No Knead Bread: so easy a 4-yr old can make it!

[pollypurebred39]

I'm so making this bread!


No Knead Bread: so easy a 4-yr old can make it! | Steamy Kitchen Recipes

[Contrary Housewife]

I've made it, it's ok. I found the texture too crumbly though. Don't use too big a pan, you will get a very flat loaf. In fact, there's no reason it can't go in a regular bread pan.

[alotofgooddeals]

i saw the title so easy a four year old could make it that i got so excited....i can do this...

[pip]

How sweet! And, I think I'm going to give this one a try.

Thanks for posting!

[HappyMama]

I love this bread, the key is a dutch oven without it could be crumbly. I have used my cast iron in a wood stove and turned out rustic and delicious.

Thanks Polly for always sharing!

[Spirit Deer]

I don't see the point of using a towel. Why not just dump it into a bowl? Seems like a lot less mess and bother.

I can see where the bread might be crumbly with no oil in it.

I make a no-knead focaccia that has similar instructions and I suspect this recipe would be the same. It's going to rise differently based on the conditions. So if the kitchen is cool, allow more rising time and maybe even add a little heat to help it along. If it's a hot summer day, look for it to be ready much, much sooner than 12 hours. Mine rose in about an hour once when I made it while camping on a hot, humid day.

I may give this a try just to see what happens.

[FrabjousDay]

We make this bread almost weekly, and it always turns out perfectly lovely. Never ever crumbly. I don't bother transferring to a towel. I keep mine in the mixing bowl, and when it's time to bake turn it onto a piece of parchment and plop the whole shebang into my dutch oven.

[Spirit Deer]

I'll admit I was prepared not to be impressed with this bread. I've made no-knead breads before and never thought much of the results. And I did tweak it a bit, and only loosely followed the time recommendations. I also added a teaspoon of sugar just to give the yeast something to eat, and bumped the yeast up to a teaspoon while I was at it.

I started out trying to mix it in the new KA mixer, but I think the batch was too small and it didn't want to pick up all the flour. So in the future I'll just use a spatula. I let this rise, covered with a towel, in my microwave with a container of hot water under it and a potholder stuck in the door so the light would stay on for heat. After it was nice and light, I punched it down and shaped it into a ball. It was a little sticky but since it doesn't need to be handled much, I dispensed with the floured surface and the advice to use wet hands. I just held it in my hands while quickly and gently shaping it and put it back in the bowl.

About that time I put some ribs in the stove oven, so the top of the stove was nice and warm for the second rising of the dough. Otherwise I'd have put more hot water in the micro and used that method.

Once it had risen I gently flipped it into a greased Corningware casserole dish (which I did not bother to pre-heat), slapped on the cover, and put it in the toaster oven at 450. I was sure that was too high a temp for too long a time, but it seemed to be cooking fine at the thirty minute mark. So I removed the lid and I'll confess I turned the heat down to 400 since the toaster oven is so small and the elements were so close to the top and bottom of the baking dish. The top did get a bit more brown than I would have liked, but it didn't actually burn so it's okay.

The timer went ding and I took the bread out. By then the salad was on the table and the ribs were done, so I made the executive decision not to let the bread cool. I started cutting it and was rewarded with a nice crackle as the crispy crust was breached. The first slice showed a very thin crust with a tender center. Excellent!

I think this bread would be a good candidate for add-ins like fried onions, poppy seeds, caraway, etc.

So in conclusion, I think this recipe will be a keeper. It's easy to make and doesn't require much hands-on time, yet makes a nice loaf. The crust is crispy and the interior has a nice crumb. I do think the recipe in the link above makes things more complicated than they need to be, but I'm sure following those instructions would result in a successful loaf of bread as well.

I wanted to take a pic of the bread after it was cut, but the batteries died in the camera.

[Winkie]

very pretty!! & yummy looking

[frugalwarrior2]

Spirit Deer-thanks thats was my sticking point. I thought 450 degrees! so now i will try this.

Thanks polly

[Spirit Deer]

I think baking it with the lid on protects the top even with the high temp.

I have a friend who routinely bakes breads in a Dutch oven using charcoal as the heat source under the pot and on the lid. If it's browning too fast on the top, he crumples up a small sheet of foil, straightens it out again, and lays it on top of the bread in the DO to keep it from scorching.

I think it will work better in my big oven and not get so dark.

Forgot to say the bread wasn't crumbly.

The Corningware I used was the two-quart square one, and it seemed like a good size.

[sinopa27]

very interesting. I will put this in my "must try" recipes. thank you

[tervsforme]

I wish I ate bread, this sounds like something I could make! LOL

[Libby]

I was wondering what type of 'pot' to use with a cover/lid...never considered corning ware for this! I *might* give this recipe a whirl.

Thanks polly!

[Spirit Deer]

Given my past experience with cast iron cooking, I would guess if it was made in CI it would have a crisper crust. But the Corningware fit in my little oven and the CI didn't. It worked out fine and I'll probably use it again. At that high heat, I would use something heavy though.

It sounds like FrabjousDay is the one to ask about it, really. I've only made it the one time.