Bittman's No Knead bread is out of the oven - anyone else?
I threw together the dough last night in a free minute and put it above the fridge. I used 1 cup whole wheat and 2 cups white flour - no bread flour, though I can't imagine where it went to!
This morning, I prepped it for the second rise, let it sit out for 1 hour, then threw it in the fridge when I left. Honestly, I think it might have been fine out all day. I cooked it in the Le Creuset when I got home, going close to 45 mins.
I must agree with Bittman - the crust is absolutely extraordinary. I'll definitely make again.
Anyone else? I see it's still on the top of the most e-mailed list - I sent it to my family just now!
miss_mia
Nov 10, 2006 12:57AM
I started it this evening. The dough is currently sitting on top of my bookshelf. I'll let you know how it comes out tomorrow. The bread will be cooked in my cast iron dutch oven. I'm curious to hear how others fare.
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I made it a couple of days ago, per the recipe with bread flour, and used cornmeal on the towels. I cooked it in a 7 quart creuset pot at 450. It was so easy and fabulous that I can see making it weekly! I do think the bread could be a little saltier.
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Boy, these chowhounders can't leave anything alone, can they? I used 3 C high gluten flour and 1/2 C bulgur wheat and 1 2/3 C water. Made it up at 1300 yesterday and it sat out until 1030 this morning. That's around 21 hours. When I formed the loaf, I covered it with more bulgur wheat. The 2 hour second raise impressed me. I baked it in a small cast iron pot at 500. The pot has pour lips on each side, so I sealed it with aluminum foil before putting the lid on. Baked for 30 min with lid on and 15 min with lid off. The internal temp got to 200, but no higher. I got a thick crust but not crispy. Was I supposed too? The inside is a little soft; it needed to bake longer. But it made a good ham sandwich and I'm sure the toast will be fine. I don't know if I did not get a crispy crust because I didn't have enough water or if it is a little soft because I had too much. On the other hand if I can eat it, it wasn't a loss. I just got back from Bed, Bath and Beyond where I bought a new instant read thermometer and I will make this bread again.
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Compared to the Bittman recipe, your interpretation is a little dryer. If you add a little more water you'll probably get a thinner crisper crust.
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It probably would have been better all around if I had just used a total of 3 C of whatever.
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Mine's going in the oven right now! I'll post back soon.
I was watching the video one last time and had to post because I have the answer to a previous question.
Lahey takes off the knob to his Le Creuset to bake at 500 degrees. If you look at his green pot, there's a little stick of aluminum foil plugging up the hole. The other pot has no plastic handle, so it's fine. Mystery solved! Take off that knob!
One question: how much flour do I need to put on my cotton towel? I used a usual dish drying towel (not terry, but 100% cotton). Should I have used a flour sack?
My bread, after the final rise, stuck impossibly to the towel. I sacrificed some of the dough so as not to deflate the whole loaf, but what am I doing wrong? I dusted with a TON of flour but I think the wet dough made the dusting flour so wet it just became part of the dough. Maybe cornmeal or wheat bran would be less sticky?
Edit: you can HEAR the crust forming when you take it out of the oven! It crackles like crazy for a good five minutes.
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I don't have any experience with this recipe but it sounds like your towel. Flour sack towels are brilliant for exactly these purposes...
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Mine was also a dish towel but with an absolutely flat weave, so I guess more like flour sack, though it isn't that; most of my other towels are kind of "fluffy" so I didn't use those. Mine didn't stick at all.
Also, my recipe (from the hard copy NYtimes) said 450 degrees; I wrapped foil around my handle and it seemed fine that way. I was worried at how very wet it was after 20 hours of sitting, but after the 2 hour period it wasn't nearly as sticky (though still pretty "loose and floppy"). But the bread was perfect out of the oven; it turned into a perfect tall round loaf; not kind of flat as my usual recipe (sometimes) is. The timing on this recipe works very well for me; I often get home from work at 2:30, so we can have bread on those days if I start at 6 the night before.
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I've made this bread four times this week. I only used a cotton towel the first time because it was such a comic disaster. The wet dough soaked the well-floured towel and when I tried to flip the dough into the pan, it merely hung there from the towel. I had to peel it off and still a good amount of dough stayed with the towel. Since then, I've used wax paper for the second rise - with the cotton towel on top. This works just fine. The dough still wants to stick a bit, but it drops into the pan easily.
