A better bread – part two
I went to the store today for vegetables. I confess that I was none to enthused about the prospect because I haven’t bought veggies since April. Now that our CSA share is over its back to the co-op for produce. Even though the co-op always has great produce I didn’t expect to find much that was local, after all it has snowed here already. But boy was I surprised. There was fennel, cauliflower, broccoli romanesco, beets, parsnips, mushrooms, and carrots. The carrots and beets came from Harmony Valley and everything else, except the mushrooms, came from Tipi Produce. All organic, all local, and all just gorgeous. I know that soon even this won’t be available…but for now we eat well and guilt-free.
Update on the “Better Bread Recipe” from yesterday:
Last night when I went to bed it was bubbly (see photo 1).
When I got home today I followed step 2 which had me dumping the dough onto a floured counter and folding it over itself a couple times. The dough was a big blob, it didn’t fold, it ebbed and flowed and stuck to my hands like crazy (see photo 2).
I let it rest for 15 minutes while I scrapped the flour blob off my hands and then I followed step 3. Step 3 says to form a ball and place it seam side down on a cotton towel. However, at no time did my glutinous blob resemble a ball of dough with a seam. It was more like a pile of gooze. Using a dough scraper I managed to get it onto a cotton towel covered with cornmeal. I threw some more flour on top and covered it with another towel. I felt much better once it was covered. At this point it was a large, flat oval (see photo 3).
I preheated my oven to 450 with a 5 quart Le Creuset chef’s pan (with lid on) preheating in it. Once it was ready I picked up the four corners of the towel and tried to get rid of the excess corn meal before I dumped it in the pan (that really wasn’t a successful move; I don’t recommend it). Then I dumped it in the very hot pan, grabbed the lid (oh no I almost touched it without a pot holder…remember it is hot, but it doesn’t look hot…evil, evil oven heated lid). Using a pot holder, I put the lid on the pot.
I shove the pot back into the oven, set the timer for 30 minutes and start preparing dinner. After 30 minutes I remove the evil lid, (with a pot holder!) and this is what it looks like (see photo 4).
I shove it back into the oven for 15 more minutes. After 15 minutes I take it out and this is what it looked like (see photo 5). I dump it onto the rack and this is what it looks like (see photo 6). I thump it and it sounds good. The crust is incredibly hard. This is the bottom of the loaf (see photo 7).
It smells good, but we all know that even the worst loaf smells good when its baking. I probably didn’t wait long enough before I sliced into it, but the guys were hungry. The crust is incredibly tough when I slice it and the inside is really moist (see photo 8). Not like it hasn’t cooked enough kind of moist, but like it was a really wet bread moist (which it was). The smell reminds me of bread machine bread. I don’t like that smell. I eat it, it isn’t very good. Tough crust, soggy insides, nothing good here.
What did I learn here? I learned that the bread technique I’ve honed to perfection over the last 10 years works better for me. It creates much less of a mess, produces better bread, and certainly doesn’t take any thought. I could never adapt my life to this method. After I’ve recovered from this debacle I’ll post on how I make bread. But for now I’ve had it.
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4 Responses to “A better bread – part two”
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Thanks for this ‘indepth’ look at the no-knead recipe – perhaps I have been living under a rock (or Australia :)) but I only recently heard about it and have been trying to decide if I want to make it for my blog. After reading your adventure I have decided that life is too short – this has been done to death anyway – and like you – I find making my 2 loaves a week, no work at all – and I use traditional methods. Cheers Lynda
[...] vermutet wird, internationale Zeitungen über das Phänomen berichtet. Was so besonders ist an diesem Brot? Man muss es nicht kneten, rührt einfach die Zutaten zusammen, lässt es Ewigkeiten gehen, backt [...]
Have made the ‘starter’ tonight for the first time. (Apparently I must be living on Mars as I only encountered this recipe tonight – but the dolt who posted it typed 1 tablespoon salt – it wasn’t until reading all the other stories on this recipe that I discovered the error!) Oh, well, I countered it with 3 tablespoons sugar and if all else fails I shall make it into a sourdough starter.
On your experience – I think it is entirely possible that you cut into the bread way too soon. In Paris it is illegal to even sell bread until it is at least 20 minutes out of the oven! As I bake what I consider regular bread – by hand, etc., I have experienced slicing into a loaf too soon and it looks like your bread.
I’m from SF and have tried FOR YEARS to replicate SF sourdough I used to enjoy there. I’ve never come close but from all the images I’ve seen of this ‘no knead’ bread it looks identical. The irregular and rather large holes, and dry, irregular crusts, etc. I’ll know sometime tomorrow if it tastes good, too
Just passing by and noticed your post. I have made no other bread before, so I really liked the no-knead kind. I seem to get more rise out of the dough if I use a glass bowl, but I don’t know why. Also, I believe the original recipe says to wait an hour before cutting, which we’ve always done. This is a very moist bread on the inside, though. We like it. Someday I’ll be patient enough to knead. :)