No Knead Bread
I used to think that it is just easier to buy bread than to make one. Thinking about the mess from kneading, flour dust, sticky dough all around the kitchen, it'll create usually make me run into the store and buy the most expensive loaf. But then I get to know Mme. SF here in Melbourne. She made gourmet pizza for lunch one day and the fact that Msr. no Quatre once proclaimed that bread is one of his favorite foods other than pizza (yeah I say it's same different), the tiny voice in my head screamed at me that I should at least try bread making.
I started easy with 30 minutes pizza dough and progressing to garlic breadstick and sweet potato roll. And now after a year of bread making with just plain-old all purpose flour, I actually bought bread flour (wooo hoo) - a big 5 kg (10 lbs) sack too!! And last night, I made my first bread with it and it comes out delicious. I say it's a long process, since you have to leave the dough overnight and an additional 2 hours, but easy enough as no kneading is necessary.
I got this recipe from www.steamykitchen.com which is adapted from mark Bittman from the NY Times who got it from Sullivan Street Bakery which has been adapted again by Rose L Beranbaum (it's like saying the sister of a sister in law of a friend of a friend haha).
No Knead Bread
3 cups bread flour
1/4 tsp instant yeast
1 tsp table salt
1 1/2 cup warm water (my water was about 125F/50C)
Combine ingredients and mix with wooden spoon until dough just comes together. It'll be sticky. Cover with plastic wrap and let sit on the counter for 12 - 20 hours.
With a wet spatula, dump the dough on a floured surface. With wet hand, fold the edges of dough and form into a ball-ish shape. Generously dust flour on a cotton towel (don't sneeze or the little mess part is history) and set dough seam side down on top of the towel. Cover and let sit for 2 hours
Place covered pot (make sure your pot and its cover are oven proof!) in the oven and preheat to 450 F/230 C . Remove pot from oven, and dump dough into pot. Cover and bake for 30 min. Uncover and bake for 15 - 2o minutes or until the crust is golden. Remove from pot. Now the hard part: let it cool in the wire rack. Happy eating!
