No Knead – Page 2

Week 75: Farmhouse Sourdough

August 13, 2021March 1, 2022Leave a comment

My oh my, I don’t think a bread can get much better than this! I adapted it from Ken Forkish’s Pain au Bacon recipe in Flour, Water, Salt, Yeast, one of my all time favorite bread making cookbooks (see all my favorites here). After ditching a successful 20-year tech career, he opened up Ken’s Artisan Pizza and Ken’s Artisan Bakery in Portland, OR. and hasn’t looked back. He’s got quite a lot of video instructions for pizza and bread making on his website that every aspiring baker should view.

Step 1: Make the levain

25g active starter
100g white flour
25g whole wheat
100g warm water (85-90 degrees)

Mix the starter, flours and water until incorporated.
Cover, and let rest 9~10 hours.

Step 2: Prep bacon

1/2 lb bacon

Chop bacon into small pieces, and fry until nice and crisp
Drain on paper towels
Reserve 1 Tbsp bacon grease

Step 3: Make the autolyse

432g white flour
8g whole wheat
342g warm water (85-90 degrees)

Mix the flours and water together in a large bowl until incorporated
Cover, and let rest for 30 minutes

10g salt

Sprinkle the salt onto the top of the dough and fold it in.

Step 4: Make dough

Levain
Autolyse
Bacon
Bacon fat

Add the levain to the autolyse and use the pincer method to mix it in. See Ken demonstrating this method in the “Mixing By Hand” video here.
Let rest, then spread the bacon fat over the top, and sprinkle the bacon over that.
Mix again with the pincer method.

Step 5: Proof and knead

The dough needs to rest for about 2 hours. Knead the dough using the stretch & fold method every 30 minutes. See the “Kneading during Proofing” videos on the Video page.

Step 6: Shape dough

Gently remove dough onto a floured countertop, using a dough scraper.
Dust flour around the perimeter, then lift sides just a bit and scoot the flour under.
Lift sides up, then over to form a circular shape and tighten it up a bit.

Flip over and push sides down and under with cupped hands to make the surface taught. See “Shaping” video on the Video page.
Dust a proofing basket, or a tea towel placed in a bowl with a generous amount of flour.
Gently lift than lower the dough into the basket, seam side down.
Cover and proof about 3-1/2 to 4 hours.
Cut a sling out of parchment paper to use for lowering the dough into your baking receptacle.

Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 475 degrees, and place a Dutch oven with lid (or any heavy pot that has a lid) inside to heat up as well.

Step 7: Bake

When dough is proofed, place the paper sling on top of the basket/bowl, then a cutting board on top of that.
Carefully invert so the dough is on the cutting board, and out of the container.
Remove the Dutch oven/pot from the oven, remove lid, and carefully place dough inside.
Replace the lid, then return the Dutch oven/pot back in the oven and bake for 30 minutes
Uncover, reduce heat to 450, and bake for 30 minutes more, until it’s a medium dark brown.
Let cool on a rack before slicing.

Week 72: Pizza Dough III

July 23, 2021March 1, 2022Leave a comment

This is a very, very wet dough, so use it whenever you’re making pizza bianca, pizza without sauce. It’s tricky to make, but also a fun, and a great addition to your pizza repertoire! There are a few versions of it online, and most seem to be inspired by Jim Lahey of Sullivan Street Bakery, but the methods are kind of complicated, so my version is below, with photos. My favorite topping is potatoes and I’ve included instructions for that; another great topping would be caramelized onions, blue cheese and figs.

130g bread flour (1-1/2 cups)
130g all purpose flour (1-1/2 cups)
1/4 tsp yeast
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp sugar
285g room temp water (1-1/4 cups)
olive oil

Combine flours, salt, sugar, and yeast in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment.
On low speed, slowly pour in the water, mixing until ingredients are combined
Increase to medium high, and mix for about 10 minutes until the dough is smooth and elastic and cleanly pulls away from the sides of the mixing bowl. It’s very wet, but it’ll start to come together.

