[Donna]

My husband came home with the Thursday NYTimes last week, which had an article about a bread recipe from Sullivan Street Bakery in NYC. It's a recipe that you don't knead - in fact you do very little to it at all and it comes out just great.

I sent the link to Rainey - knowing how that girl likes bread - and today she shared she's on her second loaf! And since her kitchen is DOWN, she's been cooking it on the bar-be-cue! She's the one who reminded me it would be a fun post on C&Z.

So here's the link. There is also a video on this link that explains step by step and you can see what it should look like as you go.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/08/dining/08mini.html?ex=1163739600&en=9f2d7b7a27ea7248&ei=5070

Sam just used the given recipe the first time. The next time he used a combo of whole grain, spelt, semolina & millet with coarse ground corn meal and oat bran for the top. It is delicious and the crust is as crrisp as a cracker! Sam's opinion is that if you use more whole grain with this recipe, you should increase the yeast a tad. What do you think Rainey?

Hope you will try it and enjoy it. Clotilde - here's a new use for that cocotte!
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L'appetit vient en mangeant. -Rabelais

[Rainey]

Actually, spelt and semolina have gluten so no need for additional yeast there. And if you stay in the 2-3 parts white flour (spelt & semolina included) to 1 part whole wheat the amount of yeast should be fine. OTOH, additional rise time might be needed and a lower loaf should be expected. No matter, I'll bet it was/is going to be delish!

If you've never baked your own bread before, now is the time. Jim Lahey says that a 4 year old could do this bread. OK, there's no way a 4yo would have a 20 hour attention span. But the mixing couldn't be easier. For my second one I even used my hand like Lahey does in the video. ....veeeeerrrrrryyyyyy 4yo.

Many people are finding that after they make their first loaf they want to increase the amount of salt in the second one.

Aside to Donna: When I was teaching pre-school I always did a unit where I brought bread dough into the classroom. There's something so wonderful about the feel of it and the kids loved handling it and loved getting their shapes baked. I gotta say after all that "love" that was some tough bread but, all in all, a very popular unit.
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God writes a lot of comedy... the trouble is, he's stuck with so many bad actors who don't know how to play funny. -- Garrison Keillor

[Rainey]

Well, lookee! SlashFood does a rundown this morning of what the concept is — with a lovely photo of what great results you can get with practically no effort — and links to many of the places where the blogosphere is on fire with this: http://www.slashfood.com/2006/11/16/no-knead-bread-takes-over-the-world/ How timely!
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God writes a lot of comedy... the trouble is, he's stuck with so many bad actors who don't know how to play funny. -- Garrison Keillor

[Debbie]

I am going to try this in my new kitchen next week!!!!!

First priority though is to make a roast dinner.... maybe I will need to make the bread to have leftover roast sandwiches the next day??!
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If you cannot feel your arteries hardening, eat more cheese. If you can, drink more red wine. Diet is just "die" with a "t" on the end. Exercise is walking into the kitchen.

[Rainey]

What a wonderful way to celebrate having a kitchen!

For lunch I just finished a slice of my walnut & green onion bread, buttered with shards of blue cheese. I had it with butternut squash & apple soup (from Costco if anyone is near one). Pretty freakin' awesome!

Wait 'til you see a shaggy, floppy mass of dough transformed into bread! I got the only crackling crust I've ever achieved in 30+ years of breadmaking!

Increase the salt and really rub flour into the towels before you place the dough on it.
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God writes a lot of comedy... the trouble is, he's stuck with so many bad actors who don't know how to play funny. -- Garrison Keillor

[Debbie]

Oooh, I am drooling Rainey.... the bread, cheese and soup sounds fabulous!

Thanks for the tips. Will check back on this thread before getting adventurous in a new kitchen with unfamiliar oven etc.
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If you cannot feel your arteries hardening, eat more cheese. If you can, drink more red wine. Diet is just "die" with a "t" on the end. Exercise is walking into the kitchen.

[srk]

I read the NY Times article last week and was drooling well before the end, but I have to ask: don't you miss the kneading? It's my favorite part of making bread (other than eating the product, of course!).

