The family that cooks together, part 2

No, we haven’t prepared the frittata yet, but I have done something which is probably a lot more fun! Begun baking no fuss, no muss, no kneading bread. The food editor for the New York Times published the recipe a few months ago and it has created quite a stir in the blogosphere. The Statesman published an article about it recently, so I gave it a try.

Now I’ve tried my hand at bread before. I turned out a couple of world-class Challa loaves several years back. A LOT of work. Then we inherited Mom and Pop’s bread machine and I have used it to produce a number of loaves. I suppose it is the epitome of no fuss, no muss; just dump a box of bread mix in, add yeast and water and turn that puppy on. But it’s not as much fun as knead-less bread and it certainly doesn’t have the character. We’re talking crunchy crust, soft-centered artisan bread here. It looks like a European-style boule, not something that came out of a coffee can.

The secret is to mix the ingredients, let it sit for 18 or more hours, and then bake it in a covered dish. Here’s The original NY Times article. The “related” reference on the left of the page is also interesting. Here’s a website that has step-by-step photos that explain it pretty well. My experience differs a little from the web site. I first used 1 5/8 cup of water (the amount called for in the original recipe) but it was pretty sloppy to work with and I saw others were using only 1 ½ cups of water. I tried that, but thought the mix too dry. I’m at slightly less than 1 5/8 cups of water now. Secondly, my mix has never bubbled like that in the photo! That’s scary! And I have used a towel – no problem if you flour it sufficiently. I bake my bread at 450 degrees in a covered enamel pan that we bought for this purpose. Some use the insert for a crock pot with a cookie sheet lid.

Perhaps my biggest problem with this bread is knowing when to start it. I finally figured out that I need to decide when I want the bread available for eating and back up one or two hours and start the process 24 hours prior to that time. Eighteen hours to rise, three and a quarter hours to fold and rest, another 45 minutes or so to bake and an hour to cool. So, if I want the bread cool for supper at six o’clock, I should start my preparations at five o’clock the previous day and plan that the last four or so hours before eating are when most of the activity takes place. However, I have read that the rising time is very flexible and some have gone 24 hours with no problems.

And then there is the problem of getting the dough plopped into the pan. Since the pan is already hot, if the bread lands unevenly – say halfway up the side of the pan – that’s where it stays to cook. The articles say don’t sweat it – it is artisan bread. It’s supposed to look hand-made. Hand-tossed may be a better description of some of my efforts.

Another minor issue has been keeping the bread fresh; it's a pound and a half loaf and we simply don't eat that much bread. A Zip-Loc bag is definately a no-no; if you stand it on the cut edge like the web site article says then it really needs to be covered well. I'm trying the paper bag solution now; maybe I'll try freezing part of it. The best solution may be to eat it fast, while it's fresh. Bon Apetite!