Bread Update

Ladies and gentlemen, I can now say with certainty that the no-knead bread is wonderful! It really does deserve all the rave reviews it gets. I've always been unhappy that I could never duplicate the steam-induced crusty-crust of an artisan loaf at home, and this pretty well solves that problem since you bake it in a covered dish. The result is a crusty outside, chewy inside, moist and flavorful bread that takes nearly no effort. Having said that, it does still carry with it the usual inconveniences of breadmaking - it takes a long time, makes a mess, etc. If these things don't bother you, you're good to go. If all that still puts you off, do still give it a try at least once. Try it sometime when you're home all day without any time-sensitive commitments. It won't require but a few minutes of active effort here and there, but you will need to be around to tend to it once in awhile. So, enough blathering on about it - here's the result:



The sunflowers came from the yard where they seem to be growing wild just anywhere they chose. