No-Knead Bread Tutorial in Pictures and Video

Adapted from Mark Bittman, NYTimes, who adapted it from Jim Lahey, Sullivan Street Bakery.

Update 2008-10-07: I modified this recipe again, so it takes less time and tastes better. Here.

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I like plain white crusty bread, with a light, not too thick, crust that breaks easily. I want the crust to be browned, darker than golden, but still light and flaky, not too chewy. I don’t like the crumb to be too moist. However, even if it’s not just the way I like it, I still eat it all, and it tastes fine. It’s just not what I had intended. The recipe below is about half of the original recipe. It produces one loaf that I usually consume within a 24-hour period. And it fits nicely into a square 1.5 L casserole dish.

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Ingredients: flour, yeast, salt, water

Equipment:

Vessel with lid that can be put in oven at 450F

Plastic container with lid

dry measuring cups

I don’t have a scale, so since everything is approximate, I use dry measuring cups for ‘measuring’ water. Don’t use too much yeast.

Step 1: Mix together flour (about 1.8 cups), salt (about 3/4 tsp),

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and just a bit of yeast, about 1/32 of a tsp, or something like below (note for scale: that’s a teaspoon):

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Add water (about 3/4 cup, more or less– just add enough to incorporate all the flour, you don’t want a wet mess, but it will still taste okay if you add too much water. I just prefer it to be a bit drier.)

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Scrape and push everything together with a spoon until there are no dry spots.

Add a bit of water, if necessary, just to incorporate all the flour.

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Step 2: Cover with lid. Let sit overnight.

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Step 3: Next day, about 12 hours later, look at dough. Should see some holes, but it’s not quite done yet. You could start the second rise now, but I think it tastes better if you wait a bit longer. Cover with lid and let sit for a few more hours until the top is more watery.

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A few hours later, it’s ready for folding:

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Step 4: Turn onto floured surface to fold

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Folding video: Fold over in thirds, press out the air, quarter turn and repeat, keeping the seam on the top, until you get a nice ball.

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It should look something like this:

Then put it back in the plastic container.

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Step 5: Cover and let it rise for a few hours, at least two, but up to six or so is okay. Four hours is nice.

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After 4 hours:

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I forgot to take a still overhead shot, so here’s a short video clip.

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Step 6: Bake

I meant to videotape the process of getting the dough into the the pot, but it was on still mode. At this point, preheat the oven, with your baking vessel and lid inside the oven, for about 30 minutes at 450F. Then dump the dough into the pot, cover and bake for about 22 minutes. Check out the colour of the bread to gauge how much longer it needs to bake. I usually turn the bread over so the bottom doesn’t burn and also to get a bit more colour on the top. If it’s almost done, I turn the oven off and let it sit in there, inverted, for 5-10 minutes. If it’s a bit pale, keep the oven on for another 5 minutes or so and then turn the oven off and leave it in there for a bit. Then let it cool for about an hour or so before eating with butter. Lots of butter.

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The crumb: