No Knead Artisan Bread

Posted by Jess @ On Sugar Mountain on January 10, 2013 · 13 Comments 

Hello friends!

So I’ve finally done it. I’ve tried the famous Jim Lahey No Knead Artisan Bread. I would pretend to keep it a secret but it’s about to burst out of meeeeee -

IT WORKS! IT WORKS IT WORKS IT WORKSSSSSSS!!!

I’d say I was sorry for the caps lock but I’m not. It was absolutely essential to convey my (and what soon will be yours when you try it) excitement over this bread.

You see, my family is half Italian, half Hispanic. Not that we don’t celebrate our Latino roots, but because my mom cooks 99% of the time, we naturally gravitate towards her Italian heritage when it comes to the kitchen. Sunday macaroni with meatballs, or braciole if we’re lucky, is a staple and we’ve always been accustomed to good bread.

That is, until my parents moved to Florida. Since I stayed in NJ I can easily stop at any Shop Rite and get a nice loaf of Calandra’s Italian Bread, but my mother has sadly realized that leaving the tri-state area means leaving one of the best bread locations in the country. She’s tried every shop around, both supermarket and specialty shop, all to no avail.

So you can imagine how excited she was when I told her I was trying out a new recipe, revered by bloggers and cookbook writers everywhere, to be the essential bread recipe every home baker must have in her repertoire.

No more kneading and punching and resting, then repeating again and again until you almost despair that you will never see the light at the end of the tunnel. Simply whisk together yeast, flour, salt, and water, and cover. It sits, just on your countertop (which is great if you are like me and have limited space in the fridge) overnight.

Then heat a big ole’ dutch oven, plop your dough in, cover, and bake.

The smell itself is enough reason to want to make this bread. As I walked back into my kitchen to remove it from the oven, I felt like one of those Disney characters being led by the sweet-smelling steam of a cherry pie. Does anyone know what I’m talking about? Hopefully at least one of you does. It’s a thing. I promise I’m not crazy.

So seriously, go make this bread. You will be so happy you did. I can honestly say I am contemplating making a loaf once a week once I get back to school, just to have on hand during the week. For dipping into pasta sauces, making into toast, or killer grilled cheeses…the possibilities are endless when the recipe is just so simple!

One more thing before I go – You may notice a little change on a few of my photos. I’ve finally jumped on the bandwagon and began putting type into my images. It’s just so damn cute and I’m a font nerd and can’t wait to download crazy adorable fonts to label my photos. Plus it helps on Pinterest and all those sites – if you have any suggestions about it please feel free to leave me a comment.

Happy Baking!

Jess

No Knead Artisan Bread

Via Simply So Good

3 cups all purpose or bread flour, plus extra for shaping
1/2 tsp instant (rapid rise) yeast
1 3/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups water

1. Whisk together flour, yeast and salt in a large bowl. Add water and stir until a shaggy dough forms (shaggy is good!).

2. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise on the counter for 12-18 hours.

3. Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Once preheated, place dutch oven/ceramic baking pot with lid in oven and heat for 30 minutes.

4. While dutch oven is heating, invert dough onto a heavily floured surface and gently shape into a ball. Cover with plastic wrap and let rest until dutch oven is ready.

5. Carefully remove dutch oven lid and gently drop dough into the pot. Cover with lid and place back in you conventional oven.

6. Bake at 450 degrees, with lid on, for 30 minutes, then remove lid and bake for 15 more minutes.

7. Let bread cool for 10 minutes, then gently remove from dutch oven to cool completely on wire rack

All Photos And Writing Copyright © 2013 Jessica Gonzalez | On Sugar Mountain