Batch #1 of no knead Artisan bread

 The dough has been in the fridge for almost 24 hours.  It is deflated and very yeasty-scented.

I used a rubber spatula to break off about a 1/4 of it.   Then I just shaped it into a ball and turned the edges under until it was smooth.  

 Then,  I put it on a sheet of parchment paper sprinkled with cornmeal.  

 The instructions said to let it rise for 40 minutes,  it was slow to rise so I left it set for an hour.  

The recipe said to use lots of flour but I used just enough to keep it from sticking.  

After it had raised enough,  I cut an X in the top with a sharp knife.

Then I picked up the whole sheet of parchment paper and transferred to a dutch oven that had preheated at 450 for 10 minutes.  

For the first 30 minutes, it baked with the lid on the dutch oven.  

 Then I uncovered it and let it bake 10 minutes more.    

The bread did a lot more raising in the oven.  

 It came out golden brown.  Even with no fat, it did not stick at all to the parchment paper.  

Sliced

The bread has a great flavor.  The round loaf looks pretty but it takes a long time to bake.  

Also, the crust is very sturdy,  I would not describe it as crisp or tough,  just sturdy.  

We liked it alot  even though it was not our favorite bread of all time.

It was excellent for the first try I think.  

I plan to shape the  next loaf  more like a traditional loaf of French bread and will bake it on a stone or baking sheet..  

Maybe I will bake loaf #2 on Thursday.  

Follow our 14 day no-knead Artisan bread project

 I've been hearing and reading about 2 new popular methods of making bread.  One is called the No Knead method and the other is called 5 minute artisan.  I even found a copy of the 5 minute artisan book at a yard sale for just $1.

Anyway,  even though the mixing seems simple,  other parts seem complicated.  

One drawback for me is that the 5 minute book recipes call for unbleached flour, which is hard to find in my small town and expensive if it is found.

The other part I did not like is that the oven is supposed to be pre-heated for 30 minutes at a very high temp.  That seems rather energy wasteful to me.

Well,  I have been doing some online research on this easy to mix up bread and have watched several videos on Roku where the cooks make this bread.

Seems the unbleached flour and long pre-heating are not necessarily required.  

Nina and I picked out one of the simplest recipes and mixed it up before lunch today.  

We used 

3 cups of water

1 1/2 T yeast

1 1/2 T salt

1 C whole wheat flour

5 1/2 C bread flour   - thats it,  no sugar or oil of any kind in these recipes. 

So it is thriftier and lower calorie than most bread recipes.

the actual pages from the book - click on them to enlarge if you want to read the book's details.  

Just stir up the ingredients,  the dough was thicker than I expected it to be.

 Cover loosely and let set at room temperature for 2 hours.  

Ours actually sat out for 3 hours because we went to some thrift stores and forgot.

Then it goes in the fridge and just stays there for up to 14 days.

When you want bread,  you break off a lump and form your loaf,  Then let it rise for 45 minutes and bake.

If you want to see the first loaf,  I plan to bake one tomorrow.  

This batch is supposed to make 4  1 pound loaves.  

I may use one lump for pizza and some for buns as the 14 days go on.  

Anyone make this kind of bread?  Any advice?