Artisan No Knead Bread

[hikerman]

Very good job Don! Your bread looks mighty tasty!  I've gotta get a dough hook like yours.

[SmokinKat]

   Great looking bread!  What a treat to get to share in your baking adventures while you're testing out this method!   Just wish I was closer to enjoy some of the test runs!   

[Smokin Don]

Baked my second loaf

Jan 31 2014

Today I was ready to try my second loaf of Artisan bread in 5 Minutes a Day. My first loaf I did after the dough was in the fridge one day. It did not go so well; I had trouble getting a ball formed and it flattened out while resting for the 40 minutes. In spite of the problems it turned out pretty good. They claimed the bread would get better the longer it set in the fridge for its two weeks life. Today was the third day in the fridge.

I was determined to do a better job of cloaking, (forming the ball), this time. I had a bowl with about a half cup of flour in to work over. I pinched off some of the dough, I got too much dough on my hands so washed them off. I then sprinkled some flour over the dough I had selected; I got it out of the bowl and working over the bowl with the flour in I was able to do pretty good cloaking it about 5 times dusting with flour each time and had a nice ball.

It was a little smaller than I wanted but placed it in my Lodge steel skillet I had dusted with corn meal to rest for 40 minutes. It flattened a little but stayed in a ball. I had the oven heating to 450 deg. with a pan to add water to. When it was ready to bake I put a cup of hot water in the pan, be careful it will steam up when you pour it in. I then placed the bread in the oven, set the time and checked after 25 minutes. I let it go for another 5 minutes then pulled it out to cool. Not perfect yet but I am getting there.

We had it with Kerrygold Irish butter for supper. I thought it was good but my daughter in law, who is my go to taster, said this is tastes better than your first loaf. That girl has super smell and taste but being mostly vegetarian I can’t get her to try some of the meat I do; what a shame with her tasting I could get better cooking everything!

My next batch of bread I will add ¼ cup more flour to the recipe so it’s a better consistency for forming a ball. They recommend using a peel and baking the bread on a baking stone but I am going to stay with my skillet until I get this down better.

Ball made


After 40 min. ready to bake






Don

[Saber 4]

Looks like a good loaf to me, bet it tasted great.

[pz]

Don, you're really quite the bread baker!

[Smokin Don]

My 3rd loaf from the first batch. It had been proofing 8 days in the fridge.

Feb 07 2014

Nothing better to do on a frigid day but bake some bread; it never got over 9 deg. today. This was my 3rd loaf of No knead bread in 5. They had said you could get up to 4 loaves from a batch but I used it up for the loaf.

They recommend baking the bread on a baking stone but I did the first two loaves in a steel skillet I let it do the 40 minute rise in. The other day I bought a Lodge 10.5 inch round griddle; I could use this for the bread and do pizzas on plus other uses. It will be easier to store than a stone, running out of room.

I wanted to let the griddle preheat but I didn’t have a peel yet, glad I ordered one today! I had a little trouble again getting the ball cloaked, seemed like I used a lot of flour. I sprinkled some cornmeal on a flexible cutting board I have and placed the ball on the edge. I figured I could pick that up and slide it on the griddle. Well that didn’t go so well; it didn’t want to slide off and had to help it with a spatula. It deformed the ball some but didn’t turn out too bad.

They said a way to get your bread to taste better, a little more like sour dough, was to make up a second batch right away in the proofing bowl. It said to just scrape down the sides and incorporate it in with the batch. I used 7 cups of flour this time instead of the 6 ½ cups since It was too wet to me to form a good ball. I also never got my cuts to turn out as nice as all the pictures in the book.

I mixed the batch up and let it rise for two hours, looked good! It went in the fridge for proofing and I will have at least 3 loaves to bake over the next two weeks. I want to try a pizza from this batch too.

I sliced this loaf to have a couple slices with butter and red beans and rice for my supper. I reheated some pizza in a steel skillet with lid for my wife’s supper. I burnt the bottom but she doesn’t care for the crust much anyway and was happy eating the toppings! The bread was super and there’s plenty for our supper tomorrow.

