Almost No-Knead Bread: The Cook’s Illustrated Method

So I’m back on the bread-making bandwagon. I love the no-knead technique because my kitchen is on the (very) small side and I kind of don’t love kneading, it can be a lot of work! I guess a handy dandy KitchenAid Stand Mixer would do the trick but alas I have not been gifted with one.

The last time I made bread I made a quick version of no-knead bread. The white loaf turned out great but the whole wheat loaf was a near disaster. For months (if not years) now I’ve been hearing about this recipe from Cook’s Illustrated. It varies from the original no-knead bread in a few ways.

The first is that you, um, have to knead it.  Only 10 or 15 times, but still.  Also the dough is a lot less wet the the original recipe.  I loved that!  The super wet Bittman/Lahey dough makes me a bit nuts at times.  Just try getting that into the bough with reasonable style and grace.  Also to combat the sentiment that the original no-knead bread doesn’t have enough flavour beer and vinegar are added.  There is also a step where for the second raise you place the dough on parchment in a skillet so that you can easily transfer the parchment to your dutch oven for baking.  BRILLIANT!

I loved this loaf.  It was really easy to work with and it came out beautifully.  When I took it out of the oven to cool I could hear the cracking of the crust… music to my ears!  My main “beef” is that by including beer this isn’t a bread that I can make on a whim.  I also don’t think the beer made that much of a difference in the taste for me.  I think from now on I’ll do a bit of a hybrid recipe between the original Lahey/Bittman recipe and the Cook’s Illustrated recipe.  Or maybe I’ll just make this recipe sans beer.  Whatever I do will certainly involve the parchment step as it made my life so much easier.

Almost No-Knead Bread

3 cups (15 ounces) unbleached all-purpose flour, plus additional for dusting work surface
1/4 teaspoon instant yeast
1 1/2 teaspoons table salt
3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons water (7 ounces) at room temperature
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons (3 ounces) mild-flavored lager
1 tablespoon white vinegar

1. Whisk flour, yeast and salt in large bowl. Add water, beer and vinegar. Using rubber spatula, fold mixture, scraping up dry flour from bottom of bowl until shaggy ball forms. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and let sit at room temperature for 8 to 18 hours.
2. Lay 12- to 18-inch sheet of parchment paper inside 10-inch skillet and spray with nonstick cooking spray. Transfer dough to lightly floured work surface and knead 10 to 15 times. Shape dough into ball by pulling edges into middle. Transfer dough, seam-side down, to parchment-lined skillet and 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 and does not readily spring back when poked with finger, about 2 hours.
3. About 30 minutes before baking, adjust oven rack to lowest position, place 6- to 8-quart heavy-bottomed Dutch oven (with lid) on rack, and heat oven to 500 degrees. Lightly flour top of dough and, using razor blade or sharp knife, make one 6-inch long, 1/2-inch deep slit along top of dough. Carefully remove pot from oven and remove lid. Pick up dough by lifting parchment overhang and lower into pot (let any excess parchment hang over pot edge). Cover pot and place in oven. Reduce oven temperature to 425 degrees and bake covered for 30 minutes. Remove lid and continue to bake until loaf is deep brown and instant-read thermometer inserted into center registers 210 degrees, 20 to 30 minutes longer. Carefully remove bread from pot; transfer to wire rack and cool to room temperature, about 2 hours.

— from Cook’s Illustrated, February 2008