I keep reading that unprecedented is going to be our 2020 Word of the Year and, just, yuck. Instead, I propose adaptable as our WOTY. Because you are, we are, and there are some beautiful adaptive things happening all around us.
One of them, of course, is a massive uptick in home cooking, much to my personal joy. I happen to love cooking but, more than that, I believe that we should mainly know how to feed ourselves in some way. Cooking does not have to be hard, or fancy, or involve a million ingredients, but knowing how to make a few things can go a long way.
Bread baking, of course, often feels like the opposite of simple home cooking. Horror stories about dead yeast, tough bread, a dense crumb (what even does that mean) incite fear and avoidance in even the best home cooks.
I’ll be honest. Before we went into quarantine mid-March, I had never used yeast. Not once, ever.
I had wanted to, but I have a strong fear of failure and issues with wasting time, and plus Swamp Rabbit Café’s Stecca bread is just so GOOD, that I just never got around to it.
Then, of course, we all got shut away, and luckily I got my hands on some flour and yeast before the rest of you did. I started making Mark Bittman’s no-knead bread and letmetellyou never has there been a better example of “why did I fear this so much” in the history of avoiding things because we don’t understand them.
This bread is DELICIOUS. It works in a variety of pots, with different flours, longer or shorter rising times. It is TRULY no-knead, stir it up, let it rest, plop it into a mound, and let the magic happen.
I hope so very deeply that you are well and your life isn’t too terribly hard right now. I have no doubt that you have adapted handily to this unprecedented (just stop) time, and that this recipe brings you some joy in your ability to care for yourself even when things feel scary and weird.
No-Knead Bread
Total Time: 1 day, almost all hands-off Yield: 1 loaf
· 4 cups all-purpose flour
· ½ teaspoon active dry or instant yeast
· 2 teaspoons kosher salt (or any salt, don’t stress)
· 2 cups room temperature/lukewarm water
· Olive oil and/or coarse salt, optional
1. Emotionally prepare yourself for the fact that step 2 is going to feel all wrong.
2. Whisk together the flour, yeast, and salt in a large bowl. Stream in the water, stirring as you go, until the ingredients are incorporated. Barely stir or mess with the dough. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and then a kitchen towel, and let the dough rest/rise/get less weird for 12 hours or so.
3. When the dough has risen, place a large (4-7 quarts) Dutch oven plus the lid in the oven. Preheat the oven AND the pot to 450F for 30 minutes. Meanwhile, choose your bread method:
4. FLOUR METHOD: Place a large piece of parchment paper on a flat surface. Sprinkle flour on the parchment paper and flour your hands. Gently scrape the dough onto the parchment paper and fold it one or two times to make a ball. It might spread out, no worries. No knead, either. Drape the plastic wrap or towel you used to cover the bowl over the dough and let it rest for 30 minutes while the pot preheats. (continue to step 6)
5. OIL METHOD: Place a large piece of parchment paper on a flat surface. Drizzle a tiny bit of oil on the parchment and oil your hands. Scrape the dough onto the parchment paper and fold it one or two times to make a ball. Brush a bit more oil on the top of the dough and sprinkle with coarse salt, if using. Drape the plastic wrap or towel you used to cover the bowl over the dough and let it rest for 30 minutes while the pot preheats.
6. Carefully take the Dutch oven out of the oven once it has preheated. Moving quickly, remove the lid and pick up the bread dough by the edges of the parchment paper. Place the dough ON THE PARCHMENT PAPER in the Dutch oven. Put the lid back on.
7. Return the Dutch oven to the oven and bake the bread covered for 30 minutes, then uncovered for 15-20 minutes until golden brown and crusty.
8. Remove the pot from the oven and lift the parchment paper with the bread to a cooling rack. Let the bread cool as long as you can manage, then rip into it.
9. You did a really, really good job.
Notes
Recipe adapted from Mark Bittman, pinky promise that time and flour swaps still yield delicious bread!
The internet tells me that active dry yeast and instant yeast will work almost entirely the same in this particular recipe. I use instant yeast because it’s what I have, and I recommend that you use what you have.
I have let this dough rise for 8-18 hours (I make it a lot, have tested it a ton of ways) and honestly it’s great in all the ways. I prefer to do an overnight rise so I’m not obsessing over it, but that’s a personal issue.
If you don’t have parchment paper, no worries! The flour method or oil method will work fine, the parchment just keeps things tidy. Not worth an extra trip to the store for.
"bread" - Google News
June 17, 2020 at 10:21PM
https://ift.tt/3ebMTGJ
No-Knead Bread - Greenville News
"bread" - Google News
https://ift.tt/2pGzbrj
https://ift.tt/2Wle22m
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "No-Knead Bread - Greenville News"
Post a Comment