Ball made and set for a 40. minute rise


Done baking


Sliced


Leavings from the first batch


2nd batch mixed


A 2 hour rise, ready for the fridge


Smokin Don

[TentHunteR]

Great report Don. I'll be checking out that book.

Thanks to posts from you, Smoker Pete & PZ,  I have been experimenting a lot with no-knead breads and have really enjoyed it! I never realized how easy it could be to turn out some really good bread with such a small amount of time involved.

They said a way to get your bread to taste better, a little more like sour dough, was to make up a second batch right away in the proofing bowl.

THAT is an excellent tip!

[Pam Gould]

Great report Don. I'll be checking out that book.

Thanks to posts from you, Smoker Pete & PZ,  I have been experimenting a lot with no-knead breads and have really enjoyed it! I never realized how easy it could be to turn out some really good bread with such a small amount of time involved.

They said a way to get your bread to taste better, a little more like sour dough, was to make up a second batch right away in the proofing bowl.

THAT is an excellent tip!

And do NOT wash the container.  Pam   .☆´¯`•.¸¸. ི♥ྀ.

[Smokin Don]

Update: First loaf from my second batch.

Feb 11 2014

I mixed my second batch of bread up Feb. 07 so it had been in the fridge for 4 days. I used a little more flour in this batch and it did look better to me.

My new metal pizza peel had come today and was anxious to use it. I still have problems getting the dough out to cloak without getting dough all over my hands. I just plop it down in the bowl with flour, wash my hands and then form the ball. I did well with the cloaking and had a nice ball after 4 times around the bread. I had put corn meal on the peel and placed it there for the 40 min. rise.

I guess I didn’t put enough corn meal on the peel; I had to use a spatula to nudge it off and onto my cast iron griddle. After 30 minutes baking it looked done so took it out to cool. It looked nice even though I deformed slightly getting it off the peel. My slits came out nice and it was starting to look more like the ones in the book.

On the peel to rise


Cooling


Smokin Don

[Pam Gould]

Don...looks perfect to me..love fresh baked bread..when I make mine I put a silpat under it or parchment paper. Makes it so much easier to move around until you get the right consistency of the dough. Looks like  you have it now. I also grease my hands with Pam before handling the dough. It does help some.  Pam  .☆´¯`•.¸¸. ི♥ྀ.

[pz]

Perfect crust!

[CDN Smoker]

Let it set up just enough to slice, butter. That looks so good

[Smokin Don]

Just an update and my thoughts on using this method for bread

2nd loaf from 2nd batch

Feb 16 2014

I had made up my second batch of dough Feb. 07 so this second loaf it had been in the fridge for nine days. I am getting better at cloaking, forming the ball; I did not have to stop and wash my hands while making the ball.

I was also using my stainless steel round peel. I wanted to place the ball right on the peel for the 40 minute rise before baking so I do not have to handle the ball any more than I have to. The first time I had trouble getting it to slide off the peel onto the cast iron griddle to bake. This time I added some flour and a little more cornmeal and had no trouble.

I have baked quite a few loaves of no knead bread using the Jim Lahey method of baking it in a cast iron Dutch oven. I think that with this method you do get a bit harder crust on the bread but the taste and texture is the same to me.

I like the Artisan no knead bread in 5 methods better. You don’t have to start the day before and you don’t have to mess with a heavy Dutch oven. I like the convenience of having dough on hand in the fridge. Sometimes I don’t know what I am cooking for supper until that day and run to the grocery for any needed items. If I start the bread an hour and a half before I have to start prepping for supper I can have a fresh loaf of bread to have too.

The loaf


Getting long so this will be my last post on this thread. Smokin Don

[Savannahsmoker]

If you want a tester I will pay shipping for overnight delivery.

Nothing like the smell of fresh bake smell.

[spuds]

I use a slightly different recipe than the 5 minute,my dough seems drier but man.this artisan bread is good stuff!

You all have done some beauties there.