Photo: Kelly Yandell
It has been said that man cannot live by bread alone. Obviously, that was said before I was born. It was also said before the advent of no-knead refrigerator bread.
Let me explain: I eat the crust part of a piece of pizza.
And I love it.
I get kind of sad when I see rejected crusts on a plate.
The bread basket at a restaurant always puts me at risk of being too full for my main course. Especially if thereʼs some sort of flavored butter.
You know how some people remove the top bun of their burger or sandwich and just eat the sandwich open-faced to reduce carbs, or something like that (a foreign concept to me)?
The other night, I deconstructed my half-eaten pulled pork sandwich and ate the bun alone, leaving the rest of the sandwich exposed (mind you, it was a brioche bun, so I think I get a free pass one this one).
Usually, when Iʼm so obsessed with something, I try to figure out a way to make it at home (Usually, it doesnʼt happen. But at least I think about it).
However, making bread at home can seem like a daunting task. It calls to mind days long gone by and conjures images of bonnet-wearing women and daughters endlessly kneading masses of dough by candlelight.
After that era, as the world became more advanced and modern, I think America wanted to depart from these time-consuming processes of their great-great grandparents.
The opportunity to have the food they wanted with little to no effort on their part was infinitely more appealing than spending hours in the kitchen. So, homemade bread? Forgetaboutit.
Fast forward to the present, and it seems almost as if weʼve come full circle. As a society, our health-consciousness has increased, and with it our desire to labor in the kitchen once again. Itʼs all about making food from scratch. Itʼs better for you.
So now, people (me) are discovering that making your own bread doesnʼt have to be painful or scary at all. I was delighted to find this super easy recipe that is perfect for lazy carb-lovers such as myself. And guess what: thereʼs no need to knead!
This bread is so versatile and delicious.
Itʼs simultaneously chewy and sturdy (holds up well to a lot of things) without being too dense. I can think of so many ways to enjoy it.
The actual active prep time for this recipe is incredibly minimal. It does however take at least a day of inactive prep as it sits in the refrigerator.
The awesome part is that it can sit in the fridge for up to 7 days, and you can just pull off however much you want to bake at a time.
This recipe makes about three good sized loaves (I always halve the recipe since Iʼm only cooking for two, and I get two medium-sized loaves).
- 6½ cups all-purpose or bread flour
- 1 tablespoon table salt
- 2 (1/4 oz. each) packages of fast-acting dry yeast (like Red Star)
- 3 cups lukewarm water
- Using the scoop and scrape method (scoop your measure into the flour container and scrape off the excess with the flat side of a knife), measure the flour into a 6 quart food safe container that will fit into your refrigerator (with a tight lid)
- Add the remaining dry ingredients into the flour and stir them around to combine. Then add the water and stir quickly with a woo
- den spoon for about 30 seconds until all of the flour is moistened and a sticky dough has formed. Now, leave the container out in a warm place to rise for two hours. It should double in volume, approximately. Once the dough has risen for two hours, put on the lid and put the container in the refrigerator for a minimum of one day, and up to seven days.
- Bake the bread: When you want to bake a loaf of bread, take out the container and simply remove as much dough as you want to use, roughly a quarter or a third. Put the rest back in the refrigerator.
- Gently form the dough into a ball or a slightly elongated log and place it onto a baking sheet covered with parchment and sprinkled with a little flour. Allow this to rise for 45 minutes or up to an hour. It will inflate a little and spread. Use a very sharp knife to cut three slits in the top, about a half of an inch deep.
- Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Carefully place a small pie pan, or other smallish pan, of hot water in the bottom rack of the oven (this is for steam). Then place the dough in the oven and bake for approximately 25 minutes until it is a deep golden to brown color. Remove the bread from the oven and cool on a rack (for safetyʼs sake, you may want to wait for the oven to cool before removing the pan of water).
If you want to spice things up a bit, you can try adding some fresh herbs to the dough (rosemary, perhaps?) or cheese (sign me up).
Add your herbs or cheese to the section of dough that you are baking at the time, fold it over on itself a few times, and bake!
I have not yet tried one of these variations from the basic dough, but you can be sure Iʼm going to next time. Let me know if you do, and how it turns out.
Serving Suggestions:
- Top with hummus and cucumber slices.
- Slather on goat cheese, top with some roasted red peppers, then put that goodness in the broiler for a few.
