No Knead Bread (with a Secret Ingredient)

No Knead Bread was probably the most over-posted food blog carbohydrate of the last five years.  I first stumbled upon it in Smitten Kitchen, but then I saw it plopping out of bowls and into ovens all across the internet.  And it’s obvious why: three ingredients, 20 hours, and a covered pot later, you have a tearable hunk of airy, cornmeal-dusted bread.  And the slow rise gives the yeast time to really party down–by the time you’re ready to bake the dough your entire kitchen smells like beer.

Last winter, when I was still living by myself, I had a problem.  I didn’t want to pay for the gas to heat my apartment (while Ari is much thriftier overall, I can be a cheap b****** in some pretty impractical ways).  I woke up with a brain freeze a couple of times before buying a space heater and spending most of January and February in the fetal position.  As this was not a pampering environment for budding bread yeast, I took to sleeping with my bowl of dough at night to keep it warm until it had risen enough to bake.  A year later, this method has never failed me.

So there you have it: the secret ingredient is love.  Or maybe just a one-night stand.

Ingredients (taken from Smitten Kitchen or any number of blogs)

• 3 cups flour

• 1/4 tsp instant yeast (use 2/3 more and bloom if you’re using rapid rise yeast)

• 1 1/4 tsp salt

• 1 5/8 cup lukewarm water

Mix the first three ingredients thoroughly in a bowl (use a larger one than you think).  Add the water, mix thoroughly to form a paste, and then cover with plastic wrap.  Let sit in a warm place anywhere from half a day to 20 hours.  Romancing the dough is optional, but the ambient temperature around the bowl should be 70F.  Don’t think you can just set the dough in front of your space heater, because it will dry out.

Cover a work surface with flour, empty the bowl onto it, and let rise with plastic wrap on top for 15 minutes.  Sprinkle a clean towel generously with flour or cornmeal (cornmeal has a really nice effect), and then gently ball up the dough and transfer it to the towel.  Fold one end of the towel over the dough and let rise another 2 hours.  Preheat your oven to 450F and put a casserole dish into the oven as it heats.  When heated, carefully transfer the dough from the towel to the dish and cover.  Let bake for 20 minutes (the bread should look fully formed) then uncover and let bake for another 5-10 minutes (the bread should look golden).  Cool on a rack.

Fig 1: Dough in bowl (there should be more bubbles than this, this dough had to be proofed more)

Fig 2: Dough during 15 min rise under plastic wrap

Fig 3: Dough after cornmeal but before the 2-hour final rise

Fig 4: Testing the dough for spring-back before baking

Fig 5: Dough in the oven. Don't forget to put the cover on for the first 30 min!

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