No Need for No-Knead Bread
I don’t know why I fell for this. The mystical No-Knead Bread recipe tore around the blogosphere like wildfire a few weeks ago. Everyone was doing it. People with a life-long fear of yeast were singing the praises of this “ancient” recipe. I figured I’d give it a go, even though I have no yeast phobia. No schizosaccharomyces pombe-phrenia. (That last bit was for my mycologist peeps. Holla!)
Anyway, this recipe is dumb. You mix together flour, salt, yeast, and water, and let it sit for 18 hours or so. Seriously? I’m hongry NOW! The trade-off of not having to knead this bread is completely canceled out by the fact that you can’t chow down until tomorrow. Bummer. And, In my opinion, the kneading is the best part of breadmaking. Feeling the dough come together into a smooth mass under your palms is so relaxing. It’s almost better than…. knitting. So anyway, my flour soup got pretty bubbly. Then I discovered that the no-knead part of this recipe is a baldfaced lie. Because you have to dump the flour soup on your counter and smear it around. What a flippin’ mess. Flour everywhere, goo everywhere.
This bread better be good.
I finally wiggled it into its cooking pot. Baking the bread in a lidded pot was an interesting concept, and I might try this again in the future. I was shocked that the bread didn’t stick to the pot AT ALL. I was anticipating a bread-goo coated pot interior. But I was wrong.
After waiting nearly 24 hours for some bread, I cut into my loaf right away.
Yeah, whatever. It’s bread. Very floury bread. It tasted alright, but the quarter-inch of flour crusting the bread (and my kitchen) made this loaf very messy to eat. I wouldn’t be surprised if this recipe actually solidified some people’s fear of yeast. It was a major PITA. As an alternative, I’d suggest the excellent Italian bread recipe published in Sunset magazine in 1996. As written, the bread involves a lengthy rise period to cultivate a biga, or rudimentary starter. However, I usually skip this step. If anyone wants more details about this modification, just ask. But even without this shortcut, the Sunset recipe (from the lauded Grace Baking company in Albany, CA) takes a third of the time as the no-knead recipe. And you get two wonderful, airy baguettes at the end of it all.
December 7th, 2006 at 8:18 am
Thanks for saving me from no-knead bread! LOL I was thinking of making this recipe over the weekend but maybe I’ll stick to the regular bread recipe I use.
December 7th, 2006 at 1:22 pm
Hear, hear! I made this recipe, and although it worked perfectly as promised, I found it overall unremarkable . . . and I don’t get what’s supposed to be bad about kneading!
December 9th, 2006 at 11:32 am
I am a huge fan of the no-knead bread! It’s the best I’ve ever tasted (especially in USA - no offense but the bread here is awful). (1). Your dough is too wet - add less water (I use 1.5 C). It won’t make a mess on your counter if it is the right, rubber texture. You only need to fold once, you can even do this in the mixing bowl as long as you coat it in flour before it bakes. (2) 18 hours works great if you set it going the night before. I now make it every 3rd day so I will always have the bread to munch on. It now only takes me 3 minutes to set the dough going, 5 minutes to mix and fold once and only a few seconds to plop it in the pot to bake. Easiest, yummiest bread I’ve ever made. Oh - one more comment… I add more salt (2 tsp or more) so it’s tastier. I hope that helps! My first attempt was a disaster - looked like yours. I learned to add less water - problem solved.
December 11th, 2006 at 9:10 pm
Geez, what’s the big deal with kneading? Have we really gotten THAT lazy,
that it’s a hassle to squish a ball of dough around on your counter for a while?
It’s a great stress reliever…..why do you think those squeeze balls at the drug store
are such a big seller?
I too, think that kneading is the best part about making bread. Something really
satisfying (and stress relieving) about slappin’ a ball of dough around. Pretend it’s your boss’s head!
I also don’t think waiting 18 hours is worth the trade off of about 8 minutes of
kneading……this is just another one of those food trends. It’ll disappear soon
enough.
If you’re that lazy when it comes to making a loaf of bread, buy a bread machine.
January 19th, 2007 at 12:39 pm
Go ahead and rip on the no knead bread if you want, but at least follow the instructions before you call it a failure. Your pot doesn’t meet the requirements of the recipe. You need something heavy that will retain the heat and to leave that pot in the oven for about an hour before you put the bread in. The reason people like the bread isn’t because you don’t have to knead it, but because of the thin crisp crust, caused by steam that results from the pot and the extra wet dough.
TheSnakeGuy