Crusty outside, light and airy inside
I love breads. Until last Christmas, I’ve never made one before because I’ve always had this fear making breads — too much kneading or not enough, too dense, too soft, etc. I find it finicky and sort of temperamental.
However, I decided conquer my fear and make it for our Christmas dinner. I got this recipe from our kitchen bible, the America’s Test Kitchen cookbook. It seemed pretty easy enough and as you can see, it turned out pretty well. It’s crusty on the outside and light and airy inside. It actually tasted much like freshly-baked bread brought from a high-end bakery.
One of the things I learned making this bread is to have patience, lots of it. I made it the night before as it has to sit for a number of hours to allow the bread to rise, between 8 to 18 hours. I should say this is probably the easiest bread to make and less intimidating.
Here is the recipe for Almost No-Knead Bread which makes 1 large round loaf:
Ingredients
3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour (15 ounces), plus additional for dusting work surface
1/4 teaspoon instant or rapid-rise yeast
1-1/2 teaspoons table salt
3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons water (7 ounces), at room temperature
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons mild-flavored lager (3 ounces)
1 tablespoon white vinegar
Instructions
1. Whisk flour, yeast, and salt in large bowl. Add water, beer, and vinegar. Using rubber spatula, fold mixture, scraping up dry flour from bottom of bowl until shaggy ball forms. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and let sit at room temperature for 8 to 18 hours.
2. Lay 12- by 18-inch sheet of parchment paper inside 10-inch skillet and spray with nonstick cooking spray. Transfer dough to lightly floured work surface and knead 10 to 15 times. Shape dough into ball by pulling edges into middle. Transfer dough, seam-side down, to parchment-lined skillet and spray surface of dough with nonstick cooking spray. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rise at room temperature until dough has doubled in size and does not readily spring back when poked with finger, about 2 hours.
3. About 30 minutes before baking, adjust oven rack to lowest position, place 6- to 8-quart heavy-bottomed Dutch oven (with lid) on rack, and heat oven to 500 degrees. Lightly flour top of dough and, using razor blade or sharp knife, make one 6-inch-long, 1/2-inch-deep slit along top of dough. Carefully remove pot from oven and remove lid. Pick up dough by lifting parchment overhang and lower into pot (let any excess parchment hang over pot edge). Cover pot and place in oven. Reduce oven temperature to 425 degrees and bake covered for 30 minutes. Remove lid and continue to bake until loaf is deep brown and instant-read thermometer inserted into center registers 210 degrees, 20 to 30 minutes longer. Carefully remove bread from pot; transfer to wire rack and cool to room temperature, about 2 hours.
And here’s a video clip showing how easy it is to make this wonderful bread:
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[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Ernskie. Ernskie said: Made America's @TestKitchen Almost No-Knead Bread http://ernskie.com/?p=102329868 First bread I made and I'm glad it turned out great! [...]