I have two kinds of friends: Cooking friends and non-cooking friends (I also have those same two kinds of family members). I love all equally. But today I'm calling on my My second attempt yesterday/today at no-knead bread was another dismal failure. Sticky dough after first rise, impossible to knead, did almost nothing on the second rise and, when baked, looked like a huge, tasteless muffin top (not in a good way). This recipe is supposedly foolproof. Am I a fool?
My ingredients were sound. It's really not that many steps. I've been baking bread for, seriously, like 15 years. Why have I twice failed to bake this loaf?
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8 comments:
I like to think of myself as something of a cooking friend, but alas, not a baking friend. Sorry it's not working because it sounds good.
I am the same - a cook but not a baker. darn!
Two words.. Mrs. Bairds.
http://www.mrsbairds.com/
I'll give it a whirl for you. Believe it or not, I am a Baker, not much of a cook.
I'm on the case. Stay tuned.
I am a baker, but not a serious one. I will, however, forward your concerns to my friend who IS a serious baker and see what I can find out!
Hi Amy!
Ellen forwarded to me. I'd seen this same article a couple times; this guy is getting a LOT of press for this method. There's a panetonne recipe, by him, based on this method that I'm hoping to try this weekend. From what I've read so far, the key is to really, really minimally touch it. Like, just enough to blend. Time is supposed to do all the work the kneading would have done. My understanding is you just let it sit for 12+ hours. I'll let you know what happens when I try it. I LOVE baking, and plan on spending the weekend making Christmas cookies. Hopefully I'll have a chance to take a crack at this, too.
Regardless, I think it's amazingly awesome that you saw the article and gave it a try so quickly. I'm disappointed but not surprised that it's not living up to the hype.
Emily
PS - Both Ellen and Jan Kiker have told me really wonderful things about you. It's good to finally be "in touch" - you're amazing. We met very briefly at "sanity check" but I still hadn't regained my sanity when you left, so I just barely recall.
I made the bread and it turned out gorgeous. These are thoughts I jotted down during the process:
1. I used warm water in the initial batch mixing. Nowhere in the recipe or video does it say to do so, but my experience is that yeast needs that warmth to do its thing.
2. I kept the heat on during the night so that the dough would not experience temperature fluxuations or get too cold. The dogs hate this recipe.
3. I let the dough rise 17 hours.
4. The dough was seriously sticky after I "poured" it out the first time. This is good - means the gluten is working. It didn't exactly rise, though.
5. Did you over-knead? In the video, he just folds the dough gently over four times before letting it have its 15 minute catnap. Hardly kneading - he should use another word. Overkneading can ruin the hard work that the yeast has done. There were tons of air bubbles in my dough. I considered this a good precursor to a baguette-y final product.
6. The dough did not "more than double in size" after the two hours, although I'd say it grew by 50%.
7. I used cornmeal as the towel dusting agent. I liked the result, even if this has nothing to do with the bread making itself!
8. I used a 5-qt. Le Creuset cast iron pot. I like the recipe's instructions to put it into the oven when it was pre-heated it so that it, too, would be really warm when the dough went in.
9. After baking 30 minutes covered and 15 minutes uncovered, it came out well. Some rising took place during the cooking time. Crusty crust, airy and French-bread-y in the middle (not dense). It was what I was hoping: like a big, round baguette. Deep inside, the center meal of the bread might have been a little moist. Maybe that's the way it is, maybe I should have taken the lid off the pot before the end of 30 minutes. I think the video said that about half the time in the oven should be covered and it was 67% for me. Maybe I got too much moisture trapped?
I think temperature and kneading (or lack of) are the keys with this recipe. I can't believe something that takes 1/4 t. of yeast made such a good size loaf. Try 'er again, this is a crazy good recipe! Thanks for alerting us to it, even in despair.
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