As I find myself having lots more time now to cook I decided to get back into baking my own bread. I haven't done it in a long time since it does take up a bit of time. Don't get me wrong, it's not like you have to slave over a hot stove for hours, but the rising, and kneading, and rising again does mean you have to have an open schedule for a good chunk of the day. There are many no-knead recipes out there and I will probably attempt one soon but even those seem to have a lot of steps involved.
When I got my cast iron skillet a couple of years ago a co-worker excitedly told me about a simple bread recipe she makes frequently in hers. I had seen an episode of Good Eats where Alton Brown makes bread in a Dutch oven so I was curious. Eventually she typed it up and printed it out and gave it to me. I tucked it away and kind of forgot about it. Then about a week ago I was sorting through my file of random recipes from magazines, newspaper clippings, etc. and I came across it again. Voila! I realized it was time to try it out! And boy oh boy did it work fantastically! And it is the easiest bread I have ever made!
Follow me below the orange croissant for the details!
This is a truly simple no-knead bread that produces a rustic round loaf with a lovely crusty exterior and chewy interior. It reminds me a lot of the type of ciabatta I like to get at the store.
Simple Crusty Bread
3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 3/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp instant or rapid-rise yeast
1 1/2 cups water
Whisk dry ingredients together in a large mixing bowl. Add water and mix until you have a "shaggy" mixture (pretty much a sticky dough). Cover bowl with plastic wrap and let sit for 12-18 hours. Overnight works great.
Heat oven to 450 degrees. Put a cast iron pot with a lid in the oven to heat for 30 minutes. (My 10" cast iron skillet worked great, don't be alarmed, it may be literally smoking hot when you take it out!)
While the pot is heating dump your dough out onto a heavily floured board and form into a ball.
When the 30 minutes is up take your pot out of the oven and dump the ball right into the pot. Cover and return to the oven for 30 minutes.
Remove the lid and let bake an additional 15 minutes. Remove bread from oven and place on a cooling rack.
Here is the finished product in the skillet. Oh, and note how clean the skillet is! I feared I might have a mess putting an ungreased ball of dough into the hot pan but it only required a quick wipe with a paper towel. So the only clean up was the bowl for the dough, the spoon I used to mix ingredients, and a couple of measuring implements. How great is that!
Now, my co-worker has told me that she and her husband make this bread 2-3 times a week and often add things like olives, or herbs such as rosemary, and even garlic. So it's a very versatile recipe. I'm looking forward to trying a few different combinations. I have no idea where she got this recipe but they spend much of their summer traveling throughout the western and southwestern US where her husband performs at various rodeos, festivals, and the like. They do a lot of camping. I suspect this is one of those old "cowboy cooking" types of recipes because I can see this being something one could do over a campfire in a Dutch oven.
So, there you have it! The easiest bread you'll ever make!
Thanks for stopping by tonight! What's for dinner at your table tonight?