One of my favourite standby recipes is no-knead bread. It gets my kids excited about dinner and rounds out a dinner that is just soup or a salad and when I have company, it seems to elicit a lot of Wow’s. When I first tried the recipe from the New York Times Jim Lahey, I was HOOKED! Easy, tidy, delicious and a kid favourite, this ticked all the boxes. I have made it too many times to count and now frequently change it up with whole wheat flour, herbs from my garden, olives or cheese. I’ve also successfully made it in just a few hours rather than the overnight proofing in the NYT recipe. So here is my version done in one day instead of overnight because, confession: I’m not that great at planning ahead.
Fast and Easy Rosemary No Knead Bread
Ingredients
- 2.5 tsp Dry Active Yeast
- 1 c Warm Water
- 3 c All Purpose Flour
- 1 tsp Kosher Salt
- 1 Tbsp Chopped Fresh Rosemary
Instructions
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Preheat oven to lowest setting.
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In a large bowl (minimum 4 liter size) combine yeast and warm water. Wait about 10 minutes until it is foaming at the top.
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Meanwhile in a 4 c measuring cup, combine flour, salt and herbs and gently mix. Pour dry ingredients into water mixture and stir gently until raggedy and combined.
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Cover loosely with plastic wrap, turn off warming oven and pop dough into oven to rise. Leave it here at least 4 hours or all day if you’ve put it together in the morning, the main thing is to make sure it is very puffy and has risen to fill the bowl.
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Pull it out of the oven once it’s risen and put a 4 liter enameled cast iron pot with lid (not a plastic lid!!!) into the oven and set it to 450′ F to preheat for about 1/2 hr After it is preheated, take out pot and pour the raggedy loose dough into it, put lid back on and put it back in the oven.
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Bake for 25 minutes, then take lid off and bake another 15 minutes. Take it out of the oven, let cool in pot for 10 or 15 minutes and then cool on cooling rack. Voila!
Variations:
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1. Substitute 1 c white flour for 1 c whole wheat or whole grain flour. (A bit more dense but very delicious)
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2. Add to dry ingredients 1/4 c chopped dry figs, 1/4 c pitted and chopped kalamata olives and optional 1/2 tbsp fresh chopped rosemary.
Tell me how it went? Do you agree this is the easiest way to make bread? Do you love it as much as my family?