Scrape down sides of bowl to combine all the bits. Cover, and let rise 2 to 4 hours, until bubbly and doubled in size. (Rise time depends on temperature of your kitchen

2 Yukon gold (or red new) potatoes, thinly sliced (use a mandolin if you’ve got one)
1 small onion, halved, then sliced and separated
1~2 sprigs of fresh rosemary
Salt, pepper, chili flakes
4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

Meanwhile, prep the potatoes and onion: Once sliced, combine potatoes, onions, slat and pepper (and crushed red chili flakes) with1 tablespoon olive oil, and mix to coat.
After an hour, go ahead an preheat the oven to 440 degrees.
Once the dough has risen sufficiently, pour it into a very lightly greased baking sheet. Too much oil, and it’ll just slip and slide.
Spread the dough out with your hands (don’t pull the sides, just push it around). If it springs back, just give it a rest for awhile and try again.

Evenly layer potatoes over the surface of the dough up to the very edge, and decorate with rosemary sprigs. or about 1 inch from the edge if you desire a crust on your pizza.
Do a final dusting of salt and pepper, and drizzle with olive oil.
Bake about 30 minutes, until sides and bottom is golden brown.

Week 70: No Knead Black Bread

July 9, 2021March 1, 2022Leave a comment

This is an absolutley delicious bread, and easy to make. Even though it’s got a long list of ingredients, and is best made a couple of days prior to consuming it, don’t let that stop you from adding this to your repertoire! We serve this on Christmas Day because it it makes for an easy breakfast that blurs into lunch. It’s delicious with sweet or savory toppings: grava lax, smoked trout, egg salad, and fruit jams. And what at treat it is to watch Nigella Lawson, England’s very own domestic goddess, bake bread!

I’ve listed the ingredients below so that you can measure everything out ahead of time, and then follow along with the video. (I didn’t include the acitvated charcol, or the nigella seeds because I can’t find them). Also, the 2-lb pan she references is the same as a 9″x5″ loaf pan.

400ml stout (14oz)
1 egg white (save yolk for brushing on top just before baking)
30g brown sugar
2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
2 Tbsp molasses
300g dark rye flour
300g bread flour
25g cocoa powder
4 tsp caraway seeds
4 tsp fennel seeds
¼ tsp yeast
1¼ tsp salt
oil to grease pan

You can mix the dough, in the evening, then let it rest overnight, shape it the next day, then bake after the 2-hr rest. Or, mix it in the morning, let it rest all day, then shape it and refrigerate overnight. Pop it into the oven first thing in the morning (directly from the fridge, no need to do the 2-hr rise). Either way, it would benefit from not being cut open for another day, but it’s hard to wait for this one!

I would also score the top so that it splits evenly as it bakes.

Here’s a link to the written recipe, and below is the video. If you’re not familiar with Nigella Lawson, go ahead and open the link and read the recipe through, and be prepared to fall in love with the language she uses to describe and instruct. I also want to highlight this tip that she adds at the end: “Any leftover bread can be blitzed in the processor into fabulous black breadcrumbs. I keep them in the freezer to use whenever I want to add an aniseed crunch. They are particularly good sprinkled over a tomato salad.”

Week 69: Artisan Cinnamon Raisin

July 2, 2021March 1, 2022Leave a comment

Here is a bread that everyone can make, because it doesn’t call for any fancy equipment (no stand mixer, no Dutch oven), and measurements are by volume, so you don’t even need a scale. All you need is time, because it does call for proofing overnight.

The recipe comes our way via the artisanbreadwithstev YouTube channel. Steve’s video instruction is straightforward and simple and gives everyone the ability to successfully bake beautiful loaves. I’ve listed the ingredients below so that you can have them at the ready while you follow along with the video.

16 oz tap water
1-1/2 tsp salt
1-1/4 tsp yeast
2 Tbsp brown sugar
1 Tbsp cinnamon
3-1/2 c bread flour
1 cup raisins

I baked mine in a Dutch oven, but next time I’ll use his method of creating a Dutch oven out of two loaf pans. For breads like this, I actually prefer them to be baked in a loaf pan because then slices are uniform.

