Almost No-Knead Bread

This bread is FANTASTIC--just like those nice, chewy, crisp-crusted artisan breads! Definitely worth any trouble it takes to make--which would be none, if you didn't have to get some beer. Buying beer is something that, as a nice Mormon girl, I do not normally do. In fact, I usually skip over recipes with beer in them, or try to substitute something else. But Cook's Illustrated (Feb. 2008) says this bread has no flavor unless you add a little beer. (For the semi-embarrassing adventure on buying my first beer, see my other blog, Loralee's Fancy.) I did discover, after the first time I made the recipe, that you can make it with non-alcoholic beer, which is slightly less stressful to purchase.


ALMOST NO-KNEAD BREAD

3 cups (15 oz.) unbleached all-purpose flour (plus additional for kneading)
1/4 tsp. instant yeast
1 1/2 tsp. salt
3/4 cup + 2 Tbsp. water at room temperature
1/4 cup + 2 Tbsp. mild-flavored lager
1 Tbsp. white vinegar

The night before you want the bread: Whisk flour, yeast and salt together in a large bowl. In a small bowl (or a 2-cup measuring cup) mix together water, and when no one is looking, beer (lager) and vinegar; add to the flour mixture. Using a rubber spatula, fold the mixture together, scraping up dry flour from bottom of bowl until a shaggy ball forms. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and let sit at room temperature for 8 to 18 hours.

Three to four hours before you want the bread: Lay a sheet of parchment paper inside a 10-inch skillet [I use a 9-inch cake pan] and spray with nonstick cooking spray. Transfer the dough to a lightly floured work surface and knead 10 to 15 times. Shape dough into a ball by pulling the edges into the middle.

Transfer dough, seam-side down, to parchment-lined pan and lightly spray surface of dough with nonstick cooking spray. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rise at room temperature until dough has doubled in size, about 2-3 hours.

About 30 minutes before baking: Adjust oven rack to second lowest position, place a 6 to 8-quart heavy-bottomed Dutch oven with lid [I use a soup pot sitting on top of my pizza stone] on oven rack and heat to 425 degrees. [The original recipe says 500 degrees, but my bread burns when I start out that hot.] Lightly flour top of dough and, using a razor blade or sharp knife, make one 6-inch long, 1/2-inch deep slit along the top of the dough. Carefully remove pot from oven and remove lid. Pick up dough by lifting parchment paper and lower into the pot (let excess parchment hang over the edge). Cover pot and place in oven. Reduce oven temperature to 425 degrees (if you heated to 500) and bake, covered, for 25 minutes. Remove lid and continue to bake until loaf is browned, about 20 more minutes. Carefully remove bread from pot; transfer to wire rack and cool to room temperature. [Actually we never wait that long to eat fresh bread. But it will slice easier if you wait at least half an hour.]


Delicious!

TRY THIS ONE, TOO! (After all, you still have most of a can of beer to use up.)

CRANBERRY-NUT BREAD

Add 1/2 cup Craisins and 1/2 cup toasted walnuts or pecans, plus a pinch of cinnamon and 1 Tbsp. brown sugar to the flour mixture. Continue with recipe as written above. Fabulous!!