So as some of you may know, this Fall, I took a class at Midsummer Farm in Warwick, NY where I learned about growing herbs, using them in everyday life, and how to make homemade products and recipes with them. Although there are no herbs in the bread recipe I will be sharing today, Barbara (the instructor of the class and my idol) made this recipe (from NY Times) to accompany a delicious lunch that was based around the different herbs in that day's coursework. Since it was beyond amazing (yes, I had a small piece) I decided to share it with you as I was preparing it to eat with my chicken soup recipe, shared in last week's post.
If you were (or are) intimidated by the very though of making homemade bread, don't be…this is one hell-of-a way to get started. It's super easy, absolutely scrumptious, and requires 4 simple ingredients! The beauty of this recipe is that, unlike other bread recipes that require long periods of kneading the dough, this one is a "no-knead" dough! However, the only downfall of it is the fact that you have to start it the day before you want to eat it - but thats okay because the actually "hands on" portion of the recipe is less than an hour including cooking time!
Here goes!
You will need:
- a Dutch oven (ceramic, Pyrex, or cast iron). They recommend 6 qt but mine was a 2 qt and was perfect.
- mixing bowl and wooden spoon
- plastic wrap
- 2 cotton tea towels (any cotton towel will do as long as it is NOT terry cloth)
- 3 cups all purpose flour (and more for dusting… a lot of dusting)
- 1/4 tsp active yeast
- 1 1/4 tsp salt
- 1 5/8 cups water (i'll get into this dumb measurement later on)
To make:
Take the flour, yeast, and salt and mix it together in a bowl so that all ingredients are well combined. On the package of yeast, they talk some nonsense about dissolving it in water first - hogwash! There is no need to do this for this recipe.
Next you want to add the 1 5/8 cups of water.
I mean come on… 5/8 cup… who does that?! I was looking, perplexed, at all of the measuring devices in the house, just praying that one would have a 5/8 cup mark on it and you know what - the lights were on but nobody was home! Using my college degree(s), I used a mathematical formula, from memory, and figured out that 5/8 of a cup is actually 1/2 cup plus 2 tbsp! Ok maybe I stretched the truth a little…ok, I flat out lied! I did not do any math to figure this out (what do I look like, Einstein) I used this measurement converter that is a life saver!
So at this point you should have this going on in your mixing bowl.
And now we stir… and stir… until you "form some sort of paste" (F.r.i.e.n.d.s. reference, I couldn't help myself). No, but really - it gets thick and sticky! Make sure that everything is mixed well and there are no dry bits lingering about the bowl. Once it is mixed well you successfully made your dough (in a sense) and you will want to cover it with plastic wrap like this.
Now comes the long part… waiting 18 hours, yes I said 18 hours, for it to do its magic. While the dough is "working" you want to keep it in a warm location (at about 70 degrees). Since my kitchen is downstairs and we lower the heat during the night, I brought the dough to bed with me... well not really to bed but in my bedroom where it was at least 70 degrees throughout the night. As the dough is doing it's thang… you will get this wonderful yeasty aroma if you get close to it and take a whiff!
So after 18 hours, remove the plastic wrap and check out your dough. It should be bubbly and filled with nice little air pockets like this.
Now you are going to need to get out your cotton tea towels. In our house we use a dough board instead of rolling dough out on our counter or kitchen table- you can do whatever you are used to. Flour the work surface with just enough flour so that the super-sticky dough does not stick.
Now dust your hands with flour (ok maybe its more like coating them really, really, really well) so that you can work with the dough. WARNING: it's like glue! Start by pulling the dough away from the sides of the bowl and forming it into a blobby ball, of sorts. Then plop it (literally it will make a "plop" sound) onto the work surface and dust it with flour like this.
Kind of work it into some sort of round object, as best you can… it is going to try to move into its own shape so just go with it. Once you have a decent dusting of flour on it, it should not be so sticky any more.
You are going to want to fold the dough over itself once (like folding it in half) and then fold it again in the opposite direction like this.
Pay attention to the seams - they actually serve a purpose believe it or not! They are important in the next few steps.
Move the dough to the side and take one of the cotton towels. Lay it flat on the work surface and give that a nice dusting of flour, not too much and not too little (we are doing a lot of flour dusting, this I know). Pick up your dough and put it seam side down onto the cotton towel. In the picture below, I am pointing to what the seam-side looks like incase you have no idea what I am talking about. You should have a pretty, smooth-topped ball of dough like this.
Now, lightly dust the smooth side of the dough ball with flour and cover with the other cotton tea towel. Leave it sit for 2 more hours.
About 30 minutes before the two hours is up, you will want to preheat your oven to 450 degrees and put your Dutch oven, and lid, in the oven to warm up (yes, I know it is empty but just go with it). Make sure to put an oven rack at mid-height since thats where we want to bake this little baby.
After two hours is up, remove the top towel. Take your finger and give your dough a little poke with your finger… it should leave a mark if it is ready. If the dough quickly springs back, leave it for another half hour and check back with another poke. Mine was just perfect at the two hour mark. See the picture below.
Remove your Dutch oven from the oven and be careful not to burn yourself… I'm not speaking for experience or anything like that, and place it on a pot holder next to your work surface. Slip you hand underneath the the tea towel and under your dough ball. Gently, flip your dough ball into the hot Dutch oven so that the towel (seam side) is up. Slowly pull the tea towel off of the dough ball like this.
It may be a little hard to see in the picture, but my seam side is now facing up. This will make a beautiful ridge in your final loaf. I promise, it will look as though it was bought at a real shee-shee bakery. Dust (yes, again) the top of the dough with a little more flour (this is the last time I will say this, PROMISE). If your dough is looking a bit on the wonky side (in shape that is), give the Dutch oven a shimmy-shake to even things out a bit. Mine was off kilter but I kind of wanted that, homemade, rustic kind of look.
Put the lid onto the Dutch oven and put it in the oven, on the middle rack, for 30 minutes.
After 30 minutes of baking, your loaf (now we will call it a loaf instead of dough ball) will be a very, very light golden color. Take the lid off (careful not to burn yourself again, ahem!), and bake for 15 more minutes. In the pictures below, the top picture is the golden color you are looking for after 30 minutes. Keep an eye on the loaf during the last 15 minutes because this little guy will turn brown quickly while the lid is off!!
Once you have a nicely browned loaf, remove it from the oven. Take pot holders and lift the loaf out of the Dutch oven and place it onto a wire rack to cool. The beauty of this loaf is the fact that it literally does not stick, whatsoever, to the Dutch oven… I was amazed when I realized I didn't need a spatula to unstick it from the bottom!
We ate ours warm, practically right out of the oven, and let me tell you… it is hard to stop yourself from eating the whole darn thing (yourself).
It may seem like "oh my gosh, she thinks this is easy!?!" but I tell you… it really is super easy. There truly is no comparison of store bought bread compared to the homemade thing!
Give it a try and let me know how it went in the comments below!
I intend on making this loaf again and incorporating some herbs, or maybe some kalamata olives (olive bread is my all time favorite). When I do, I will be sure to post about it.
Enjoy!
Danielle
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