(Almost) No Knead Bread

Epicurean Exploits - Food and Recipes
21

Nice Melissa!
I did this last winter while ripping my hair out trying to figure out baguettes…




Really quite easy to make, and a crowd pleaser.

Here’s my baguette -

22

Dan, that’s some fine-lookin’ bread you got there… looks like you got a more open crumb than we did. That baguette is bee-you-tee-ful. [welldone.gif]

23

Indeed. That looks fantastic! We’re going to try it again this week with fresher yeast.

24

same recipe dan? or you did something else. That bread looks gorgeous!

25

Thanks guys.
I used the same recipe…maybe with a little higher hydration?

The one thing I learned about bread is that a really hot oven is key, at least for me.
Getting a good humid bake is important to allow expansion, and high hydration produces a bigger crumb (holes).

As for the baguette…it was an epic winter. Lots of [scratch.gif] …but when I finally got it, I could reproduce the result. Took me only 6 months… headbang . The baguette is based on Anis Bouobsa’s award winning formula (he won baguette of the year in Paris).

If anyone is interested I can post pictures of my set up…

26

Umm, yeah!

27

And, we’re off! We’re in the “shaggy ball” phase right now. I used slightly more water this time around, and very fresh yeast. Dan, when you post more, will you include the relative proportions you used of the various ingredients?

28

Here is what I have -

I use a converted buffet pan with a drilled hole and place over the loaf after scoring and placed on the baking stone…

I then inject steam using this steam cleaner into the hole for about 15-20 seconds. This allows steam baking and good oven spring.

I then remove the lid after about 13 minutes to let the dry baking occur for the rest of the time.

I know a lot of folks here don’t visit the Squires BB anymore, but I had a whole thread there started from the beginning of my journey on making baguettes.

Anyway, placing the no knead dough into the dutch oven essentially accomplishes the steam bake with the cover on.

29

Melissa, which proportions were you wanting? No knead or baguette?

I don’t change too much for the no knead.

For the baguette, I use -
500 g bread dough
375 g water
10 g salt
1/4 teaspoon yeast
and bulk ferment overnight.
I have done this in differing quantities but with the same proportions.

BTW I learned a ton from Bill Ackerman at the other BB.

30

Dan,

Can you estimate the diameter of your rolled dough to get a decent baguette? ALso, what do you use to slice the top? Razor?

31

Hmm… [scratch.gif] I would guess about three finger widths.

Slashing is one tricky thing…hard to be very consistent.
I use a plain razor, and slash quickly, at an angle…almost horizontal plane.

I know some people use a lame, but a razor works just fine.

Thefreshloaf.com has a ton of great info there too. I will try to find the link for slashing/scoring.

32

Here is a link to a great tutorial -

Bread Scoring Tutorial (updated 1/2/2009) | The Fresh Loaf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The keys for me - quick slashing, the blade at an almost horizontal angle, and going SHALLOW (which is totally counterintuitive for me).

33

Wow Dan, what a set-up! I tried the almost no-knead recipe with a slightly higher water content today, but the dough was very hard to work with. I didn’t get as open a crumb as you have, but the flavor was still good.

I have the same stone you have, but I don’t have one of those steam gizmos. I should probably stick to dutch oven, but maybe tweak the recipe a bit. Are you starting with the Bittman recipe, or the CI recipe? Also, I see you used bread flour for the baguette-- do you use it for the no-knead bread too, or AP flour?

34

Still need to give this recipe a shot.

35

Melissa,
I used the CI recipe.
Plus I only use bread flour these days for making bread. I tried AP, but it’s just not as good.
I sometimes even use King Arthurs.

36

I used King Arthur AP for my second CI loaf. I’ll try bread flour next!

We used this bread tonight as a base for open-faced porcini sandwiches.

37

OK.
Are you guys baking a lot in the summer??

I pretty much stopped around Mem Day weekend.

38

Less bread over the summer but the pizza rolls on and I still do biscuits and a little bread. But then again it’s rarely above 60F here, we actually get psyched when it gets into the upper 60’s and bust out the flip flops and hefeweisen…