No Knead Bread

this weekend i made the no knead bread! many food blogs and craft blogs mentioned it lately, and initially the recipe appeared in the new york times i think.

this is it here, yesterday morning


I used 3 cups of flour, 1.5 tsp salt, 0.25 tsp dry yeast and 1.5 cups of water. i now think that i probably should have used a little more water.

this is what it looked like this morning, about 22 hours later (this is probably a little too long, i read that if you want to let it rise for more than 18 hours you have to knock it down, i.e. stir it at some point in between, i suppose between 12 and 18 hours before you want to bake it. the aresrocket poster makes the dough the evening before, knocks it down in the morning and then bakes it in the evening.)

you then turn it out on the the floured surface


after you shape the dough into a ball it is to be covered loosely with cling film and left to rest for 15 min


i 'generously dusted' a tea towel (or you could use baking paper) with weat germ and flour



and placed the dough ball on top, then covered it with more flour and weat germ. i may have been a little too generous with the flour here! but apparently the dough is supposed to be more sticky, so in that case you'd need lots of flour so it doesn't stick to the towel.


about 3 hours later...

it's supposed to double in size in about 2-3 hours, mine didn't quite do that, but its only my first attempt...

you drop it into a hot dish (you pop the dish into the oven while it preheats to about 220C


the bread bakes with the lid on for 30 minutes, then you CAREFULLY remove the lid and bake it for another 20 minutes, and: ta-daa!

doesn't it look lovely!

this is the bread cut, you have to wait for an hour before doing this, pure agony!


other peoples breads had much bigger bubbles, but i think it has to be more liquid dough for that, and maybe you have to stick to the rising times?

we tried it with mirabell jam, and alternatively with olive oil and salt, and it's just delicious! yes, it could be airier, and maybe i'd use less salt the next time, but the crust is perfect! it's very much like the bread you get in some italian restaurants.

the website has everything step by step, with photos and scientific facts! i love scientific explanations about cooking, i find it so much easier to 'obey' and remember instructions if i know WHY i am supposed to do it that way. i'm not so good with instructions but reasoning works for me.