Oh my gosh! I’ve made
several no-knead (or partial knead) breads in the past but never as good as this loaf! They’ve all
started with flour, yeast, salt and water – the basics that are allowed to ferment,
and then with minimal effort, are shaped and baked in a Dutch oven. Not sure
what the difference is—maybe the beer or the cold oven, but this recipe yields
a crisp, light, somewhat porous, loaf with a moist crumb and good taste.
I discovered this
recipe in a Cook’s Country magazine and just had to give it a try. It was perfect with soup and I’ll definitely be making this again (to eat with just about anything or everything), plus I plan to test out some variations as well. To make it —
simply mix a few ingredients (the beer and the vinegar basically act as the
fermented starter), let it set several hours, knead 10 to 12 times and then
after a two hour proof, the bread goes into a cold oven to bake.
This bread also makes great toast.
Almost No-Knead Bread
3 cups all-purpose
flour
1½ teaspoons salt
¼ teaspoon instant or rapid-rise yeast
¾ cup + 2 tablespoons water, room temperature
6 tablespoons
mild-flavored lager beer (I just used whatever beer I had on hand + I used a little more -- just enough so there were no dry patches of dough)
1 tablespoon
distilled white vinegar
Vegetable oil spray
- Mix the flour, salt, and yeast together in a large bowl.
- Add the water, lager and the vinegar. Using a rubber
spatula, fold the mixture to combine ingredients, scraping up the dry flour from the bottom of the
bowl.
 |
| The dough look rather "shaggy" at this point. |
- Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and allow it to sit at room
temperature for at least 8 hours or up to 18 hours.
- Lay an 18x12-inch sheet of parchment paper on the counter
and spray it with the vegetable oil spray.
- Transfer the dough to a lightly floured work surface and
knead the dough 10 to 15 times. Shape the dough into a ball by pulling the
edges of the dough into the middle.
 |
| Dough has been kneaded and shaped. |
- Transfer the dough, seam side down, to the center of the
oiled parchment paper and spray the surface of the dough with the vegetable oil
spray. Pick up the dough by lifting the parchment paper overhang and lower it
into a heavy-bottomed Dutch oven. Let any excess parchment paper hang out over
the edge of the pot. Cover the pot loosely with plastic wrap and allow the
dough to rise at room temperature until it has doubled in size and does not
readily spring back when poked with a finger, about 2 hours.
 |
| Dough has just been transferred to the Dutch oven. Notice that the parchment paper stays in place throughout the baking process. |
- Adjust an oven rack to the middle position. Remove the
plastic wrap from the pot. Lightly flour the top of the dough and using a sharp
knife or a razor blade, make one 6” long, ½” deep slit along the top of the
dough.
- Cover the pot and place it in the oven. Heat the oven to
425°. Bake the bread for 30 minutes. Note: Bread is placed into a cold oven;
set the timer for 30 minutes at that point —do not wait until the oven
preheats.
- Remove the lid from the pot and continue to bake the bread
until the loaf is a deep brown and registers 210° on an instant-read
thermometer inserted into the bread, about 20 to 30 minutes longer.
 |
| This is what the bread looked like about the first 30 minutes in the oven. |
- Using the parchment paper overhang, carefully remove the
bread from the pot. Transfer the loaf to a wire rack and allow it to cool
completely, about 2 hours. (We ate our loaf when it was warm from the oven.)
Other Almost No-Knead breads include:
Recipe without photos . . .
Almost No-Knead Bread
3 cups all-purpose flour
1½ teaspoons salt
¼ teaspoon instant or rapid-rise yeast
¾ cup + 2 tablespoons water, room temperature
6 tablespoons mild-flavored lager beer (I just used whatever beer I had on hand + I used a little more -- just enough so there were no dry patches of dough)
1 tablespoon distilled white vinegar
Vegetable oil spray
- Mix the flour, salt, and yeast together in a large bowl.
- Add the water, lager and the vinegar. Using a rubber spatula, fold the mixture to combine ingredients, scraping up the dry flour from the bottom of the bowl.
- Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and allow it to sit at room temperature for at least 8 hours or up to 18 hours.
- Lay an 18x12-inch sheet of parchment paper on the counter and spray it with the vegetable oil spray.
- Transfer the dough to a lightly floured work surface and knead the dough 10 to 15 times. Shape the dough into a ball by pulling the edges of the dough into the middle.
- Transfer the dough, seam side down, to the center of the oiled parchment paper and spray the surface of the dough with the vegetable oil spray. Pick up the dough by lifting the parchment paper overhang and lower it into a heavy-bottomed Dutch oven. Let any excess parchment paper hang out over the edge of the pot. Cover the pot loosely with plastic wrap and allow the dough to rise at room temperature until it has doubled in size and does not readily spring back when poked with a finger, about 2 hours.
- Adjust an oven rack to the middle position. Remove the plastic wrap from the pot. Lightly flour the top of the dough and using a sharp knife or a razor blade, make one 6” long, ½” deep slit along the top of the dough.
- Cover the pot and place it in the oven. Heat the oven to 425°. Bake the bread for 30 minutes. Note: Bread is placed into a cold oven; set the timer for 30 minutes at that point —do not wait until the oven preheats.
- Remove the lid from the pot and continue to bake the bread until the loaf is a deep brown and registers 210° on an instant-read thermometer inserted into the bread, about 20 to 30 minutes longer.
- Using the parchment paper overhang, carefully remove the bread from the pot. Transfer the loaf to a wire rack and allow it to cool completely, about 2 hours. (We ate our loaf when it was warm from the oven.)