[birgit]

Here I've found a version of this bread with added sourdough, and this sounds veeeery good as well

[Rainey]

birgit- What fun! I love the automatic translation. And the the duck and chestnut stew looks soooo good. A perfect companion to fresh baked earthy bread.

As if that weren't enough, there's a pic of chestnuts in their husk. We used to have what we called a "horse" chestnut tree in our yard when I was a kid. I loved to open those hoary husks and find the perfectly smooth and shiny nuts inside. Two of 'em smooshed close together so one side was very round and one entirely flat. Some years later some disease hit the trees and took most if not all the chestnut trees out of the NE. But I have my happy memories and your nifty photo to remind me.

So, are you brewing some dough? Hope you'll tell us how it works for you. Meanwhile, isn't it amazing how fast this thing is making it's way around the world!?
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God writes a lot of comedy... the trouble is, he's stuck with so many bad actors who don't know how to play funny. -- Garrison Keillor

[carina]

I tried the bread this weekend and indeed: looks gorgeous! However, the taste was still that of bland white bread (expectations too high?) and the texture wasn't quite to my liking: way too rubbery, or maybe 'glutinous' is a better word. The airiness of the bread was lovely, but I like my crumb to honour its name and be at least a little crumbly and not go 'poing' when I pull at it.
We'll give the recipe another go with wholegrain, and if that's no good either I'll try an ordinary bread in the dutch oven. Because the crust was to die for!

[Rainey]

carina- Did you increase the salt? People are pretty universally finding that 2 teaspoons of salt works as well and tastes better. And many are throwing in at least some other grains and herbs as well.

Nevertheless, it shouldn't have been rubbery. Could it have been undercooked? Did you leave it uncovered for the final phase?

I think I'm going to put in carmelized onions and cooked wheatberries for my next loaf.
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God writes a lot of comedy... the trouble is, he's stuck with so many bad actors who don't know how to play funny. -- Garrison Keillor

[Barbara]

I started my first loaf last night, but 12 hours later it doesn't look much different. I thought the top was supposed to bubble.
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Barbara

[Donna]

Sam has made three loaves so far and not a rubbery bite in the bunch. His has a lovely crumb and of course the crust to die for!

I printed out the English translation of the German rye recipe - quite comical. I'm sure that we will have a batch of that soon, as Sam ADORES rye bread (He had a lovely Deutsche Oma). I adore having such a wonderful bread baker in the house!

Wheatberries sounds like a great addition Rainey. He was going to try onions & sunfower seeds, at my urging, but maybe I'll re-direct him!
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L'appetit vient en mangeant. -Rabelais

[carina]

Rainey - Possibly it was slightly undercooked, I took it out after 30 mins covered and 14-15 mins uncovered because the top was getting rather dark.
I read about the salt content so I did increase it.
Next time I'll try a wholemeal loaf, baked a little longer at a slightly lower temperature. Because boy of boy, that crust... devine!

I think it's time to start looking for a good sourdough starter somewhere around here. Good sourdough with a devine crust would go down a treat!

[Rainey]

Barbara- I've done it three time and not the same way or the same result yet. ...but all good. I must say, in my first 20 hour ferment I get some rise in the first half but the liquidey bubbles don't appear until the latter half (when I couldn't say because I try to start my bread around 5pm one day and shape and finish around noon the next day; the serious ferment seems to happen in those early hours when I'm asleep). As for the second rise, there's some in the 2 hours at room temp but the largest part of it seems to happen in the oven spring.

I got my roundest boule with the singing crust and huge, irregular crumb when I mixed the dough in my bread machine (avec kneading of the very wet dough) and the full amount of water. Of course, that was the loaf I burned on the BBQ.

I'm still experimenting with the optimum BBQ conditions and whether that machine knead makes a difference or not.

I have made mine primarily with white bread (hard wheat) flour but I've added from a couple tablespoons to 1/2 a cup of whole wheat flour plus 1 tablespoon each of semolina or fine cornmeal and rye. I don't know that that's enough to change the flavor particularly, but the keeping quality is excellent. We've had good bread for 3 days.
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God writes a lot of comedy... the trouble is, he's stuck with so many bad actors who don't know how to play funny. -- Garrison Keillor