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Wax paper--check! I used a flour sack towel and rubbed the flour in, followed by a dusting of loose flour, and I still lost a chunk of dough that stuck like nobody's business. Next time, wax paper . . .
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Wax Paper, that's brilliant. I actually found this page doing a web search for tips on how to clean flour off a towel becuase I think I've ruined two of them! I didn't even include the word bread. This page is hillarious, the recipe is a true revolution. There are pictures of my second loaf on my brand new food blog: http://dinner-bell.blogspot.com Please feel free to participate in my virtual culinary adventures.
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I made a loaf today, started yesterday at 1:30pm. I decided to do the exact recipe the first time and then alter from there. First rise 18 hours, second 2 hours. It turned out beautifully. It was very nicely browned and crusty. The inside was well baked. I might add a little more salt next time as I used kosher salt - it might need a bit more.
I used a Le Creuset at 450 - I did not remove the knob, I just covered it in foil. Worked well.
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How big a le Creuset do you need for this?
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Did you notice the internal temperature of the finished loaf?
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My loaf was 210 when I took it out. I was going to wait until 220, something recommended to me in a bread-baking class for breads without eggs, sugar, etc. like this. But, it looked perfect - and tasted it, too!
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I just measured mine and it is 9 1/2 inches ! (probably an even number in centimetres heehee), but I don't think it really matters. When I put my dough into the pot, it did not spread out at all. The finished product was smaller than the pot, probably about 7 inches around. I think this is due to the intense heat of the pot when you drop the dough into it.
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My Le Creuset is 9.5 inches across, too--a 4.5 quart pot. The recipe calls for 6 or 8 quart pot. I'm glad to hear your smaller pot worked great!
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yayadave - I did not. I could do that for my next loaf though. I checked it by knocking it with my hand, it sounded hollow so I took it knew it was ready. When I removed it from the oven and moved it to the rack, it made that lovely crackling sound for several minutes.
Oh and Pei, I did not have a problem with the dough sticking to the towel. I did use a very fine cotton dishtowel. I put quite a bit of flour on the towel, perhaps about 3 tablespoons (not much of it sticks to the loaf) and dusted less on the top.
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Thanks. The fact that you used 3 tablespoons and I used a handful tells me I need a new towel.
Don't you just love that cracking sound?
Note: give the bread sufficient time to cool, so the moisture in the center can slowly travel out and evaporate. I was impatient, and when I got to the piping hot center it was ever so slightly gummy.
Will all of you negatively judge me if I say that the bread's been out of the oven less than 45 minutes and I've already eaten half a loaf?
I took my bread out at 210 degrees (not because I wanted to, but because I forgot to check and missed the 200 mark).
The crust IS crisp, thin, and crackly. I lost a little height in the loaf due to my snafu with the bad bread towel, but it's an extremely promising recipe.
I used 2 cups bread flour to 1 cup stone ground whole wheat, and it was incredible with a thin shmear of olive tapenade.
And I'll tell you guys because you won't gasp in horror like some of my friends would: I've already eaten almost half the loaf, and it's been under 45 minutes since I took it out of the oven. I'd rather eat this than dinner, though dinner looked pretty good before the bread was done.
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I can only judge you positively...I'd've probably eaten more! Thanks for your in-depth posts on this. I need to get home at lunch hour and start one myself!
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NOOOO! You cant eat bread right out of the even. YOu have to force yourself to wait (I learned about the gumminess if you dont from childhood experience) Its hard.
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but thats the best way to eat it, straight from the oven, probably less than half an hour, slathered with butter and honey... mmmm
thats how we always ate it growing up
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I started yesterday about 2 pm using all whole wheat organic flour, ground it myself from wheatberries in the Kitchenaid grinder.
Mixed it up & let it go at least 20 hours (I thought: it's whole wheat, give it plenty of time), otherwise followed the directions, tossed it in a hot Le Creuset (large) pot & covered for the first half hour.
I was skeptical about using all whole wheat, but I am pleased with the results. Chewey crust, nice interior with smallish bubble holes like French bread--only whole wheat!!! I want to use a smaller pot to get a higher loaf, but I am hooked--& my husband loved it. Who knew??