Week 68: Rustic Ciabatta

June 25, 2021March 1, 2022Leave a comment

ITALY, by way of NEW ORLEANS: It took me a long time to find a recipe for a ciabatta that was not made with 100% white flour. and that actually worked (whole wheat can be tricky to work with). This is from Bellgarde Bakery in New Orleans, whose mission is to “connect community and ecology through gastronomy”. All of their grains are identity preserved and single origin, and they use olive oil sourced from San Antonio, and salt from Avery Island.

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Week 64: Everything Bagel Bread

May 28, 2021October 16, 20223 Comments

Want the savory punch of a bagel without the time-consuming process of either baking them yourself or going out to get some? Then this bread is for you – delicious, easy and satisfying. It does require an overnight rest, but after that, you don’t need to spend much time on it at all. The Everything Bagel seasoning is mixed into the dough in addition to being sprinkled on top, making it the perfect foil for some avocado toast. This is one of my favorite breads so far!

I found this on Leite’s Cuisine, one of my top ten food blogs. It’s been around since 1999, and has thousands of tested, well-written recipes, from hundreds of professional contributors. All bread recipes are written in both US and Metric measurements, which is super convenient.

Click here for the recipe. Trader Joe’s makes a good seasoning mix, but if you can’t find it, Leite’s Cuisine’s recipe is below:

2 Tbsp poppy seeds
1-1/2 Tbsp black sesame seeds
1-1/2 Tbsp white sesame seeds
4 tsp dried minced onion
4 tsp dried minced garlic
2 tsp flaked sea salt or coarse salt

If you want to try your hand at bagels, we made them during Week 51. Recipe and lots of tips here.

Week 62: Low-Knead Bread

May 14, 2021March 1, 2022Leave a comment

I don’t know what I enjoy more: eating bread or baking bread. But sometimes, when I set out to make it because I really want to eat it, I run into a problem with timing. Oftentimes, there’s a long stretch of time between starting the process to consuming the bread. Most artisan loaves aren’t ready on the same day as you prepare the dough because they require an overnight rise, and if you don’t get around to starting until late in the day, there’s not enough time for all of the steps.

Last week I tested a work-around that produces a delicious, satisfying, impressive loaf in 5 hours from start to finish. It’s as beautiful as a sourdough, but a lot less complicated, and not as time-consuming. It’s easy like the no-knead method, but incorporates a bit of “stretch & fold” kneading (see #2 Kneading During Proofing video here) to speed up the process of strengthening the gluten, thereby avoiding the overnight soak, i.e. autolyse*.

Back in 2006, the New York Times published Jim Lahey’s No-Knead Bread, which revolutionized bread baking. Two years later, Cook’s Illustrated introduced us to J. Kenji Lopez-Alt’s version, Almost No-Knead Bread. And just last month, in May of 2021, he gave us No-Knead Bread, Revisited, which is what I’ve based mine on. I didn’t use vinegar, added some honey, substituted whole wheat and rye for some of the white flour, cut the time down by 30 minutes and used a Dutch oven to bake.

Rest times are 1 hour + 1.5 hours + 1 hour, so perfect if you work from home, and doable if you work away from home because you can make it in the evening, pop it in the fridge after the final rise, then bake the next day.

STEP 1: Make dough

300g bread or all-purpose flour (or substitute 50g with whole wheat or rye, or 25g of both)
7g salt
3g yeast

Measure dry ingredients in a bowl and mix (I use a whisk) to combine.

225g warm water
11g honey

Add honey to water and stir to combine
Mix honey water into dry ingredients, using the handle of a wooden spoon, or your hand. Make sure there are no dry bits.
Cover and rest 1 hour

STEP 2: Knead & Proof

Keeping dough in the bowl, do a round of stretch and folds, then cover and let rest 30 minutes. See kneading during proofing, and shaping videos here. (#1 stretch + fold | 30 minutes rest total so far)
Repeat this two more times. Each time you can pull the dough out a little longer, but not too much so that it tears. Only do four stretch and folds each round. (1.5 minute rest so far)
Do one more stretch + fold, then leave to rest for 1 hour.

