So yeah, I’ve been cooking and baking and it’s been delicious, except for that one fiasco. But have I blogged about it? Taken the right pictures? Nope. Nope Nope. I’ll start with the fiasco cause that’s the most fun anyway!
Have you ever heard of No-Knead Bread? The New York Times famous No-Knead Bread? Well neither had I until my boss gave me a cast iron Dutch oven for Christmas. That was awesome in so many ways. First that he even gave me a Christmas present. (He’s pretty hit or miss, sometimes you’ll get a present, sometimes he forgets important holidays. AND it’s never based on if you’re doing a good job or not. I think it’s based on the phases of the moon…or if he’s been drinking more than usual lately!) Second, that he put enough thought into getting me something he knew I’d appreciate! So, I’m looking up recipe for cast iron dutch ovens and lo and behold….NO KNEAD BREAD! You let it sit for 18 hours and you don’t have to knead one little bit. Now, if you’ve been reading my blog at ALL, you will realize that I can never just follow a recipe correctly. I don’t intend to deviate…it just happens.
So easy right? 3 cups flour, 1/4 tsp yeast, 1 tsp salt and 1 1/2 cup room temp water. Mix it all up, cover with plastic wrap and let it sit. (12-18 hours is what it said) Dammit and I don’t have pictures of that. Here’s a preview….
- Flat, dense, brick. So Sad.
So I’m trying to calculate out 18 hours and realize that I’ll be at work. No big deal right, it’s sooooo easy. Jason will be home. All he has to do is get it out of the bowl and onto the counter, put some corn meal on it and then onto a towel and cover it. Simple. EXCEPT he freaked out. He called me on the phone and said it was liquidy and he didn’t want to ruin it and on and on. Now this man can make a mean pie crust, this is No Knead Bread. Easy! So I told him to put it back in the bowl and I’d deal with it when I got home. Did I mention that I had it in the bowl, in the oven with the oven light on?
Here’s a picture of what it should look like…
This is NOT mine. I did not document the disaster!
By the time I got home it was 21 hours. The bowl was warm. The dough was still kinda liquidy and just seemed….evil. I shaped it as best I could. It was supposed to rise another 2 hours but that was not to be. I was filled with trepidation (love that word) and so I searched the internet. What is the point of proofing bread, can it sit too long, frantically searching through blogs about no-knead bread etc. And here I discovered the dreaded word….over-proofed. Over-proofed dough would turn out brick-like and heavy. Useful for paperweights.
I’m nothing if not determined and persistant though. I would bake this dough! So into the 450 oven it went for 30 mins in the dutch oven, covered. Then another 30 ish uncovered. But at that point I think I put something else in the oven that needed a lower temperature so I turned it down. Which probably didn’t help. Maybe next time I’ll knead it.
The crust is pretty though!
What it would have looked like, had I done it right! The picture below is courtesy of some person who does know how not to knead bread. My dream is alive and I will try again! More to be revealed…….
Alas, also not mine.
delicio8 