I love this board.
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Your bread with olive tapenade sounds lovely. I was very impatient also - ate some and then waited until this evening. It is much better after cooling and sitting for awhile ( I knew that of course, but I was also very excited to try it). I must confess, I have TWO doughs started for tomorrow - not sure how I will bake them, probably one after about 15 hour initial rise and the other after 18 hours. I am never going to leave my house again. I will have to start giving them away!
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I did mine tonight. It was perfect. As beautiful a boule as I could buy for $3.50 in the best bakery in Beverly Hills.
After 20 minutes of baking after removal of the lid, it registered 211 degrees. Perhaps I cut it too soon, but I think the center could have benefited from a bit more oven time. OTH, perhaps I didn't let it cool sufficiently.
In any case, this is a brilliant technique that I will be using forever!
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Oh, if your bread was anything like mine and if you've been eating in the same Beverly Hills bakeries I have, this bread is BETTER than anything you could buy here for $3.50. Kudos to all! We should e-mail this thread to Bittman.
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You suppose he doesn't know?
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Yeah, duh. In my post-bread stupor I wasn't thinking straight. The three of us finished a loaf in one night. I'm almost sad. I wanted to see how it re-heats for breakfast!
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I started mine last night: two cups wholemeal flour, one cup strong bread flour. This morning it had risen nicely, will finish it this afternoon. Glad to read all these posts to see how well it's turned out, and for all the tips!
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I think I'll still buy a bread machine.
Just kidding! I recently resigned from work to stay home with my kids. I can not WAIT to be home so I can make this bread several times a week. It's great to know that the whole wheat version works well, too. Thank you, everyone, for such wonderful descriptions so quickly.
Guess I'll start buying flour in bigger bulk quantities...
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I'm excited to try this this weekend. I'll probably mix it up tonight, bake tomorrow. My question: What temperatures did everyone end up using? 450f as stated in the recipe, 500 from the video, or even higher? My oven goes up to 550.
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Does anyone know what kind of cooking vessel is reccommended if you do not own a Le Creuset? The closest thing I have is a cast iron frying pan, but I really want to make this bread!
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You need a heavy*, deeper pot/pan with an oven proof cover.
* Regular gauge stainless would not count. Stainless is a poor conductor and retainer of heat. A heavy gauge Magnalite-type aluminum pot might work.
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In the New York Tomes recipe for this bread it suggests these 4 for the dough vessel: cast iron, enamel, Pyrex, ceramic.
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I haven't made mine yet (I'm going to the King Arthur store in Norwich CT next weekend, so there's not much flour in the house right now), but my plan is to use the smaller of my two Lodge cast iron dutch ovens.
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I used a stainless steel IKEA 365 pasta pot and it worked fine. We were too impatient to try it though and the texture was slightly gummy, though it was airy and crusty as promised.
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Thanks all for the feedback, I'm going out to buy a flour sack before starting batch 2 tonight. I had a friends admonishing me for eating the whole loaf last night before they could get a bite.
A few initial photos, bearing in mind I lost a lot of height due to the dough sticking to my woven cotton towel.
http://www.chezpei.com/2006/11/vegan-...
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Right now in their Christmas tents Ikea is selling 100% twill weave kitchen towels for 49ยข. I got a stack of them for my bread. I impregnate them with flour and never wash or use them for anything else. The more you use them the better they work.
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Where do you keep them between uses? In a box? If you don't wash out all the flour how do you keep them from attracting bugs and dirt?
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A ziplock bag. I get really big 2 gallon ziplocks at a wholesale grocery. They're great.
Just keep mashing more flour in and softening up any parts that stiffen. They get better the more you use them.
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hey Pei, I have been thinking about your sticking problem. I made another bread this morning and I made my self wait until lunch to have a slice, very good. I purposefully used a heavier towel and did not have any problem with the dough sticking. I am wondering, though your finished bread looks fantastic and similar to mine, if your dough was more wet that mine when you started. Did you add 1 5/8 cups of water to 3 cups of flour? What kind of flour did you use again? Sorry, you may have mentioned this already.
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I added 1 5/8 cups of warm water. I used a glass Pyrex style measuring cup that, as far as I know, is accurate. I measured to eye level, and the water was around 110 degrees.
