No-Knead Peasant Bread

No-Knead Peasant Bread

I’m not a baker. I generally stay as far away from that culinary specialty as I can… and people thank for it. However, for me, cooking is a therapy and this no-knead peasant bread is so much better than seeking professional help. It takes time and patience, but is sooooo very worth it.

I originally found this from a Food Network Magazine article (unfortunately I can’t remember when that was. Sorry, my bad.) But it was the Food Network Kitchen that was cited as creators. At any rate, try this. It took me a few tries to get it right and pretty, but again, worth it.

Enjoy…

Ingredients:

· 2 1/2 cups unbleached bread flour

· 1/2 whole wheat flour

· 1/2 tsp active dry yeast

· 1 1/2 tsp salt (Kosher or sea salt is best)

· All-purpose flour, for dusting work surface

· Enameled Dutch oven, or something similar

Directions:

· Combine all ingredients in a mixing bowl

· Mix well

· Add 1 1/2 cups warm water at about 100 degrees (F)

· Mix well by hand or in a mixer (the dough will be sticky, that’s a good thing)

· Cover bowl with plastic wrap and let rest in refrigerator for 12-24 hrs (this will intensify the flavor but you can skip it and go straight to letting the dough rise)

· Let the dough rise at room temp for about 18-20 hrs (even if you skip the cooling step) The dough should have bubble to it

· Dust the work surface with lots of the AP (all-purpose) flour

· Dump the dough blob onto floured work surface

· Dust top with more AP flour.

· Fold the top & bottom of dough into the center. Do it again to the sides. Scrape and flip over.

· Fold sides under to form a ball

· Place dough ball on a baking sheet (seam side down) lined with parchment paper and dusted with AP flour. Cover with a clean cotton kitchen towel.

· Let rise at room temp until doubled in size (about 3 hrs +/-)

· Pre-heat oven to 450 degrees (F) Set rack to bottom row

· Put Dutch oven in without the lid to heat up for about 20-30 min

· Carefully place in middle of Dutch oven

· Carefully (with a razor sharp blade) make decorative shallow slits in top of bread (if you want to get fancy)

· Cover with lid and bake for about 30 min

· Uncover and bake an additional 15-30 min or until crispy and light(ish) brown

· Remove loaf from Dutch oven and place on cooling rack.

Enjoy!