No-knead Bread

This is a fantastic approach to making bread that does not require any kneading!



Allowed to ferment over 18 hrs, the flavor became intense and rich, unlike the traditional oven-baked bread.

You need cast iron pots to bake the bread and a 500° C oven temperature. The pots must be placed in the oven to get very hot before you put in the dough. Cover, bake for 30 min, then open the lid and bake for a further 15-20 min to develop color and caramelization of the crust.

The dough recipe called for 3 cups AP Flour:

3 cups all-purpose or bread flour, more for dusting
¼ teaspoon instant yeast
1¼ teaspoons salt
1 5/8 cups water




For my first no-knead bread attempt I decided to make half of it i.e. 1.5 cups AP Flour-Wheat Flour-Rolled Oats mix.

I used 1/2 cup rolled oat, 1/2 cup Pillsbury's Whole Grain wheat four containing bran, germ, endosperm, bought from an Indian provision store called Chakri Fresh Atta. Added 3/4 cup cold water, 1/4 t instant yeast (same amount as for 3 cups), slightly >1/2 t salt.

UPDATE: 11 pm 31-Oct-2011. After the no-knead dough has sat and matured for 18 hr (7pm), then allowed to sit 2 add'l hrs inside a towel cloth sprinkled with rolled oats. When I took the risen unbaked dough out of the enclosed oven where it had been allowed to ferment, my dear wife exclaimed: "Hey, what did you do? Where does the deep wonderful aroma come from? Where? Where?"

She was astonished it came from the dough. So was I! We have never never before smelled such deeply aromatic bread. Now we can't wait to see how the dough will bake and turn out, 30 min at 500° C (I set my oven to MAX, took 30min) then open the metal lid and bake for a further 15 min or longer. Don't know if I should vary the time from 30min to say 25min as I used half the 3 cups of flour. Well, we'll wait and see.

In sum, I tell you - you need to smell the deep strong fragrance emanating from the as-yet-unbaked dough yourself! Then you'll flip too! It's that astounding!

Try it - try it - or die-die!! Wow !!!

UPDATE: 24-Apr-12. Made another batch, this time strictly adhering to Jim Lahey's recipe. After 24-hrs the aroma that pervaded the kitchen the last time was noticeably adsent! So I waited another 24-hrs. Still no special aroma. Ah-ha, maybe the heady aroma that developed previously was due to my mix formula - oats, wheat with bran and plain flour? So I mixed 6 TBL oats and 6 TBL Pillsbury's Whole Grain wheat four containing bran, germ, endosperm as per last time to the fermenting dough. As the fermenting dough was already pretty fluid and liquidy I decided not to add any new warm water. We'll wait another 24-36 hrs and see if any special aroma developed!

Watch the Vid: Jim Lahey's no-knead Bread!