No-knead bread

Okay, I admit it. I have long been intimidated by the idea of bread baking. Perhaps my fears can be traced back to childhood. I have memories of my mother and sister making bread in our family kitchen-flour flying everywhere, the entire room being taken over by the task. This was no short-term job either; I remember my mom and sister devoting several hours of the day to the process. And when the bread finally came out... Well, the finished product was okay, but I couldn't help thinking, "Why not spend a few bucks, buy a perfectly okay loaf from the grocery store, save yourself the time and the trouble, and move on with your day?"

Nonetheless the craft of bread baking has maintained a certain mystique. The idea of creating something so potentially delicious from not much more than flour and water, the magic of using yeast to make the simple ingredients combine into a leavened, doughy, form... not to mention my idealized notion of creating that perfect, warm, fresh-out-of-the-oven, crispy-crusted and moist-centered loaf... that's what kept bread making in the back of my head.

And that is why the words "No knead bread" caught by eye on a recent visit to a food blog. Turns out this recipe has been hailed as a miracle, or if not a miracle, than at least pure baking genius. Writers claim that the recipe is so simple that a 4-year old can follow the instructions and yet so good that its product rivals any artisan bread that you might purchase from a well-respected professional bakery. You can find the original NY Times article in which food-writer Mark Bittman describes the bread: here, and the blog post that originally caught my eye is: here.

After reading these praises I thought, "hmm...even I might be able to do that." I was not disappointed (i.e. I did it! I did it! I baked good bread!). I highly recommend that you try this recipe. Trust me, if nothing else, it's a great way to boost one's confidence in the kitchen and impress your friends and family! You can find the recipe for this bread at the links above. Below I have written some comments and tips.

Comments:

When I first read this recipe, I ran around trying to find the appropriate pot in which to bake the bread. We do not own an 8-quart pot with a cover that is oven friendly. Finally, I found pot that was approximately the right size, placed a metal pot from another pot on top, baked away, and it seemed to work just fine. My mother also suggested that I could have tried using aluminum foil as a cover. I might try this next time.

The first time I baked this bread, I made the mistake of not completely pre-heating the pot. I probably stuck it in the oven 15 minutes prior to baking instead of the prescribed "at least 30 minutes before." The result was that the finished bread stuck to the bottom of the pot. I was able to scrape most the bread off, but it was still disappointing to have this otherwise near-perfection bread stuck to the pot.

This bread does not keep well after the first day. I recommend planning to eat it almost immediately after baking. We didn't finish ours and it molded after a day or 2 of sitting out. This bread is so delicious though that I imagine many won't have the problem of left-overs!