Every once in a while, I realize that I’ve been doing something the hard way, all of my life.
Fresh-baked bread is one of those things.
So I thought I’d briefly share this. This is bread-baking with every corner cut and every possible effort spared.
The old me would:
- mix up the dough
- knead it
- give it a first proof
- punch it down
- ready some bread pans (oil and corn meal)
- place into bread pans for final proofing
- bake it
That “standard” bread was pretty good. But, honestly, any fresh-baked bread is going to be pretty good.
But what a mess to make it. Kneading, in particular, takes a fair bit of time and effort and leaves residual sticky dough and flour on my hands, on the kneading surface, and so on. It also requires that you add just the right amount of water to the dough, so that it’s knead-able but not too sticky.
Turns out, you don’t need to knead bread. I’d seen “no knead” bread recipes, but I figured they were something exotic. Nope. This is just the basic King Arthur easiest bread recipe. Minus the kneading.
The trick is to let it rise overnight, in the fridge. The “gluten will form” in dough, all on its own. Kneading just speeds that up. So if you have the time, you needn’t knead.
More or less any standard bread recipe can be made this way. And, apparently, no-knead’s not news, because you can find this fact any number of places on the internet. You just have to think to look for it. Technically, I think the term of art for this is an “autolysed” dough, though there are autolyzed dough recipes that still call for kneading.
Not only is this low effort, it’s low-mess. Total labor time is maybe ten minutes. There is exactly one dirty dish to wash (the mixing bowl), and three utensils (two butterknives and a tablespoon). You’ll probably want to rinse the baking pan, and rinse whatever you used to cover the dough in the fridge. There’s a single piece of parchment paper to toss out. There’s no flour spilled over the kitchen counter, kitchen floor, clothing, and so on.
This is also an extremely forgiving recipe. Unlike kneaded bread, the recipe isn’t picky about exactly how much water you use. A little more, a little less, no problem. Or exactly how much yeast. Or what type of bread yeast you use. Or exactly how long it sits in the fridge. I usually leave it overnight, but I’ve left it 24 hours and it was fine.
Easiest home-made bread.
Here’s how I now make two loaves of bread.
- Mix up some dough using the King Arthur simplest bread recipe:
- In a large (e.g., four quart) mixing bowl, combine:
- 600 grams bread flour (typically, just under 5 cups).
- A tablespoon each of salt and sugar.
- A scant tablespoon (or one packet) of yeast.
- Mix the dry ingredients with a butterknife
- 1-and-2/3rds cups of water.
- Mix with a butterknife until a dough forms.
- In a large (e.g., four quart) mixing bowl, combine:
- First proofing.
- Cover the mixing bowl and leave overnight in the fridge.
- Roll it up
- Next morning, take the dough out of the fridge.
- Optionally, let it sit for an hour to warm up a bit.
- Place a piece of parchment paper on a baking sheet.
- Oil the top of the parchment paper.
- Dump out the dough out onto the oiled parchment.
- Divide in two with an oiled butterknife.
- Oil your hands and tightly roll each piece into a log shape.*
- Bake it.
- Lightly oil the surface of each loaf. (I oil my hands and pat the loaves down. My hands are already oily from the previous step.)
- Allow to rise a second time in some warm place.
- Bake 15 minutes at 425F.
- Test for done-ness (190F at the center of the loaf), continue baking if necessary.
If you decide to put these into loaf pans, increase the bake time by about five minutes.
* The only part of this that isn’t obvious is what I mean by “tightly roll into a log”. This step is usually called “tensioning” the dough. Take your lump of dough. Place oiled fingertips on the narrow edge of the lump. Press down, pull toward you, and roll it up. Repeat. Just as tightly as you can manage. You should end up with a log maybe 2.5″ in diameter, and maybe 10″ long.
I oil the loaves so that I can do the second rise without tightly covering the dough to prevent it from drying out. As a byproduct, oiling them gives you a soft(er) crust.
Today’s result.
Today’s bread recipe is half-whole-wheat, half-white. Because that’s all the flour I happen to have left in the pantry.
Here are the loaves just before putting them in the oven, then baked, then showing the crumb of the bread.
I imagine that expert bakers will scoff at this. You don’t get much “oven spring”. (Particularly not with whole-wheat flour.) I don’t bother to slash the top. It’s not the lightest bread you’ll ever eat. And so on.
And it doesn’t look as nice as the cartoon bread at the top of this post.
But I view this as a case of diminishing returns. Sure, you can knead it. Pat it gently. Add special herbs and spices. Whisper sweet words of encouragement to it. Slash the top before you bake.
And you might get a slightly better loaf of home-made bread, for all of that effort. Airier crumb. Crispier crust. Or whatnot.
But, so what? This minimal-effort bread is warm, soft, and delicious. It’s fresh-baked bread. Without the hassle. What’s not to like?
