I do this every day. Every day I make bread in my magic pot -- a 14-inch, 13 quart, 34 cm cast iron Le Creuset Dutch Oven. It is our Liberty Bell pot since it has a huge crack down one side, which is how we got it for nearly free. But it still works.
I poached the recipe from Brian and Ann Stucki's blog -- though I have doubled -- then tripled -- then quadrupled...... and even quintupled it. This first picture above was a triple, which means 9 cups of flour.
This loaf (above) is a quadruple: 12 cups of flour (notice the oven thermometer - essential!) The loaf below was a fiver: 15 cups of flour! That's 1 hour and 42 minutes in the oven, at 425 degrees, to reach the magic internal temp of 210 degrees. I put my wedding ring on it in the picture to try to show the scale. And there must be some domestic symbolism in the shot as well. After all, Marco tells me that the word "Lady" is from
Old English hlǣfdīġe, originally literally ‘loaf-kneader’. (The word "Lord" is from
hlafweard, literally "the one who guards the loaves," from
hlaf "bread, loaf" +
weard "keeper, guardian, ward.")
Here's the recipe:
Almost No-Knead Bread
An enameled cast-iron Dutch oven with a tight-fitting lid yields best results, but the recipe also works in a regular cast-iron Dutch oven or heavy stockpot.
The bread is best eaten the day it is baked but can be wrapped in aluminum foil and stored in a cool, dry place for up to 2 days.
Makes 1 large round loaf (but doubles -- triples-- multiplies well, if you've got the pot.)
3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour (15 ounces), plus additional for dusting work surface
1/4 teaspoon instant or rapid-rise yeast
1 1/2 teaspoons table salt
3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons water (7 ounces), at room temperature
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons mild-flavored lager (that is, beer) (3 ounces)
1 tablespoon white vinegar
1. Whisk flour, yeast, and salt in large bowl. Add water, beer, and vinegar. Using rubber spatula, fold mixture, scraping up dry flour from bottom of bowl until shaggy ball forms. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and let sit at room temperature for 8 to 18 hours.
2. Lay 12- by 18-inch sheet of parchment paper inside 10-inch skillet. Transfer dough to lightly floured work surface and knead 10 to 15 times. Shape dough into ball by pulling edges into middle. Transfer dough, seam-side down, to parchment-lined skillet. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rise at room temperature until dough has doubled in size and does not readily spring back when poked with finger, about 2 hours.
3. About 30 minutes before baking, adjust oven rack to lowest position, place a 6- to 8 (or 13!!) quart heavy-bottomed Dutch oven (with lid) on rack, and pre-heat the pot in the oven at 500 degrees. Lightly flour top of dough and, using razor blade or sharp knife, make an "X" (or a "Z" if your other child insists) 1/2-inch-deep slit along top of dough. Carefully remove pot from oven and remove lid. Pick up dough by lifting parchment overhang and lower into pot (let any excess parchment hang over pot edge). Cover pot and place in oven. Reduce oven temperature to 425 degrees and bake covered for 30 minutes. Remove lid and continue to bake until loaf is deep brown and instant-read thermometer inserted into center registers 210 degrees, 20 to 30 minutes longer. Carefully remove bread from pot; transfer to wire rack and cool to room temperature, about 2 hours (if you can keep people away from it that long!).
STEP BY STEP: Almost No-Knead Bread
1. MIX: Stir the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients with a spatula.
2. REST: Leave the dough to rest for eight to 18 hours.
3. KNEAD: Knead the dough 10 to 15 times and shape it into a ball.
4. LET RISE: Allow the dough to rise for two hours in a parchment paper-lined skillet.
5. BAKE: Lift the parchment paper and place the dough (and paper) in the preheated Dutch oven and bake covered at 425 for half and hour, then uncover and continue to bake until the thermometer tells you it's 210, and the loaf is deep brown.
HELPFUL HINT:
On the bigger loaves, after uncovering the loaf, if it starts to get too brown you may want to cover it again, while waiting for the internal temp to get to 210.
ANOTHER HELPFUL HINT:
For the beer, use a mild-flavored lager, such as Budweiser, or a non-alcoholic lager like O'Doul's also works if you're embarrassed to be seen by your neighbors with a six-pack of Bud in your shopping cart!
Here's Katie with my very first Loaf Number One (a modest double loaf) -- just before she left for her backpacking adventure. Stories from the road are at
www.fancyfiddle.blogspot.com.
ANOTHER HELPFUL HINT:
Make sure you have plenty of butter and honey around. I've never had a loaf last more than a day or two.
