighing the Flour, and the list goes on and on….
I just wanted to give the No-Knead recipe a try, not make an investment in it. I finally found an awesome post “No-Knead Bread Hack: Making a Sandwich Loaf Instead” that gave me the way to just give this recipe a try. My first loaf turned out excellent. I made it at work, we have a kitchen there, and shared it with my co-workers and it disappeared quick. They couldn’t believe that the recipe was just flour, salt, yeast, and water. I found the recipe to be super simple, easy, and very forgiving. I have been making all kinds of experiments with this bread since then, YES I am addicted now.
I call this method of making this No-Knead bread the “Poor Man’s No-Knead Bread”. It is not as good as when you cook your No-Knead dough in a dutch oven or stoneware but it is still quite good, and you don’t have to buy extra kitchen equipment to try it. This recipe has been adapted from the original No-Knead Bread Recipe.
Ingredients:
- 3 cups all-purpose or bread flour
- 1/4 teaspoon instant yeast
- 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
- 1 3/4 cups water
Equipment needed:
- Very large bowl
- Wooden spoon or a strong mixing spoon
- 1/4 teaspoon
- Silicone Spatula
- Plastic wrap (saran wrap)
- Bread Pan (not to small, large preferred)
- Kitchen oven
- Cooking spray (Pam).
Instructions (photos are coming soon):
- Combine all the dry ingredients (flour, yeast, salt) in the large bowl and stir with spoon for about 15 seconds.
- Add water to the bowl and stir for about 1 or 2 minutes (it won’t look that good but that doesn’t matter).
- Cover the top of the bowl loosely with plastic wrap.
- Let sit on counter top for about 12 to 16 hours (I usually do this for about 13 hours), the dough will look all bubbly on the top when done rising.
- Generously sprinkle flour the top of your clean counter top or a cutting board (don’t worry about using to much flour, it won’t hurt it).
- Slowly pour the dough from the bowl on to the floured surface, using the silicone spatula to help it peal of the sides of the bowl.
- Sprinkle a little flour on top of the dough and rub your hands together with flour.
- With you hands, gently stretch the dough out to a rectangle shape.
- Fold the left side half way over and then fold the right side over it.
- Fold the top and bottom in a similar fashion.
- Stretch the dough ball a little little longer so it can sit length wise in your bread pan.
- Place the dough into a lightly greased bread pan.
- Let dough rise till it is a bit above the top of the bread pan (about double in size or 2 hours, whichever comes first).
- Pre-heat the oven to 450 degrees.
- Remove plastic wrap and put in the oven for 28 to 30 minutes.
(if you have an instant read thermometer, the inside of the bread should reach 190 degrees. If you don’t have an instant read thermometer, just leave it in for the full 30 minutes).- Remove from oven and let it cool on a cooling rack or your counter top.
Note: This bread is best eaten fresh, and you’ll find that it will not last long either. The longer you store it, the softer the crust will get. When it is fresh, the crust will be thin and crunchy and the inside will be moist and chewy.
Now that you have given it a try, if not a few tries, you can decide whether you want to buy a dutch oven or stoneware to make your No-Knead Bread even better. Have Fun and Eat Good!
