The Goods Are Odd

My experience with so called “no-knead bread”, the article I got the recipe from, and your subsequent experience baking this bread is like an endless mirrors in mirrors of people wanting to make perfect “artisan bread” and then, yes, doing it in their own kitchen. It’s like some kind of carnival promise really coming true.

The author of this article (thanks to Sarah for sending) started off in the same dreamy situation I was when reading it- how to make the kind of bread I really like to eat, crusty out/chewy and bubbly in, in my own kitchen- is it even possible. Is artisan bread, just that- for experts with powerful ovens?

The answer lies in this “no-knead bread”- which I am deciding to call Perfect Dutch Oven Bread and here’s why. “No-knead” carries the same tone as “lite” or “no cook lasagna”. Like either too convenient to really work and be as good as the long version or it includes something gross and processed.

This no-knead title isn’t misleading, you don’t knead it…but is that really the inconvenient part of bread making? I think it’s the time involved with the rises- and no knead bread takes that to another level. 18 hr proofing followed by a 15 min rest and another 2 hrs of proofing. Luckily “proofing” just means sitting there, so it really is easy in that there aren’t a lot of steps but you have to plan it out so that when you have time to make your dough you also have time 12-18 hrs later to actually be making bread for 2 hrs. Again, not doing much but involved in the task. What’s special about this recipe isn’t that you don’t knead the dough, but that you cook it in its own tiny super-hot oven- the dutch oven you had all along!

But no, it isn’t a convenient recipe. The pay off is that the bread out of the dutch oven is fabulous and the results exceed the amount of actual work done. Not in a “your friends will never believe you made it from a box” or “your husbands family will never know you made them instant coffee” kind of way- but close. My grandparents got the first loaf and I got the full “where did you buy this…what?! you made it!?!” reaction. Which was totally gratifying.

So the Mother Earth News article was the inspiration and motivation, but I also had been wanting to make sourdough with my starter i got recently (thanks to Martha!). So I looked to combine both exciting bread endeavors. And I found the answer and great tutorial here:

http://www.breadtopia.com/sourdough-no-knead-method/

I can’t really say more, because I watched the video, did just what he told me- happy that he approaches the whole production with some flexibility- and I got this:

With sourdough the whole process is even less convenient. Getting the starter active a day before you make the dough, then you make the dough and let it sit for another day- then three days from when you started you have perfect bread. That’s just how it is. The first batch I made had bigger holes. I proofed this one for 18+ hrs and the other for only 12, but I think that dough was wetter. It’s a little different every time depending on the mood of my starter and I’m happy with the variation.

I would like this breadtopia guy to give some tips on storage since the crust looses it’s perfect crunch and it didn’t come in a bag…so what should I keep it in?