Monday, January 7, 2008

Almost No-Knead Bread



I love getting my Cooks Illustrated magazine because it always has such good recipes. In my January edition they had an almost no-knead bread recipe, I was inspired and it turned out beautiful. I am not very experienced in bread-making so it was nice to have a recipe that produced a professional quality loaf of bread. It has a nice thick crispy crust and a very dense flavorful inside. I took this to my friend Jen’s house for a dinner party to go with her Lamb Stew, which I will share the recipe when I get it from her. I didn’t start my bread early enough to give it a full 8 hour rise, so I placed it in a very warm spot in the house and let it rise for 6 hours, and it was fine. It was really strange cooking bread in my dutch oven, but it did the trick, I am going to try it with some rosemary, parmesan, and olives thrown in next time. Enjoy!

Almost No-Knead Bread

3 Cups Flour
¼ Teaspoon Instant Yeast
1 ½ Teaspoons Salt
¾ Cup plus 2 Tablespoons Water (7 ounces), at room temperature
¼ Cup plus 2 Tablespoons mild-flavored Beer (They recommend Budweiser, or Coors)
1 Tablespoon White Vinegar

Whisk flour, yeast and salt in large bowl. Add water, beer, and vinegar. Using runner spatula, fold mixture, scraping up dry flour from bottom of bowl until shaggy ball forms. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and let sit a room temperature for 8-18 hours.
Lay 12x18-inch sheet of parchment paper inside 10-inch skillet and spray with nonstick cooking spray. Transfer dough to a 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 siz and does not readily spring back when poked with finger, about 2 hours.
About 30 minutes before baking, adjust oven rack to lowest position, place 6-quart heavy bottomed dutch oven (with lid) on rack, and heat oven to 500 degrees. Lightly flour top of dough and using razor blade, 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 pat (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, 20-30 minutes longer. Carefully remove bread from pot; transfer to wire rack and cool to room temperature, about 2 hours.

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