Simple No-Knead Bread

This is a fantastic & simple recipe. Build the dough one day, bake the next. Ten minutes of hands-on time! Your family will be begging for more.

Flour - salt - water - yeast.

Yield: One loaf

Ingredients:

• 3 cups bread flour

• 1/2 teaspoon active dry yeast or instant yeast

• 1 1/2 teaspoons Kosher or sea salt

• 1 1/2 to 1 3/4 cups water

Directions:

1. In a large bowl, combine flour, yeast and salt.

2. Add the water and stir until blended. The dough will be shaggy and sticky.

3. Cover bowl. Let the dough rest 12-24 hours at room temperature.

4. Dough is ready when the surface is dotted with bubbles.

5. Scrape the dough onto a lightly floured work surface.

6. Gently form the dough into a rectangle.  Fold the left & right sides in as you would do for a letter.  Repeat for the top & bottom.  Roll the dough over and cover for 15-20 minutes.

7. After the rest, gently form the dough into a rectangle again.  Fold the right and left sites in as before.  Starting at the bottom, roll up the dough, pinch closed the edges to form the dough ball.

8. Place the dough upside down (seam side up) in a lightly floured banneton or a colander with a lightly floured cloth.

9. Cover and let rise at room temperature for 2-3 hours.

10. When it is ready, dough will be more than double in size and will not readily spring back when poked with a finger.

Baking

1. Set the oven rack in the middle.

2. Cut a piece of parchment paper to fit in the bottom of the Dutch Oven.

3. Place the dough ball seam side down onto the parchment paper.

4. Score the top of the loaf.

5. Place the parchment and dough into the Dutch Oven.

6. Put the cover on the Dutch Oven then put it into a cold oven - set to 450 degrees Fahrenheit.

7. Cook covered for 50-55 minutes.

8. Carefully remove the cover and set aside. Cook uncovered for an additional 10-12 minutes.

9. Place the bread onto a cooling rack. Cool 30-45 minutes before cutting into it.

Check out this video from the Sourdough blog entry. The end-to-end procedure is almost the same.

Options

Option #1:

• Same salt, yeast and water as above

• 2 1/2 cups bread flour

• 1/4 cup wheat flour

• 1/4 cup 00 Italian flour

Option #2:

• Same salt, yeast and water as above (if using rolled oats, use 2 1/2 tsp salt)

• 1 Tbl ground flax

• 1 Tbl ground coffee (optional)

• 2 1/4 cups bread flour

• 1/4 cup wheat flour (dark or light)

• 1/4 cup rye flour

• 1/4 cup 00 Italian flour

• 1/4 cup rolled oats or rolled wheat berries, lightly dry-roasted in a pan

• 1 3/4 cup water (need more water to make up for the oats)

Option #3:

• Same salt, yeast and water as above

• 2 cups bread flour

• 1/2 cup all purpose flour

• 1/4 cup high gluten flour (like King Lancelot)

• 1/4 cup 00 Italian flour

• If you can't find 00 Italian flour, just replace it with another 1/4 cup of bread flour, or rye flour, or potato flour, or...

Notes:

High-altitude baking (above 5,000 feet): bake at 450 for 45 minutes. Remove the lid then cook for 5-6 minutes more