Trying Out No Knead Bread (All Things Alicia)

I love making bread. I wish I could eat more of it, but the carbs mess with my blood sugar. I end up baking it because I love to, and then giving it away to friends.

I grew up helping my mom make bread. I have no problem kneading bread, it's kind of enjoyable. So why try no knead bread? It's been around for a while and never really peaked my interest. That is until I watched Mrs. WranglerStar make some bread and I really wanted to try it.

Here's her video, or you can click on the sentence above to go to YouTube and watch it.

What most attracted me to this, besides its simplicity, was how it can just be there. With regular knead bread you have to pretty well time the rising and make sure you're available to deal with it. But with the no knead bread, with its far longer rising "window", I could make it fit more into my schedule. I don't need to make sure I'm in the kitchen two hours from now, and then another hour later, to deal with the dough. I just mix it, sit it out, and then I have a whole window the next day during which I can deal with it.

I started with a recipe from a cookbook on Amazon (not a Mrs Wrangler Star). I wanted to try a whole wheat one first and Mrs. WranglerStar's isn't whole wheat (although I'm pretty sure I could mess with the recipe a bit). The other one I tried was so-so. It wasn't bad, it was totally edible, it just wasn't very inspiring, kind of bland. I should have just started with hers. ;)

So I decided to give Mrs. WranglerStar's recipe a try.

Her recipe:

3 C flour (all purpose or bread flour)

1/4 tsp yeast

1 & 1/4 tsp salt

1 5/8 C water

You make the dough (put it in a bowl and stir with a wooden spoon) and let it sit forever. (15-20 hours). Then add enough flour to make it less sticky and sit for another 2 hours. Preheat the pot with the oven at 450. Then put it in the hot pot (dutch ovens are great) in the oven (450 degree) covered for about 30 min.

Uncover, then finish baking it until you like the color, about 15 minutes more makes a nice brown. I did 8 extra instead of 15 on this one and got a lighter brown. I wouldn't go less than 8 because it wouldn't be cooked through. It makes a crusty, chewy and delicious artisan bread and your whole home will smell like it.