- Toast it, mascarpone it, and raspberry jam it.
- Create an herbed olive oil dip for it, or a parmesan + olive oil dip.
- Of course the most obvious, simplest, and probably the best way: toast it, add butter and honey
Have Internet, will travel: we found this bread recipe over at The Meaning of Pie, where it was adapted from King Arthur Flour Company, where it was adapted from Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day.
45 Comments
Easy Homemade Blueberry Jam
August 16, 2011 at 5:44 pm[…] more from our modern kitchens made the old-fashioned way: from scratch. We’re trying our hands at homemade bread, pie and pie crust, salsa, and spaghetti sauce, just like our fore..mothers? We’re realizing that […]
Barbara @ Modern Comfort Food
April 22, 2011 at 10:43 amI’ve been making my own whole wheat bread virtually every week for the past 30 years, but I’m still using the old-fashioned, kneaded approach. I REALLY must get organized to try this new, no-knead method, which sounds and looks so delicious and so much easier.
Stephanie
April 20, 2011 at 11:18 pmThis sounds too easy not to try it! Homemade bread is so amazing. My stomach thanks you in advance!
Megan
April 17, 2011 at 5:19 amI love it, no-knead bread is the greatest! Thanks for sharing this recipe.
Maria @ Scandifoodie
April 15, 2011 at 8:41 pmThis is such a great recipe, definitely will try it soon! I’m like you, always thinking of ‘how can I make this at home’ 😉
Theresa
April 14, 2011 at 2:37 amI LOVE the idea of “no knead” as I’m bread making challenged…seriously! I too was curious if you could use whole wheat, white whole wheat or spelt flour? I just can’t bring myself to use All Purpose flour! And since I’m so challenged I’d hate to try it on my own and it not work!! LOL Thanks 🙂
Sommer@ASpicyPerspective
April 11, 2011 at 6:46 pmNo kneading? I love it already!
grace
April 11, 2011 at 6:39 pmsince i started working in a bakery, i’ve vowed to never buy a store-bought loaf of bread ever again. if it can be easy too, well, that’s excellent. 🙂
Dewi
April 11, 2011 at 3:38 pmHomemade bread always tastes divine!
Kate
April 11, 2011 at 1:28 pmThis recipe sounds so easy and fabulous! Can’t wait to give it a try. Thanks for sharing!
Caroline
April 11, 2011 at 1:21 pmI’ve always wanted to try no-knead bread! It looks so easy and so delicious – not to mention it looks like that expensive artisan bread you can get from the specialty stores!
Blond Duck
April 11, 2011 at 10:51 amThere’s nothing like homemade bread. I’m going to pop this in the fridge so my husband can enjoy it when he gets home from his business trip!
Vivienne
April 11, 2011 at 5:38 amive recently got into bread making but have yet to make a no-knead one! def looking fwd to try this one out…*love* chewy bread! <3 thanks for sharing 🙂
Reeni
April 11, 2011 at 2:16 amI am the same way about bread and I love a crusty pizza! That’s the best part. I love the concept of having dough ready whenever you need it!
Rivki Locker (Ordinary Blogger)
April 11, 2011 at 2:01 amI became enamored with no-knead breads recently too. This looks like a great addition to my repertoire. Thanks for sharing.
Barbara
April 10, 2011 at 5:40 pmI love the no-knead bread recipes! They make life so simple. Would love to add cheese to this!
rebecca
April 10, 2011 at 4:41 pmgreat recipe can’t beat a good bread thanks for traveling with me 🙂
Rebecca
Katherine: Unemployed
April 10, 2011 at 4:12 pmI don’t know… you might want to use “anyone” a little bit more carefully. I’m pretty sure this looks too complicated for me to make. Eating? I could handle. Looks great!
Sarah Caron
April 10, 2011 at 2:17 pmWhat a great and easy recipe. It sounds so doable!
thatssoron
April 10, 2011 at 2:19 amThat looks like some good bread! good recipe
Xiaolu @ 6 Bittersweets
April 10, 2011 at 1:04 amMmm no-knead bread is such an awesome invention! I’ve tried the artisan bread in 5 minutes recipe and that worked well too.
spcookiequeen
April 9, 2011 at 5:24 pmMaris, this bread sounds great. I could live on bread alone. I can almost smell it. Hope you have a lovely weekend.
