Wednesday, May 6, 2009

No Knead Dutch Oven Bread Finished

Here is the finished loaf of "No Knead, Dutch Oven Bread." It looks like a sourdough loaf or something from the artisan bakery. It has flavor and a real crust. And no, I didn't make that "X" on the top, it just naturally happened. What a great recipe! Thank you Faith! Here it is:
Dissolve 1/4 tsp active dry yeast in 1 1/2 cups of warm water in a large bowl. Add 3 cups of all-purpose flour and 1 1/2 tsp of salt. Stir into a shaggy, sticky dough. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and let it rest for at least 8 hours. I left mine 14 and I think you can leave it even longer.
The surface of the dough will be covered with bubbles when it's ready. Lightly flour a work surface and scoop the sticky dough out. Sprinkle with a little more flour and then fold it over itself a few times. Cover with plastic wrap and let it rest 15 minutes.
Use enough flour to keep the dough from sticking to you, or the counter, and shape it into a ball. Coat a dish cloth with flour and/or cornmeal. Put the dough seam-side down. Lightly flour another towel and cover the dough. Let it rise 1-2 hours until it doubles in size.
Heat oven to 450 with a covered dutch oven inside. Carefully remove the pot when the oven is ready, lift off the lid and turn the dough over into the pot, seam-side up. Shake the pot a little to distribute the dough, don't worry if it looks strange, it fixes itself while cooking.
Cover and bake for about 30 minutes. Remove the lid and bake for 15-20 more, until the bread is nice and brown to your liking.

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