I’ve been making all of our bread for the past 15 months. I make No Knead bread. It’s extremely easy and very good. I just baked two loaves this morning. I start the dough the in the late afternoon the day before. Then the next morning I deflate the dough, turn it about 10-12 times on a floured board with a dough scraper, form it into loaves and let it rise for about 70 mins, and bake for 40 mins in a preheated 450 F oven (preheat for 35 mins so the oven is searing hot).
For One Loaf Use
4 cups flour
3/4 tsp. rapid rise yeast
1 1/4 tsp.salt
2 cups cold tap water
In a 4 qt. bowl whisk the flour yeast and salt together. With a silicone spatula form a trench around the edges, now pour the water into the trench and with the handle of a large wooden spoon stir the flour into the water at the sides to form a soft dough that is thoroughly mixed. The spoon handle acts like a dough hook. Scrape the sides of the bowl to form a rough ball of dough in the bowl, cover with plastic wrap and let it sit 8 to 16 hr.s before forming into a loaf place in a greased 9”X5” loaf pan and let rise 35 mins, then turn on the oven to 450 F and let it preheat for another 35 mins. Bake for 40 mins.
You can use all white flour ( I like unbleached white) or use any where from 1 to 2 cups of whole wheat flour with the white flour in the same proportions, 4 cups flour to 2 cups water. If you want to speed up the process you can use 130 degree tap water instead of cold and let it rise for about 3 hours or so the follow the rest of the steps. But I think the overnight rise gives a better flavor, almost like sourdough.
Bread made like this only costs about 75 cents a loaf. I have a West Bend Bread Slicing Guide and I slice the loaves when they are cool, wrap in plastic wrap and store in 2 gallon zip lock bags, one in the bread box for immediate use and the extra in the freezer. I make 2 loaves a week and use two bowls, one for each loaf, this way they are each exactly the same size, no need to drag out the kitchen scale to weigh the dough like I did before when I made the dough for both loaves in one large bowl.
I know this is a whole lot of 411, but if you follow these steps it’s really very, very easy and well worth the little time it takes.
Here’s one of the loaves I baked this morning, all sliced and ready to go. And a photo of all you need to make a quick tasty and easy loaf of bread and the bread slicing guide.
You can also use this same dough to make 1 doz crusty dinner rolls, bake for 25 mins on a parchment lined cookie sheet at 450 F with the same 35 min pre heat, and only let them rise for the time you preheat for 35 mins. They keep for up tp 6 days in a plastic bag, just reheat for 10 mins at 325 F and they taste fresh baked.
Eddie