STEP 3: Final rise

Carefully remove dough to a lightly floured surface, without deflating it.
Pull sides to shape into a tight ball, then turn over, and with cupped hands, tighten surface some more.
Place in lined and floured proofing basket seam side up and cover
Proof 1 hour or until finger test, and preheat oven to 500. It’s better to be under proofed than over proofed, so check often:
1. Dough is under proofed when you poke a finger in it and is springs back quickly
2. Dough is proofed when you poke a finger in it and it springs back slowly
3. Dough is over proofed if you poke a finger in it and it doesn’t spring back.
Cover with parchment, then a cutting board and turn over
Slowly remove basket and score. Score round loaves symetircally and mostly on the top, so they rise up, not out
Bake, covered, at 475 for 25 minutes
Remove cover and bake for 10 minutes.
1. Put a cookie sheet on the lowest rack to redirect the heat so the bottom doesn’t burn
Let cool completely before slicing

Week 58: Same Day Sourdough

April 16, 2021May 1, 2021Leave a comment

Baking a sourdough loaf is a two-day affair, because there are so many stages in the prepping and proofing. I set out to find if it was possible to a.) make a loaf in one day, and b.) be 100% satisfied with the result. And, I’m here to tell you that there is! This is a method for baking a sourdough loaf with no overnight rise, and if you get started early enough, (8:00 AM) you’ll have a warm loaf to bring to the dinner table.

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Week 47: Stenalder Brød

January 29, 2021March 16, 20211 Comment

DENMARK: This seed and nut loaf is from the KONG HANS KÆLDER restaurant in Copenhagen. According to the Danish newspaper Politiken, the staff came up with this loaf when they decided to go on a Paleo diet — and named it after the Nordic Stone Age, Stendalder. It became Denmark’s most popular recipe, to the point where the natural food stores had a hard time keeping the ingredients in stock. It’s gluten free, naturally high in protein, fiber and omega-3 fatty acids, and only takes 10 minutes to put together. I was so tempted to add raisins, but I wanted to remain true to the original so refrained. I bet it would work just fine if you did; I’m thinking 50g chopped dried fruit, or for a savory twist, sun-dried tomatoes. Another idea could be mini chocolate chips and candied orange peel!

Notes:

The original recipe calls for unroasted, unsalted nuts, but I decided to go ahead and use roasted, salted, because I prefer those for other uses. I lowered the salt to 1-1/2 tsp because of this.
I also added chia seeds and hemp seeds to boost the nutritional value. You can use any combination of nuts and seeds, as long as they total 700 grams.
You can use all whole nuts, i.e. not chopped almonds or pecans. That makes the loaf look really nice when sliced, but I think the (roughly) chopped nuts make for a better consistency, and also easier to cut.
I used canola oil, but next time I think I’ll use olive oil. Peanut oil might be a good option.
If you want to make this on a regular basis, buy the nuts/seeds in bulk, mix them all up and measure out 700 grams of nuts in individual portions to freeze.
Cut thin slices – a little goes a long way!

Stone Age Bread

100 g pumpkin seeds ( I got “acitivated, sprouted” seeds by mistake. They work fine, but aren’t as bright green)
100 g roasted, salted sunflower seeds
100 g chopped tamari almonds
100 g chopped pecans (the original recipe calls for walnuts, either one would do)
100 g flaxseeds
100 g roasted sesame seeds
50 g chia seeds (optional, this is an additional on my part)
50 g hemp seeds (optional, this is an additional on my part)
5 ~ 6 eggs, depending on size.
1/3 cup oil
1-1/2 teaspoon salt (or 2 teaspoons if you use unsalted nuts)

Preheat oven to 325.
In a large bowl, mix the eggs, then add the oil and salt
Measure in the nuts and seeds and stir to combine well.
Line a loaf pan with parchment paper
Add batter to the pan and press down to fill it towards the corners, and to even the top
Bake for 1 hour or until it is firm and just a little browned on the top
Wait until the bread is completely cool to slice.