Wednesday, November 26, 2008

Pat's No-Knead Bread


I'm not a bread baker. Baking bread has always been something I've wanted to try, but never really got around to. My stepmother, Pat, an amazing cook and the source of a lot of inspiration, is in town this week and decided to take some drastic steps to kick me in a bread-baking direction.

She brought in what absolutely has to be the easiest bread recipe I've ever heard of. It requires almost no effort, and certainly no kneading or sense of yeast-timing, which always kind of scared me off as some kind of medieval alchemy. This is easy, folks. Try it right now!

Pat's No-Knead Bread

Ingredients:

3 cups bread flour, plus 1-2 tbsp.
Pinch of kosher salt
1 packet of dried yeast
1 1/2 cups warm water

Directions:



Mix all the ingredients in a big pot with a spoon. Mix it all up with a spoon until it's in a "rough, shaggy ball" (her words). Cover with plastic wrap and let sit for 4 hours.



Preheat oven to 450. When the oven is hot, put a second pot (or the same one if you've removed the dough and cleaned it) in and let it heat up, about 15-20 minutes.





Put the dough in the pot, cover, and bake for 30 minutes. Take off the cover and continue baking until properly browned. We left ours in for about 20 minutes.

Done. Seriously.

Try it now, I really mean it. It's totally awesome.

Update: A reader brought to my attention that this recipe is originally from the NY Times. I wasn't aware when I made the post, but my stepmom confirms it. Sorry for any confusion!

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/08/dining/08mini.html

6 comments:

TM said...

How much yeast is in one packet?

Anonymous said...

wow bread maker bread maker make me some bread....loooks great. How was it?

Anonymous said...

When is the foodie hosting the first Clinton Hill Foodie taste of Clinton hill? I think it's time.

Anonymous said...

I usually buy my yeast in the three packets that you would find in the baking section of the grocery store. Fleischmann"s is my favorite. Each packet weighs about a 1/4 of an ounce(7 grams)and roughly a teaspon and a half if using yeast packaged in a jar. I have found that it is much easier to use the packets(envelopes)quicker turnover therefore fresher ingredients. 1 envelope active dry yeast=1 envelope rapidrise=1 cake(0.6 ounce)yeast. Hope that clears up the previous question.

Anonymous said...

Correction to above bulk yeast measument to how much yeast is in one packet or envelope....it is 2 and 1/2 teaspoons NOT 1 and 1/2 teaspoons as stated.

Anonymous said...

Hey Foodie, lets get going on the posts, once a week isn't doing it for us ...