No Need to Knead!

I'm sorry. I usually don't embrace puns, but I am feeling silly today. It may be the luxury of all of us having days off with nothing to do but read, watch cooking shows (today: paella! somehow I find it fascinating even though it's entirely made of stuff I don't eat), play board games, do crafts, and eat. The last few days at the BCC have seen a bounty of homemade goodness: yesterday's lunch alone was moroccan chickpea soup with oregano-crusted pita and this afternoon was an unbelievably good homemade minestrone with homemade rosemary-cornmeal bread. Tonight I make pasta cooked in a whole bottle of wine. I view it as a personal challenge. Yeah, we obviously don't do that new year's resolution crap around here.

In the spirit of the bread we just enjoyed I give you my new favorite recipe -- it makes fresh bread that is the match of those $5 breads at fancy markets out there (you know what I'm talking about) and that costs approximately ten cents to make. It takes a grand total of five minutes of your time as well (no exaggeration) and three whole ingredients. You just have to start it the day before -- we've started to just constantly have a bowl of dough rising because Erin's brother materializes to help us eat it every time we pull a new one out of the oven. The reason it turns out like the fancy bread is 1) the extended rise time, which takes the place of kneading, and 2) the preheated pot that gives it an awesome crustiness. You can mix it up and add herbs, different flours, garlic, cheese, whatever floats your cork. I know out of the five people reading this, maybe one of you will ever make it, so, Saru, I'm really typing it up for you. To the rest of you -- enjoy the wolf moon tonight! Go on a midnight full moon hike! Howl!

No-Knead Bread

3 cups flour (ideally bread, but regular has worked fine for us, wheat, etc. will also work)
1/4 tsp instant yeast
1 1/4 tsp salt

1. Combine flour, yeast and salt. Add 1 5/8 cups water and stir until blended -- dough will be sticky. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and let rest at room temperature for 12-18 hours (preferably 18, we've left it even longer).

2. Dough will be dotted with bubbles. Place on a lightly floured work surface and fold it over itself once or twice (that's it!). Cover loosely and let sit for 15 minutes.

3. Shape it into a ball. Coat a cotton towel with flour (or wheat bran, or cornmeal) and put dough seam side down on towel. Dust top with flour, cover and let rise 2 more hours, until double in size.

4. Half an hour before the dough is ready, heat the oven to 450. Put a 6-8 quart heavy covered pot in the oven as it heats (we've use a Pyrex bowl with a cookie sheet as a cover to good effect, until we someday purchase a covered pot). When dough is ready, turn it over into the heated pot, shake it out, cover with the lid and bake for 30 minutes. Remove the lid and bake for 15-30 minutes more (15 is closer to right). Yum!