I used 2 cups King Arthur bread flour and 1 cup Arrowhead Mills stone ground wheat flour. I didn't sift, I just shook up the flour a little and leveled off a cup. So the weight could definitely have been different.
I started another loaf today and it already looks a lot more dry than the last loaf, so maybe it will be less sticky. I'm using a different towel from now on, though, so we'll never know. I figure as I make the bread a few times I'll get a better sense of how wet the dough should be.
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Who knows? Well, it sounds like you're all set with a new towel - and you're right, once we make the bread a few times, we will get more used to how to work with it. good luck with your next loaf.
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I also tried the recipe as quickly as I could. I did a 14 hour first rise, 2 hour seconds rise, and used cornmeal on the towel and loaf top. I followed the recipe exactly, using King Arthur's AP flour. I baked it in a pre-heated Le Creuset (oven at 475, splitting the difference). The crispy crust and interior texture and the look of the bread could not be better, but the taste was a bit too plain. I know I did not put enough salt, I used the salt amount in the recipe, but I used Kosher salt, so should have added more. I love the texture but am looking for ways to improve the taste.
Having lived in Berkeley (home to some of the greatest breads in the US), I really like the taste of the rustic style, slightly sour loaves which were really easy to find. The texture of the great bay area breads is very similar to what I got with the Bittman recipe. I need to try other flours, definitely a 50-50 whole wheat and white combination, and I probably should get some bread flour. What do people think about other modification to make the loaf a bit sour, like a mock sour dough loaf? longer rise time, maybe a bit of buttermilk instead of some of the water? Also, I used plain old (but fresh) Fleischmann's active dry yeast, maybe a better yeast will yield better flavor? So, what about other flavor enhancements? I think a bit of honey with a wheat loaf would be nice. I would love to make an olive loaf (mmm....I still crave Acme bakery's green olive loaf) out of this recipe, but the dough is so unweildy, so maybe the way to do it is to let the dough rise in a Kitchen Aid mixer bowl, then let the dough hook on the KA incorporate the olives, rest it a bit, and then form the ball and second rise.
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I used regular salt and I also thought it needed more. My typical recipe is 2 tsp for 3.5 cups and this is 1 tsp for 3 cups, so I think more salt would be better.
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I agree. I followed the recipe precisely and thought it need more salt, too.
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Wouldn't more salt retard the raise, especially with so little yeast?
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This recipe seems adaptable to all sorts of additions and substitutions. I hope you'll report on all your experiments. I think chopped rosemary would be a nice enhancement. I'm wondering whether this is too rustic to try to adapt to chocolate cherry bread.
Mine, using 100% whole wheat, rose in the KA mixer bowl, & the dough was so sticky I just used the paddle attachment to "fold" it. The results were good but my Le Creuset is so big I didn't get the height I would like. I'm trying it again with double the measurements; how long should I bake it covered and uncovered?
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I tried this bread today, and I would alsolike to make it sour. Did you find any suggestions?
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I tried it yesterday and it worked great. I made one change though. I wasn't as exact with the measurements because I threw in a cup of sourdough starter and substituted some rye flour. It gave the loaf a wonderfully sour tang and a perfect crust!
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Ok, mine is in the oven, not out yet. I think I followed the recipe closely, but my dough was quite sticky and unformed -- the notion of "folding it over on itself" or "forming into a ball" was out the question -- a bit like folding over a jellyfish. What did I do wrong? (Perhaps it will look and taste just fine when it comes out.) I used regular old baking flour this time.
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I like your descriptions. mine was definately like that at the beginning of the 2 hours. Was a bit better formed at the end, but still very "limp". Worked out ok.
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Don't worry, my first one was like that too. My second one was a bit dryer. Who knows why. Maybe it was a dryer day out, maybe I packed my flour more tightly, maybe I measured a tablespoon less water. I used a little more wheat compared to white the second time; maybe that was it. Since the measurements are by volume and not weight it's hard to say.
I will say this: the second dough was still very limp and watery, but I very carefully (and extremely quickly) started forming it into a boule after the 15 minute rest. As I "bouled" it, it became firmer and more willing to stay in a ball. My second loaf was therefore a little taller than my first.
I am wondering whether proofing in a small round bowl instead of on a flat surface, and then baking in a smaller pot, would result in a smaller taller bread. Anyone?
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