-Gina-
Simply Life
April 9, 2011 at 10:34 amOh that bread does look perfect and I love the simple ingredient list!
pigpigscorner
April 9, 2011 at 3:27 pmI lke the crust of pizza too! This sounds so easy, the best part is that it doesn’t require any kneading!
Mary
April 9, 2011 at 2:48 pmWhat a fabulous loaf of bread. It really sounds delicious and it is certainly easy enough to do. I hope you have a great day. Blessings…Mary
Amy
April 9, 2011 at 1:05 amI love that this bread is so simple and yet sounds delicious! Nice to not have to knead :)!
Rosa
April 8, 2011 at 2:21 pmI love NKB! Yours looks wonderful.
Cheers,
Rosa
Aimee
April 8, 2011 at 2:09 pmI have two questions:
1) Have you tried using hard white wheat or other kinds of flour?
2) The bread picture posted looks like a loaf of italian bread. Is it more of a crusty bread, as opposed to regular loaf?
Thanks – I am a beginning baker and just want to make sure of what I am doing.
Daryl
April 8, 2011 at 1:58 pmI couldn’t resist this-No need to Knead!!!
Jessica
April 8, 2011 at 1:11 pmThat looks incredible and so easy. I used to be scared of making bread until last year when I started doing sourdough bread. This is definitely on my next to do list! Thanks for sharing
Kristen
April 8, 2011 at 12:30 pmWhat a great recipe and so easy – I love that recipes like this are getting people in the kitchen.
Lorraine @ Not Quite Nigella
April 8, 2011 at 9:29 amI love no knead breads too! They just require a bit of patience but when faced with the idea of kneading by hand or waiting, I’d rather wait! 😛
Baking Serendipity
April 8, 2011 at 3:50 amAn easy bread recipe sounds fantastic for my busy days 🙂 I love homemade bread and this loaf looks perfect!
Betty @ scrambled hen fruit
April 8, 2011 at 2:56 amThis looks great! My son has been making no knead bread for a while now, and loves the ease of it. Bread is my weakness! 🙂
Autumn @ Good Eats Girl
April 8, 2011 at 1:48 amWow! This recipe looks great! I”m definitely going to try it out!
Nicole@HeatOvenTo350
April 8, 2011 at 12:10 amWhat a great post. I think I’m going to have to try out this whole “no-knead” thing, because the finished loaves always look so wonderful.
The link to The Swell Quenelle wouldn’t work. Would you mind sharing your friend’s URL? Thanks!
NancyC
April 7, 2011 at 11:42 pmI have been wanting to try a no-knead bread recipe, because I’m definitely a beginner when it comes to making bread. This looks and sounds great!
Dishes of Mrs. Fish
April 7, 2011 at 11:27 pmGreat post, I’ll be giving this recipe to my husband, he’s the yeast master around here. 🙂
Gen
April 7, 2011 at 11:14 pmI looove bread, too! I’ve actually been known to eat a bowl of oatmeal with a side of english muffins! hahaha 😀 Awesome recipe and guest post!
Holden
April 7, 2011 at 9:50 pmI love your blog! new follower, && I’ve been looking for one with posts like yours 🙂 I always love finding other 20something cooking writers 🙂 mind checking out my new blog?
Holden @ SUGARbijoux
Jamie | My Baking Addiction
April 7, 2011 at 9:26 pmI’m all about no knead bread and pizza dough, so I’m thinking this is going to be the next bread that I tackle! It’s truly lovely, Maris!
Three-Cookies
April 7, 2011 at 8:16 pmI used to make this before, its fantastic. Just like wine the dough gets better with age, up to a certain limit!
By the way its written “It has been said that man cannot live by bread alone.”. It seems from this article that woman can:) Sorry, had to pick on this.
Erica
April 7, 2011 at 6:23 pmWow ! This loaf looks PERFECT. I love homemade bread- there is nothing like it- and this recipe looks super easy- LOVE!
Daryl
April 7, 2011 at 6:20 pmThat picture is gorgeous! I alos love bread and had to laugh because I have been known to remove a hamburger and eat the roll!
J3nn (Jenn's Menu and Lifestyle Blog)
April 7, 2011 at 6:07 pmWe must be twins! I love bread just as much, and often take the filling out of a sandwich just to eat the bread. Oh, and I eat my husband’s pizza crust that he leaves on his plate, lol.
This recipe looks great! Yum.