Thursday, February 12

My first foray into no-knead breadmaking

My first two loaves of "no-knead" bread are rising! It’s been about 17 hours. I have the oven pre-heating to 515, WITH my porcelain-coated cast iron Dutch oven in it. I am using the NY Times recipe for one loaf, and Melody Johnson’s recipe for the other. Melody’s recipe called for 1-5/8 cups of water; NY Times called for 1 ½ cups. We shall see! The first one just looked too watery to me, so I added more flour, but did NOT add more yeast and salt, so I have my doubts about that one.

Today is Ken’s dad’s 89th birthday, so I am taking at least one loaf to share for the birthday dinner tonight. Yes, I feel very cool and domestic! Like my domestic goddess idol, Nigella Lawson. I shall hopefully impress the family tonight, as I have a reputation as someone who does not cook, and often makes flops. Although, I did make a pot of soup last night that was outstanding! So I have an occasional success – hopefully at least ONE loaf will be a success – and maybe even BOTH! Here are pics of the risen dough – I am feeling so competent (so far!)
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4 comments:

  1. Carmen RoseFebruary 11, 2009 at 10:15 AM

    YAY! We’ve gotten you with peer pressure! I’ve got my second loaf rising right now, I used Melody’s recipe but this time I took some basil off my kitchen plant and stuck it in the blender along with the 1 5/8 cups of water. So my dough is green! I don’t know if this will work but at least my first loaf turned out amazing! And I let it rise for the 18 hours and popped it in a deep Corelle baking dish and baked it at 450 degrees with the lid on for the first half hour. It was AMAZING! Next time I won’t bake it quite as long and butter and salt the crust when it comes out. Yummmm!

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  2. Jane MoxeyFebruary 11, 2009 at 10:22 AM

    Good job on the bread. I couldn't believe how watery my first loaf looked. However it turned out tasty, if rather flat and funny looking. I almost threw it out, but used a bit of extra four in order to be able to handle the gooey mess!! That's why I now do the Cooks Illustrated "Almost No Knead" version. Nigella rocks and I love her bright and breezy approach to the whole domestic goddess thing. Her cookbooks are fun to read as well, which I appreciate. Her TV show was amusing too. I think the guys who produced those episodes that might have been former porn film makers! Oh those sexy close-ups of food preparation! MInd you, when I was producing the DVDs about quilting for C & T, I made sure we had very close close ups of sewing stuff:) Quilt porn, what a concept:)

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  3. Claire O'ConnorFebruary 17, 2009 at 8:52 AM

    Yes! Let's hear it for "quilt porn"! There's just something about the attention to detail that comes across as satisfying and sensuous. Well, what could be more sense-related than eating and touch?

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  4. Claire O'ConnorFebruary 17, 2009 at 9:18 AM

    I love it when peer pressure is about yummy bread instead of all the usual connotations. Boy, we’re a wholesome bunch, aren’t we?! Yum! I love the butter and salt idea – I just popped a loaf in the oven, and I will try that!

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