Skip to main content

Never Knead Again






Yep, it's possible.
Last year, I was fascinated by a bread making technique that had made the rounds of the Internet that claimed "no kneading". I have weak hands, scrawny fore arms, and actually purchased a bread machine years ago because I have never been able to "knead" properly. I was truly ashamed of my no-knead-ability. That "recipe" was a hit at our house! Essentially you mixed together water, yeast, salt and flour until "shaggy", and then let it ferment for 24 hours or so (room-temperature) before dumping it in a pre-heated cast-iron dutch oven and baking it. Yurmm! But, eventually, we quit pre-preparing the dough on a daily basis. Another month or so and we were back to purchasing our "pain quotidien".

Recently, I found a copy of "Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day" - and we are giving daily baking a new whirl. The cookbook's assortment of recipes is ..... you can find these bread-shaping ideas and ingredient lists in lots and lots of places. The technique also needed a bit of tweeking for me to include on a relatively regular basis in our home. However, it reminded me that kneading is an option in bread making!!

Here's how I'm baking these days:
  • in a 4.5 qt mixing bowl (or just a big bowl! you can stir this together by hand!!) place 3 c. warm (100 degrees or so "blood-warm") water, 1 1/2 TBS yeast (1 +1/2 package), and 1 1/2 TBS salt.
  • in another bowl, mix/stir gently -just fluff it up a bit!- 6 1/2 C. flour - I use whole wheat, never white (blech! if you are going to eat carbs, at least get some vitamins with them!!) And in today's batch, I substituted 1 1/2c. coarse ground corn meal for the equivalent flour because it sounded good :)
  • Using the dough hook, or a nice sturdy long handled spoon, mix the flour into the water mixture. Not too much, just so there's no big gobs of unincorporated flour.
  • Cover the resulting (wet and shaggy looking) dough, in it's bowl, with a tea towel and leave it alone for a couple of hours. It will rise up a bit. When it's risen (Hallelujah!), take about 1/4 of it, shape into a slightly flattened ball and bake. If you want, you can cover and refrigerate the dough at this point, then come back waaaaay later (up to 10 days later!) to
  • whack off about 1/4 of the dough. Quickly shape it into a slightly flattened ball, place on a flour-dusted towel or counter top, and let it warm to temperature and rise a bit.
  • Pre-heat a cast iron or oven-proof casserole dish that you have a cover for, in a 400 degree oven (15 minutes or so). No need to grease or oil the pot.
  • Plop your ball-ish dough into the heated pot. Slash the dough if you feel artsy. Or not, if you are more of a Plain-Jane Baker. Cover the pot. Close the oven door. Set the timer for 30 minutes. At 30 minutes, remove the lid and continue baking another 15 minutes or so.
  • Take the pot from the oven, turn the (nicely browned and beautifully aromatic) bread our onto a rack or towel to cool.
  • Remember that warm bread tastes best with cultured butter - and slices best if it's been cooled.
The remainder of the dough will happily continue to ferment all week long, and make another 3 loaves or so. The more "mature" the dough, the better the sourdough flavor! See? This recipe is more convenient because you make a large batch to use all week. Add the hot-pot baking technique from the earlier recipe, and you've got great bread, in 5 minutes most days :)

Sorry there's no picture of the bread.I didn't remember to grab the camera before dinner, so the Broa Bread (cornmeal yeasted Portuguese Bread) is nicely nestled in our tummies.......
Edited 11-29-08 to add: picture of loaf #3 of this batch of dough :)

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Patacones!!

PATACONES   -made with green plantains - if they have gotten yellow & spotty, they will not stand up to this treatment! Heat about an inch depth grapeseed or peanut oil in a deep skillet. Slice 4-5 green plantains into about 1 1/2" chunks, and then remove the peel. Fry the plantain chunks until lightly golden, drain on paper towels. When a bit cooler, take a heavy pot and squash the plantains  flat (they look like "large paws" - patacones -) and dip them (do not soak them!) into a bowl of salted water  (about 2c. water and a tbs. or so of sea salt) then carefully place them in the hot oil and fry again until crispy brown! Top patacones with guacamole and fresh salsa, or a garlic/mayonaise combination- they are a great alternative to chips and crackers. Best when eaten hot!!

Medicare for All should be our goal

" Under the greatest adversity there exists the greatest potential for doing good, both for oneself and others ." ~Dalai Lama And one of Montana's Methodist Ministers, Joan Uda, wrote an editorial for the Great Falls Tribune this week, asking essentially, What would God think of this? Here's a small excerpt: I'm startled by the frenzied opposition to health care reform. Are these good people Christians? Do they recall that Jesus will judge us not by how well we've kept our earnings for ourselves but by how we have cared for "the least of these"? Matthew 25:31-46. This is a matter of salvation. I don't believe God supports any particular solution for health care. But I do believe God wants everyone, even the least, included. And I believe Jesus Christ calls us to display our best Christian virtues in the debate on these issues. Here's George Lakoff's perspective on how language influences the discussion on Health Care policies this seas

My Precious Pikle-It

Now that we have finished running about between Missoula and Portland like bees buzzing between flowers, I can tell you all about my favorite kitchen "gadget" this year..... the Pickl-It from the wonderful People at Pickl-It . I got a set for myself and  my sister-in-law, - since we both are fermenting fiends. A few years ago, I had gotten a Harsch Gairtopf crock (see earlier posts regarding sauerkraut making) because I was tired of skimming my 'kraut. Essentially, I love kitchen science, but I'm even more enamored of  accomplishing kitchen crafts with less oversight! The Harsch crock has a wonderful "burping lid" water lock system that allows you to leave your crock unattended for several days at a time while the fermentation beasties work in a safe environment. My Harsch crock is in almost constant use, and I would never give it up. But there were still times when I wanted something smaller....for those tiny baby carrots, or the 3 small heads of gard