Dwight's No-Knead Artisan Bread

OK, this is not entirely my idea. It is inspired by the process by chef Jim Lahey, owner of the Sullivan Street Bakery in Manhattan. It's described in a 2006 article in the New York Times and is probably vastly superior to my version, but I was never able to make his recipe work for me. It just turned into a sticky, gooey mess. Article | Recipe

So after some experimentation, I came up with this process that I find utterly foolproof (depending on the fool in question--I do have a tendency to forget to set the oven timer...).

The secrets to this bread are time and a dutch oven. The yeast does all the work and you don't need much. I use about a tsp. Some people use half that. But you have to give it time to work. I usually mix up my bread on Sunday morning and bake it in the evening. Supplies my personal bread needs for the next week or two. The dutch oven traps the moisture and give the crust that wonderful chewy texture.

Ingredients:

1c. rye flour
5 c. bread flour (maybe a little more, but you want a somewhat sticky dough)
1 tbl. salt (I actually use less than that)
1 tsp dry yeast
3 cups warm water

Mix the yeast in the water (about 110 degrees).

Mix the dry ingredients together in a large bowl.

Add the water/yeast and stir until all the flour is evenly moist. Do not use a mixer or knead the dough. It might be a bit sticky, which is good. Shouldn't be too dry. But it also shouldn't be too wet. I sprinkle flour on it until it's just workable and doesn't stick to the bowl too much.

Divide in half and set aside for 8 hours or more. Overnight is ok. Up to 12 hours is fine.

About half way through you can stir the dough a bit if you want. It's said that this does help develop the gluten. It's not required. Don't do much. You want to manipulate the dough as little as possible so it keeps the nice big bubbles.

Preheat oven, including the dutch oven and lid, to 400 degrees. The tricky part is gently dumping the dough into the hot dutch oven. Sprinkle some cornmeal and a bit of flour in the oven first to keep the dough from sticking. (Lahey dumps it out onto a towel to transfer it in a sort of hammock. I tried that, but it just ended up sticking to the towel and ruining it.)

Gently dump the dough into the hot dutch oven and cover with the lid.
Bake for 30 minutes.
Remove the lid and bake for another 15 minutes.

The main problem with using a dutch oven, of course, is that you usually only own one and even if you have two, they will likely not fit in your oven at the same time. So I have to bake one loaf and then the next. It's worth it, though.

Using all white flour works, too, and is a bit easier to handle, but I find it a bit bland. The rye gives it a beautiful nutty flavor. Best when fresh, but not warm. I freeze whatever I'm not going to use in the next day or so.

Let me know how it goes :)

-Dwight