Saturday, September 20, 2014

No knead crusty bread


Crisp on the outside,  soft moist spongy inside, airy perfect bread that I like.



I'd finally made this so called Artisan bread again, not using the bread machine this time...  Anyone can do this, you simply mix everything together and let it sit for 12 to 18 hours. After such long hours of fermentation, you will find the dough has become more consistent.  One thing I'd like to mention, because mother nature helps to ferment it so nicely, you notice you do not need as much yeast.

Oven temperature has to be really high, 450F/ 230C that way you get the crusty effect.  For artisan bread, if you have a baking stone which I used for this, that would be good.   Otherwise, a normal pan will do but it won't be as crusty but still a good bread.



Ingredients:
3 cups of bread flour
1 and 3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon instant dry yeast
1 and 1/2 cup water ( room temperature)


Mix everything together

After 18 hours overnight

Can you see the bloated gas bubbles here and there? Leave it in there,  do not deflate them!



Yes!




Very moist inside, very airy.



Methods:

1.  Mix flour, salt and yeast in a big bowl.  Using a spatula, keep stirring the mix as you pour in the water.  When it all comes together, cover the bowl with a cling wrap and let it sit on your counter for 12 to 18 hours.

2.  Pre-heat oven to 450F / 230C for 30 minutes. If you are using baking stone, make sure it goes in and get it pre-heated too ( I used baking stone here).
note: if you do not have a baking stone, it would be alright to use normal pan, it may not be as crusty but it's still good.

3.   Meanwhile, remove dough out onto a floured parchment paper over the flat cookie pan. Shape it gently, to not knead, disturb much or deflating gas ( you want the holes / pockets created )  and let it rise for an hour or the size has doubled its' size ( it took me 30 minutes only). Score a few slash before send in the oven. Put a pan filled with hot water at the bottom of the oven to create steaming effect.

* If you are using a baking stone, you would have to shift the dough out from the parchment paper and transfer onto the baking stone for baking.  Sprinkle cornmeal on the baking stone before placing the dough on top of it.

5.  It takes 35 to 45 minutes for baking ( all oven varies).
Note: for baking stone, the heat spread very evenly during baking.  If you are using normal pan, the bottom of the bread might not be good enough, inserting a skewer can help check this.  In this situation, you may have to flip bread over and bake for another 5 to 10 minutes.

6. Good luck with your artisan bread!


Dip it in the olive oil....toast it if you like, yummmmm. !!




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