I love homemade bread slathered in real butter so thick you leave teeth marks in it. I can remember as a little girl visiting my aunt's house after an all-day bread baking marathon. The kitchen counters were crowded with bread loaves, dinner rolls, and buns of all sizes. This was back when you weren't shunned for eating white bread instead of whole grain. Her cloverleaf dinner rolls were my favorite, because you could pull them into three parts and butter each section. One of those with a bowl of her rabbit stew...yes, please!
You may have seen a few no-knead bread recipes floating around online. I believe the rage started when the New York Times published a recipe in 2006. I tried a different version of the recipe a few times, and while the results were good, I wasn't blown away. The recipes I tried either used the wrong flour, too much salt, or called for overly complicated and unnecessary steps. Recently, I decided to try again with a few tweaks, and the results are outstanding! I haven't purchased bread from the store in over two weeks. You really must try this recipe.
Overnight No-Knead Bread
3 cups unbleached white bread flour*
1/2 tsp active dry yeast
1 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups cold water (yes, cold)**
* I strongly recommend King Arthur Unbleached White Bread Flour. Bread flour makes all the difference here. If you can't get King Arthur, try another unbleached bread flour. I've tried white wheat, and the resulting bread was gummier and less flavorful. I also tried whole grain spelt on a lark, and well, don't ask. I might experiment with a mixture of white wheat and bread flour, but for your first loaf, I suggest all unbleached white bread flour, so you can see what this bread is capable of. It's okay; you have my permission to eat white bread.
**I always use water at the temperature of cold tap water rather than refrigerated water (from, say, a Brita pitcher), so I can't attest to the results of super duper cold water, though it may be fine. If you want filtered water, I'd either use freshly filtered or let refrigerated water warm up a tad. Again, it may not matter.
Here's what you do:
1. Mix the ingredients together with a fork in a large bowl at night before you go to bed. You'll have a shaggy dough that looks like this:
2. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and then a clean dish towel (I also lay a pan or cutting board on top to help lock in warmth and to make sure our cat Chloe doesn't get any wise ideas). Just set it on the counter, and go to bed.
1. Mix the ingredients together with a fork in a large bowl at night before you go to bed. You'll have a shaggy dough that looks like this:
2. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and then a clean dish towel (I also lay a pan or cutting board on top to help lock in warmth and to make sure our cat Chloe doesn't get any wise ideas). Just set it on the counter, and go to bed.
The next day (usually about 12 hours later for me), you'll be met with a beautiful, bubbly dough that's risen considerably, like this:
3. Dump the dough out (using your hand to gently loosen the dough from the bowl as needed) onto a well-floured cutting board or pan (something you can carry over to the oven later), and fold the dough over on itself a few times to form a ball.
4. Cover the dough with your plastic wrap and dish towel again, and let the dough rest for at least 30 minutes, but preferably 45 or so minutes. I find the longer resting time gives me a slightly bigger loaf. However, it won't rise much during this time. That's okay; it's resting. Relax.
5. Meanwhile, get your baking vessel out. Now, here's the important part: You will be preheating the dish in a very hot oven; you must use a dish with a lid that can withstand 450 degrees. I don't have a proper dutch oven. In fact, I cracked the bottoms of two dishes trying similar recipes before I realized I had the perfect pot, one that my brother-in-law had gifted us. It's a hard-anodized stock pot that looks similar to this one.The lid is glass, so I'm afraid to use it in the oven, but no matter, because a regular old baking sheet makes a perfect lid.
6. Preheat your bread pot with lid in a 450 degree oven.
7. Once your bread has finished resting, your oven is fully preheated, and your baking vessel hot, carefully dump the dough into the hot pot (coax it off the cutting board/pan with your hand), and put the lid back on.
8. Set your timer for 30 minutes exactly. Don't open the oven fretting about whether the bread is rising or browning. It is. It'll be gorgeous.
9. When 30 minutes have elapsed, carefully remove the hot pot from the oven, and dump the bread out onto a cooling rack.
The finished loaf will have a lovely shape and fantastic crust.
