No Knead Breads

Due to a recent lack of time I've taken to trying some no knead breads this week.  The concept for this is pretty simple: bread that you don't knead.  The point of kneading the dough is to activate the gluten in the flour.  This acts as a binding agent (like eggs in a cake) allowing the bread to hold together during baking.  No knead bread's gluten develops over time.  One benefit, aside from not needing to knead, is as the dough takes its time rising and fermenting, a great deal of flavor gets to develop.  The downside is that this does take a great deal of time; upwards of 24 hours.

The recipe I followed is similar to a basic bread recipe:

3 cups flour
1 1/2 cups water
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp instant yeast

As the dough ferments and rises the yeast will multiply, this is why only 1/4 tsp is needed.

First mix all four ingredients in a large bowl.  I preferred to do this by hand so I didn't need to clean the mixer!  After the ingredients are combined it will be a thick sticky mess:

 

After all of the ingredients are combined, cover it and let it rest 12-20 hours.  Doing this right before bed or when you wake up if you want some fresh bread with dinner the next day is the perfect. When it is done fermenting it should be very bubbly:

Here comes the tricky part.  Since this bread is very wet, 50% hydration, it is going to be a lot harder to handle and form.  Make sure you are very careful not to work the bubbles out of the dough.  Using a wet or oiled spatula, pour the dough onto a heavily floured surface.  Using wet hands shape the dough into a boule tucking the sides under the bottom.  Make sure that the dough is completely covered in flour as well.  Next, place the boule on a floured cloth (NOT A TERRY CLOTH!) and place it in a bowl.  

  

As you can see, this cloth is not floured nearly enough.  I ended up losing some dough to it being stuck on the bottom.  Cover the top and let this rest for 2 hours. 30 minutes before the 2 hours are up, preheat the oven to 450 degrees F.  At the same time, place a dutch oven (cast iron or ceramic is fine) in as well to let it heat up.  After the dough has risen, carefully take the dutch oven out of the oven.  Pick the dough up by the cloth and dump it right in there.  Don't worry about how it lands.  As soon as the dough is in the oven put the lid on and slide it back in the oven.  Bake it with the lid on for 30 minutes.  Then remove the lid and let it bake for another 20-30 or until the internal temperature reaches 210 degrees F.  When its done remove it from the oven and allow it to cool for an hour before you cut it.  The crust should be very chewy and the crumb will be full of large holes and moist.

My first attempt failed miserably.  For some reason I baked it for the minutes at 350 instead of 450.  I tried to make up for it but it did not work out well at all.  I also had a lot of problems handling it because of how wet the dough is.  It wound up in the trash quickly.

First attempt:

My second attempt the next day was MUCH better!  So far it has been my best one yet.

Tonight's was a little flat, it didn't have a lot of oven spring.  Oh well, it turned out fantastic anyway!  I will be posting the soup recipe I'm eating with this soon!