Our Weekly Bread

You're probably going to tell me that I'm late to the party. Everyone tested and blogged about it ages ago, but I'm just talking about it now. Over the summer I tried the no-knead bread recipe popularized in the New York Times and created by the Sullivan Street Bakery. I've used the Times recipe and two variations, one from Williams-Sonoma and one from Cook's Illustrated. I've finally settled on my own and have been using it as our weekly loaf. I must say, even when its a little mishapen I do feel proud having baked a nicely browned, crusty loaf. Yes, I do understand this has nothing to do with my bread-baking talent and I probably won't be starting a boulangerie anytime soon, but the reward is still the same. Like most bread, it does require some advance planning, but there's only a few hours that you have to be around the house doing other things, as long as you check in on your dough from time to time. We eat this all the time as toast in the morning, for sandwiches at lunch, and when its lost its spring, as croutons for soup and salad.

Rosemary No-Knead Bread

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 cup whole wheat bread flour

1/4 teaspon active yeast

2 teaspoons kosher salt

2 teaspoons minced fresh rosemary

1 1/3 cup water

1 tablespoon olive oil

Stir the flours together with the yeast, salt and rosemary in a large bowl

Add the water and olive oil and stir to combine

Cover with plastic wrap and let rest for 12-18 hours in a warm place

Dump the dough out onto a floured counter and save the plastic wrap

With as little flour as possible, knead 10 times

Shape the dough into a ball

Line a 8" skillet with parchment paper and add the dough

Lightly flour the top and cover with the plastic wrap

Let the dough proof for 2 hours or until doubled in size

One hour before baking, preheat the oven to 500 degrees

Thirty minutes before baking, place a dutch oven with cover in the oven to preheat

Score the top of the dough

When the dough has finished proofing, take the dutch oven out of the oven and remove the cover

Using the parchment as handles, drop the dough into the dutch oven and cover

Place the dutch oven in the oven and reduce the heat to 425 degrees

Bake with the lid on for 30 minutes

Remove the cover and bake for about 15 minutes more

Remove from oven and transfer from parchment to a cooling rack

Rye No-Knead Bread

Substitute 1 cup of rye flour for the wheat flour and reduce the all-purpose by 1/4 cup
Increase the water to 1/2 cups
Add 1 1/2 tablespoons caraway seeds and omit the rosemary and olive oil