Easy No-Knead Bread

I am not a baker. As a scientist, yeast means a very different thing to me. But these days, quarantine has unleashed all kinds of strange behaviors, from cutting a bang for the first time, to baking bread. I have always loved fresh artisan bread. When I was in college, Iggy's Francese Bread in Cambridge was my guilty pleasure. Since moving to New York, on occasion I would find Iggy's in Union Sq Market or Whole Foods, but not as readily accessible as before. Artisan bread is not cheap, $5-$6 per loaf that can be (and will be) finished in two days. But back then, it was so worth it. The irresistible caramelized crust that crumbles into a soft, moist and stretchy filling, and the aroma of hearth oven that invites a second bite. Man, it was before the pandemic.

Nowadays, we make everything at home, from bread, pickles to smoothies. It serves as a pleasant mental break from Zoom, gives us an excuse to actually do something, and excites us with something, just something, to look forward to. Once you have stayed inside for so long, your memories start to fade. Monday differs not much from Tuesday. Morning and afternoon melt into one continuous stretch of forgettable time. Quarantine bread, for me, is that new experience that is both fulfilling and adventurous. Fulfilling? Because you observe your dough magically grows and transforms into bread within a matter of hours. Adventurous? Because you never know if you will succeed or fail.

Why no-knead bread? Because it's the easiest baking recipes that ever exists. Combine four basic ingredients: flour, salt, yeast, and water, then through a process of slow rise (during which you go to bed), the yeast magically works up the dough into airy bubbles (that determines the rise and size), and gluten starts to forms into the stretchy texture of artisan bread. Then you bake inside a preheated dutch oven that keeps moisture in, creating an oven-inside-oven. If you are ready to impress yourself and others, let's make it!

Ingredients

Flour - All-purpose flour will suffice, but since I already had bread flour from before the quarantine, so unbleached bread flour what I used in this recipes. If you remember from my Dutch oven recipes, I always, always recommend unbleached* flour. The brand I use is Bob's Red Mill.

Update: Most of the time, your bread fails to rise because of the type of flour you use and the amount of water you add. The ratio of flour:water is dependent on the protein level of your flour. Bread flour has ~12-14% protein while AP flour ranges from 9-11%.

When using AP Flour: If your AP flour has a low protein % (<10%), you would need to lower the hydration as recommended here (or else this flour will disintegrate when over-hydrated), and shorten the autolysis/fermentation (reduce to 14-16 hours). Low protein AP flour is challenging in long fermentation, but these tips can give the dough a bit more strength. I recommend King Arthur's AP Flour if possible.

*: Bleached flour is treated with bleaching agents (commonly benzoyl peroxide and chlorine gas) to speed up the aging process, while unbleached flour is bleached naturally as it ages. Aging creates a softer, finer texture and whitens the flour. When used in baking, aged flour has more volume and a lighter color. In my opinion, there is no earthly reason to consume bleached anything.

Yeast - I use SAF Red Instant Yeast. It is a very versatile yeast that can be used in bread, pizza, baguette, etc., fast-acting and long-lasting. It also happens to be the #1 top-selling yeast brand for bakers. (Due to quarantine bake craze, SAF is sold-out everywhere, link for where I got it will be at the end of this post).

Salt- to enhance flavor. I used handground Himalayan Sea Salt.

Water-Filtered warm water. Warmer temperature readily wakes up the yeast.

Equipment

- Measuring cups

- 4qt Dutch Oven

Instructions

At 6PM:

Make sure you have a bowl large enough for the dough to double its size.

Combine the following ingredients into a bowl:

3 cups bread flour, or All purpose

1/4 tsp yeast

1 tsp fine sea salt, or 2tsp coarse sea salt (fine/table salt is saltier than coarse salt or salt flakes)

Stir all dry ingredients with a spatula. Add 1 2/3 cups of warm filtered water (adjust to 1 1/3 cup if used AP flour), (preferably 1/2 water at 160F (~71C) diluted in 1/2 water at room temperature.) Mix well. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and leave at warm room temperature (i.e. on the coffee table in my bedroom) for 18 hours (14-16 hours if used AP).

18 hours later, around 12PM: The dough should double its size with plenty of microbubbles.

You would also smell a pleasantly sour aroma, similar to sourdough batter.

Lots and lots of bubbles that sit tightly together (kinda look like a tissue).

The edges would stick to the wall of the bowls. The dough at this time is super sticky.

You need a spatula to scrape off all sides, then use the same spatula to fold the dough over 4 times. This is similar to kneading, but here it is done in a bowl.

I prefer letting the dough rise in a bowl to keep its circular shape, but regardless of your method, be careful not to rupture the air bubbles.

Cover with wet tower/plastic wrap and leave at room temperature for 2 hours to rest.

Important: At 1.5 hour mark, turn on the oven to 450F and place a cast iron/Dutch oven (~4qt) with lid on to preheat. We left our Lodge Dutch oven in Boston so for this recipes I'm currently using Staub.

After 2 hours, the surface would smoothen. You would see large air bubbles that form underneath the stretch dough. Bubbles are crucial to the airiness of your bread.

Now, take out the Dutch oven. Spread a bit of flour on the surface of the dough. Use a spatular to scrape the side off, and carefully transfer the dough inside the Dutch oven. It will be messy. Jiggle the pot a bit so the dough can be spread out.

Place the lid on and bake for 35 minutes at 450F. It is important that you hold off your breath and do NOT take off the lid before it's due. After 35minutes, the bread should rise substantially due to the accumulating steam, but the color is still very bit pale.

Remove the lid and bake for another 15minutes until the bread reaches a golden color.

If your oven heats up unevenly (like mine), you would get one side with darker color and the other lighter. Most oven temperature is never perfect, but I personally thinks it's absolutely fine as long as the bread rises evenly and is cooked thoroughly.

Let the bread cool completely on a cooling rack, or a steam rack as I use here. Be patient. Go for a walk. Take some pictures, or like a proud mama, marvel at the bread baby you just created: its golden color, a deep hollow sound when you tap into it.

Once it has cooled (we plastic wrapped the baby and waited until the next day), then slide the loaf and serve.

Our favorite is to serve this bread with unsalted butter, Schaller & Weber goose paté, some cilantro and sliced cucumbers for a deconstructed bánh mì. Fresh coffee is an amazing side. On other occasions, we would serve with Sidehill Farm raspberry jam and melted butter, with a cup of warm black tea.