Bread for Beginners

By Hklbrries

Recipes in collection associated with this article: Jim Lahey’s No-Work Bread;Almost No-Knead Bread

Ingredients

• Meanwhile, here are a few observations on the original recipe’s components and techniques:
• Do you love the idea of baking homemade bread, but lack the actual – what’s the word I’m looking for? Talent? Baking skills? Competence?
• Yeah, me, too. Which is why No-Work Bread (aka No-Knead Bread) has been such a godsend.
• All you do is mix four ingredients in a bowl, wait a day, plop the dough into a Dutch oven or any covered pot, and out comes a gorgeous golden loaf of rustic artisan-style bread.
• to the bread is excellent: Crusty on the outside, airy on the inside and loaded with yeasty flavor. It’s not quite to the level of an artisanal bakery, but much closer than you would think.
• 10th to was far wetter and stickier than a standard dough. “You couldn’t knead this dough if you wanted to,” Bittman pointed out in the 10th anniversary edition of his classic cookbook, “How to Cook Everything.”
• That extra moisture not only created steam, but it gave the yeast extra oomph.
• The result is a beautifully risen loaf with plenty of interior hollows and cavities.
• The flour: All-purpose white flour works perfectly well, but bread flour (a bit higher in protein) makes a slightly airier loaf.
• 50 whole-wheat bread, simply substitute one or two cups of whole wheat flour for the same amount of white flour. Don’t exceed a 50 percent whole wheat-to-white ratio, or your loaf will turn out heavy and dense.
• to 100 want to make 100 percent whole-wheat bread, you should use a recipe specifically designed for that; in other words, something other than No-Work Bread.
• The yeast: Either instant or rapid-rise yeast works well. The Saf-Instant brand of instant yeast, sold in one-pound bricks at area supermarkets, is excellent and will last, refrigerated, for dozens and dozens of loaves.
• tablespoon A tablespoon of vinegar also adds some tart flavor.
• to Cook’s Illustrated recipe, below, has an elaborate solution to the dough-plopping problem – although I remain unconvinced it’s an actual problem
• The container: A covered Dutch oven is the perfect environment – but so is just about any metal, ceramic or stoneware pot, as long as it has a tight-fitting lid.
• Try an oblong roasting pan if you want more uniform slices. An aluminum fish-poacher, which I found at a garage sale, simulates a baguette shape.
• By the way, the heaviness of the pan makes surprisingly little difference. A thin, cheap roasting pan makes bread just as beautifully as heavy cast-iron.
• 30 20 to 30 to minutes, with the lid on, is not negotiable. But the second part of the baking, lid off, can vary from 20 to 30 minutes depending on how dark and crusty you want your bread to be.
• to the way, the finished bread will not stick to the pot, any pot. It will slip right out.
• Don’t try slicing it right away, because it’ll still be too moist. You’ll just smoosh it.

Details

Adapted from spokesman.com

Preparation

Step 1

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