This no-knead bread is perfect for busy moms and those who live without more than 10-15 minute chunks of time at any given moment.
Four ingredients: water, flour, yeast, and salt.
Mix then come back to it somewhere between 8 hours and 18 hours. Oh yeah. Love that part.
Dump. Stir. Place in pot. Bake two hours later. SO GOOD!
Artisan Bread Recipe
3 cups (15 oz.) unbleached all-purpose flour
¼ tsp. instant or rapid rise yeast (I use SAF yeast)
1 ½ tsp. table salt (I use Real Salt)
1 ½ cups water at room temperature
Instructions:
- Whisk flour, yeast, and salt together in a large bowl (Batter Bowl works great). If you are adding dry herbs or spices, add them at this time.
- Add water.
- Fold mixture, scraping up the dry flour from the bottom of the bowl until shaggy ball forms.
- Cover mixture with plastic wrap (if not using Batter Bowl) and let sit at room temperature for 8 to 18 hours.
- Lay a sheet of parchment paper inside a pie plate or Deep Covered Baker.
- Transfer dough to lightly floured surface and “knead” 10-15 times (the dough is sticky. I spray my fingers with Pam before starting this). The kneading I do is more a lifting of one side toward the other a few times to remove large air bubbles from the dough and to give the bread a more uniform look. If you are adding nuts, dried fruit, cheese, chocolate or other bulky ingredients, fold them in now.
- Shape dough into a ball by pulling edges into the middle.
- Transfer dough, seam side down to pie plate or Deep Covered Baker [DCB}and cover (Use plastic wrap, sprayed with Pam, if not using Deep Covered Baker).
- Let rise until doubled in size, about 2 hours. If you are not going to bake it in 2 hours, you can put it in the fridge—but then you need to let it rise for about 3 hours on the counter before baking. I always make sure to time it so I can bake it 2-2 ½ hours later.
- If you’re not in too much of a hurry, use a sharp knife or cooking shears to make a 6-inch wide slit along the top of the dough. This will give a nice appearance to the finished bread. You can skip this step and the bread still tastes delicious.
- If using the DCB, place in oven with lid on. Otherwise, pick up the dough by the parchment paper and lower into bread pan or baking dish (the parchment paper goes into the pot, too). Use a dish with sides as the dough is still not firm.
- Bake for 30 minutes at 425, remove lid and continue to bake until loaf is deep brown, about 10 to 15 minutes longer. If the crust gets too dark, loosely place a sheet of aluminum foil over it.
- Carefully remove bread from pot and transfer to a wire rack and cool to room temperature.
- TIP: MAKE THE INGREDIENTS IN THE CLASSIC BATTER BOWL THE NIGHT BEFORE. Then when you awake in the morning, proceed with steps 5-13.
Variations: (Be creative and try your own!)
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- ½ cup dried cranberries and ½ cup toasted pecans or walnuts, ½ cup white chocolate chips. My favorite.
- ½ cup toasted walnuts and ½ cup white or semisweet chocolate pieces, ½ cup chopped apricots
- 1 ½ tsp-1 ½ Tbsp Dill Mix and 1 ½ tsp-1 ½ Tbsp. dried onion
- 1 ½ tsp-1 ½ Tbsp Italian Seasoning Mix and 1 Tbsp chopped fresh basil
- 1 ½ tsp-1 ½ Tbsp Rosemary Herb Seasoning Mix and 1 ½ tsp-1 ½ Tbsp dried or fresh chopped garlic (use less if dried)
- 1 tsp cinnamon and 1 tsp nutmeg
- 4 oz. (2 cups) finely grated fresh parmesan cheese or Asiago cheese (or your favorite combo of cheese), 1 Tbsp fresh rosemary and ½ cup chopped green olives (pitted)
- Italian bread: 1 cup each grated swiss and Parmesan cheese, 1 Tbsp. oregano, 1 Tbsp. basil, 1 tsp. garlic powder. My 2- and 4-year-old grandsons love this one!
Rye Bread option
2 Tbsp. caraway seeds
1 5/8 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 1/8 cups rye flour
Whole Wheat BreadW
2 Tbsp. honey
2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 cup wheat flour
Listen to my audiobook as you bake or drive to work. https://adbl.co/2usdPx3
www.chrismanion.com/books