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this is kind of a different post. i thought i'd share a little more of my little house on the prairie experience with you all. there was this great recipe for no knead bread in the new york times a couple of years ago, unbelievably easy and delicious. nice crumb. crispy crust. during the winter i made it most every weekend. i made a loaf last weekend and it was gone in about 24 hours, so i just whipped up another loaf tonight. easy enough to start one night and then finish the next after work.

below is the recipe along with some pics of how it all looks.

No-Knead Bread
Adapted from Jim Lahey, Sullivan Street Bakery
Time: About 1 1/2 hours plus 14 to 20 hours' rising

3 cups all-purpose or bread flour*, more for dusting
1/4 teaspoon instant yeast
1 tablespoon of kosher salt

1. In a large bowl combine flour, yeast and salt. Add 1 5/8 cups water, and stir until blended; dough will be shaggy and sticky. Cover bowl with plastic wrap. Let dough rest at least 12 hours, preferably about 18 (i've let it go for up to 24 hours), at warm room temperature, about 70 degrees.





2. Dough is ready when its surface is dotted with bubbles. Lightly flour a work surface and place dough on it; sprinkle it with a little more flour and fold it over on itself once or twice. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rest about 15 minutes. (I turn the dough out on a silpat mat covered with flour).



3. Using just enough flour to keep dough from sticking to work surface or to your fingers, gently and quickly shape dough into a ball. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise for about 2 hours. When it is ready, dough will be more than double in size and will not readily spring back when poked with a finger.



4. At least a half-hour before dough is ready, heat oven to 450 degrees. Put a 3 to 4 quart heavy covered pot** (cast iron, enamel, Pyrex or ceramic) in oven as it heats. When dough is ready, carefully remove pot from oven. Slide your hand under silpat and turn dough over into pot, seam side up; it may look like a mess, but that is O.K. Shake pan once or twice if dough is unevenly distributed; it will straighten out as it bakes. Cover with lid and bake 30 minutes, then remove lid and bake another 15 to 30 minutes, until loaf is beautifully browned. Cool on a rack.








Yield: One 1 1/2-pound loaf.

*OTHER FLOURS Up to 30 percent whole-grain flour works consistently and well, and 50 percent whole-wheat is also excellent. At least one reader used 100 percent whole-wheat and reported “great crust but somewhat inferior crumb,” which sounds promising. I’ve kept rye, which is delicious but notoriously impossible to get to rise, to about 20 percent. There is room to experiment. -- (note the "i" in the previous section is mark bittman, i like this as all white flour, or 2 cups white, 1 cup whole wheat).

**THE POT Readers have reported success with just about every available material. Note that the lid handles on Le Creuset pots can only withstand temperatures up to 400 degrees. So avoid using them, or remove the handle first. (I use a 2.5 liter corning ware casserole dish).

FLAVORINGS The best time to add caraway seeds, chopped olives, onions, cheese, walnuts, raisins or whatever other traditional bread flavorings you like is after you’ve mixed the dough. But it’s not the only time; you can fold in ingredients before the second rising.