Bread-No Knead vs Kneaded

No-Knead bread

Here is where I saw the recipe originally-No Knead Bread recipe

I pinned it to Pinterest and I revisit this recipe over and over. It is not a difficult bread to make but here are three important points-

1. You need a covered dish like a dutch oven or a covered casserole dish that can go into the over at 450 degrees for an hour

2. Prepare the dough overnight. It has to sit for 6 to 8 hours so the easiest thing to do is start it at bedtime and baking it in the morning

3. Use BREAD flour. Regular flour doesn't work very well. In fact it's stringy, sticky, hard to work with and doesn't rise enough. Make sure you have Bread Flour.

(The following recipe is copied from Steamy Kitchen)

http://www.steamykitchen.com

ingredients:

3 cups bread flour (I like Harvest King bread flour)1/4 teaspoon instant yeast1 teaspoon fine table salt (or 3/4 tablespoon of kosher salt)1 1/2 cups warm waterCovered pot (five-quart or larger cast iron, Pyrex, ceramic, enamel...something that can go into a 450F oven.)

directions:

1. Mix dough: The night before, combine all ingredients in a big bowl with a wooden spoon until the dough just comes together. It will be a shaggy, doughy mess. Cover with plastic wrap and let sit 12-20 hours on countertop.

2. Shape & preheat: The dough will now be wet, sticky and bubbly. With a wet spatula, dump the dough on a floured surface. Fold ends of dough over a few times with the spatula and nudge it into a ball shape. You can use your hands if you like, just keep your hands wet so that the dough does not stick. Place a large sheet of parchment paper on counter. Plop your dough onto parchment paper. Lift parchment paper up with dough and place into a large bowl. Cover bowl with a towel. Let it nap for 2 hours. When you've got about a half hour left, slip your covered pot into the oven and preheat to 450F.

3. Bake: Your dough should have doubled in size. Remove pot from oven. Grab the ends of the parchment paper and lift entire wobbly dough blob out of bowl into pot. Doesn't matter which way it lands. Shake to even dough out. Cover. Bake 30 minutes. Uncover, bake another 15-20 minutes or until the crust is beautifully golden and middle of loaf is 210F. Remove and let cool on wired rack. If not eating right away, you can re-crisp crust in 350F oven for 10 minutes. Best way to eat it? Smear a warm slice with some good butter (Kerrygold and Lurpac are both found in your grocery stores, usually on top shelf)

Pizza porn! After the bread was all baked and cooled, I cut two thick slices. I covered in pizza sauce, and mozzarella. I added cut up Kalamata Olives (obsessed with those-btw) and fresh chopped Cilantro.

Sprinkle with a little Oregano and now that I think of it-I should have added some Parmesan Cheese!

Bake in toaster oven till warm and cheese is a little brown and bubbly!

My lunch!! 

White Loaf Bread

Here is the recipe:  Classic White Bread

My two loaves both baked today. Which is better? The White Loaf Bread is sweeter and more dense whereas the No Knead Bread has a lighter bread but lovely golden crispy, crunchy outer crust. Both are excellent for eating!  

First Time Pizza Dough-A Failure?

Homemade pizza-It has to be easy.  Right? Well……

I borrowed a recipe from my favorite baking cookbook. (for now-I have an amazing one on it's way to me from Amazon right now!!)

Here's the book. You can get it here : kids Baking by Williams-Sonoma

Here is the recipe from the William-Sonoma website: Pizza Dough recipe

Ingredients: 

all purpose flour- 2 1/2 cups plus extra for kneading

Rapid-rise Yeast-1 package

sugar- 2 teaspoons

salt- 2 1/2 teaspoons

olive oil-2 tablespoons

In a large mixing bowl use a wooden spoon, mis flour, yeast, sugar and salt.

Add warm water- must be between 115 and 125 degrees Farenheit. (Use a thermometer to check the temperature)  When water is the right temperature add to the mixture along with the Olive oil. Mix till a rough, shaggy dough forms.

Cover clean work surface with extra flour to prevent sticking

Kneading. This is the "hard" part. I usually turn on the TV or music to distract myself because otherwise 10 minutes can feel really long. Keep flour on the area where you are kneading and also on your hands to prevent sticking.

Knead for about 10 minutes until the dough is smooth and no longer sticky.

Lily wanted to help so I gave her a small piece to knead with me.

Gather dough into a ball. Wipe out a bowl with Olive oil or vegetable oil. (I prefer Olive oil) and place ball in the bowl. Cover the bowl tightly with plastic wrap. Seat aside in a warm spot and let rise for 45 minutes until doubled in size.

This is after 45 minutes. You poke to see if it's done. If the indent stays (as shown) the dough is ready. If it springs back then let it sit for 10 more minutes.

Once done, flour clean work area again and roll out dough (flour your rolling pin so it won't stick) into a large pizza pie shape.

Add sauce!

Add toppings. We didn't have an mozzarella so I used mozarella slices, string cheese, and Babybell individual cheeses sliced thin. I topped with salami (reasoning that it's almost, pepperoni-right?) and some cheddar cheese. I also added Oregano for seasoning and cut up a few Basil leaves.

The verict-meh

I think I had too much salt. I prefer a sweeter pizza dough so I think I might use less salt next time and maybe a little more sugar. The dough was pretty thick so I would roll it out thinner next time. Also, I definitely would add more sauce and for SURE wait until I had real mozzarella!!  So overall, was it a failure? Well it was all eaten so I think no. I'm going to call it a learning experience!  I WILL try it again.

On the good side-the Basil-YUM!!