Jim Lahey's No-Knead Bread

I’ve recently taken an interest in baking. Specifically, baking bread. Bread is another staple that, until recently, we always bought at the store. My first foray into baking bread came a few weeks ago when we were having sloppy joes for dinner (Gabrielle should post about the sloppy joe recipe she has, it’s really great). I started the joes and then realized that we didn’t have any bread or hamburger buns. I was just about to head out to the store when I decided to see if there was a recipe for buns online that looked fast and easy. I found one on allrecipes.com. I gave it a try and had pretty decent buns in a little over an hour.

I was so encouraged by the results that a few days later we headed to the bookstore to look for bread books. I really had no idea where to start. Gabrielle had read about Jim Lahey’s “no knead method” and luckily Greenlight Books had a copy of his book.

The book, My Bread, is well written, informative, and loaded with simple recipes and amazing pictures. Mr. Lahey has developed a way to make rustic Italian style breads at home. Here’s how it works: the very simple dough is allowed to ferment and rise slowly. One simply mixes the ingredients (flour, water, a bit of salt and a little yeast) and then lets the dough sit at room temperature for 12-18 hours, no kneading required. After the rise, and a short 2^nd rise, the bread is baked in a covered baking dish (ceramic, enamel or cast iron) at a very high temperature. The covered baking vessel simulates the conditions inside a brick oven. The method is straight forward and very easy to follow. Most importantly, the results are stunning. My first two loaves looked like they came from an artisan bakery.

The “no knead method” has received quite a bit of praise and attention thanks to Mark Bittman at the New York Times. Jim Lahey wanted his recipe and method to be accessible to everyone; he even has a basic recipe available on his bakery’s website. I highly recommend buying the book though. In the book, you will find more detailed instructions and many helpful hints. There are also several recipes for different styles of bread, sandwich fixings and those great photos I mentioned.

I have started moving beyond Lahey’s basic bread and have had great success with whole-wheat rolls:

and this:

Peanut Butter and Jelly roll!

We haven’t bought bread at the store since I started baking and I don’t see that changing anytime soon.

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