Let it cool before slicing. I've found the bread is much easier to slice thinly for sandwiches the next day (if it lasts that long!), and it refrigerates beautifully. Look at the gorgeous air holes in the sliced bread, big enough but not too big:
Though it's hard to beat homemade bread with plain butter, I suggest making a little herb butter to serve with this bread. I usually use dried herbs, because I always have those on hand. But you could use fresh herbs, just increase the amounts from 1/2 tsp to 1 tbsp or so.
Herb Butter
1 stick real butter, softened
1/3-1/2 clove garlic plus pinch of salt
1/2 tsp dried dill
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp dried basil
1. Depending on the size of your garlic clove, use 1/3 to 1/2 of the clove (we want a subtle garlic flavor; we're not making garlic bread). Crush or finely chop garlic onto a cutting board. Sprinkle with a little salt (a coarse salt works well). Then, with the back of a spoon, mash the salt into the garlic until you have a smooth paste. The paste will have a more mellow garlic flavor than straight garlic.
2. Add garlic paste and other herbs to your butter and mix well. Let flavors meld a few hours before serving. It's perfectly fine to refrigerate and pull out to re-soften later.
Enjoy!
Have you tried the bread? Let me know what you think.
3. Dump the dough out (using your hand to gently loosen the dough from the bowl as needed) onto a well-floured cutting board or pan (something you can carry over to the oven later), and fold the dough over on itself a few times to form a ball.
4. Cover the dough with your plastic wrap and dish towel again, and let the dough rest for at least 30 minutes, but preferably 45 or so minutes. I find the longer resting time gives me a slightly bigger loaf. However, it won't rise much during this time. That's okay; it's resting. Relax.
5. Meanwhile, get your baking vessel out. Now, here's the important part: You will be preheating the dish in a very hot oven; you must use a dish with a lid that can withstand 450 degrees. I don't have a proper dutch oven. In fact, I cracked the bottoms of two dishes trying similar recipes before I realized I had the perfect pot, one that my brother-in-law had gifted us. It's a hard-anodized stock pot that looks similar to this one.The lid is glass, so I'm afraid to use it in the oven, but no matter, because a regular old baking sheet makes a perfect lid.
6. Preheat your bread pot with lid in a 450 degree oven.
7. Once your bread has finished resting, your oven is fully preheated, and your baking vessel hot, carefully dump the dough into the hot pot (coax it off the cutting board/pan with your hand), and put the lid back on.
8. Set your timer for 30 minutes exactly. Don't open the oven fretting about whether the bread is rising or browning. It is. It'll be gorgeous.
9. When 30 minutes have elapsed, carefully remove the hot pot from the oven, and dump the bread out onto a cooling rack.
The finished loaf will have a lovely shape and fantastic crust.
Let it cool before slicing. I've found the bread is much easier to slice thinly for sandwiches the next day (if it lasts that long!), and it refrigerates beautifully. Look at the gorgeous air holes in the sliced bread, big enough but not too big:
Though it's hard to beat homemade bread with plain butter, I suggest making a little herb butter to serve with this bread. I usually use dried herbs, because I always have those on hand. But you could use fresh herbs, just increase the amounts from 1/2 tsp to 1 tbsp or so.
Herb Butter
1 stick real butter, softened
1/3-1/2 clove garlic plus pinch of salt
1/2 tsp dried dill
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp dried basil
1. Depending on the size of your garlic clove, use 1/3 to 1/2 of the clove (we want a subtle garlic flavor; we're not making garlic bread). Crush or finely chop garlic onto a cutting board. Sprinkle with a little salt (a coarse salt works well). Then, with the back of a spoon, mash the salt into the garlic until you have a smooth paste. The paste will have a more mellow garlic flavor than straight garlic.
2. Add garlic paste and other herbs to your butter and mix well. Let flavors meld a few hours before serving. It's perfectly fine to refrigerate and pull out to re-soften later.
Enjoy!
Have you tried the bread? Let me know what you think.
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