The Best Bread Recipe (and newspaper) Ever

The running joke in our house is that a full two thirds of my conversation begin with “in the New York Times today…”. The habit, established in high school, of treating the papers as a conversational gambit, has driven The Banker a little crazy through the years and while I have tried to stop it’s hard. Because the minute you don’t pay attention to NYT you risk missing a life altering article about bread. No knead bread, to be specific, has in the past year revolutionized bread making in our household. The thing about this is it almost annoying how easy it is. I’ve baked many dozens of recipes using a multiple of flours and starters and methods. I’ve started sponges, babysat sourdoughs, hand kneaded and used the Kitchenaid. This recipe is much, much better than any other and requires about 1/100th of the work (in fact I can/have done it returning home from somewhat rowdy nights out on the town). It’s also hyper adaptable – experiment with different flours and timing. I feel free to omit that fact when receiving praise on the finished product.
Long live The New York Times.Adapted from Jim Lahey, Sullivan Street BakeryTime: About 1½ hours plus 14 to 20 hours’ rising



The York Times No Knead Bread Recipe
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/08/dining/08mini.html

3 cups all-purpose or bread flour, more for dusting
¼ teaspoon instant yeast
1¼ teaspoons salt
Cornmeal or wheat bran as needed.

1. In a large bowl combine flour, yeast and salt. Add 1 5/8 cups water, and stir until blended; dough will be shaggy and sticky. Cover bowl with plastic wrap. Let dough rest at least 12 hours, preferably about 18, at warm room temperature, about 70 degrees.

2. Dough is ready when its surface is dotted with bubbles. Lightly flour a work surface and place dough on it; sprinkle it with a little more flour and fold it over on itself once or twice. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rest about 15 minutes.

3. Using just enough flour to keep dough from sticking to work surface or to your fingers, gently and quickly shape dough into a ball. Generously coat a cotton towel (not terry cloth) with flour, wheat bran or cornmeal; put dough seam side down on towel and dust with more flour, bran or cornmeal. Cover with another cotton towel and let rise for about 2 hours. When it is ready, dough will be more than double in size and will not readily spring back when poked with a finger.

4. At least a half-hour before dough is ready, heat oven to 450 degrees. Put a 6- to 8-quart heavy covered pot (cast iron, enamel, Pyrex or ceramic) in oven as it heats. When dough is ready, carefully remove pot from oven. Slide your hand under towel and turn dough over into pot, seam side up; it may look like a mess, but that is O.K. Shake pan once or twice if dough is unevenly distributed; it will straighten out as it bakes. Cover with lid and bake 30 minutes, then remove lid and bake another 15 to 30 minutes, until loaf is beautifully browned. Cool on a rack.
Yield: One 1½-pound loaf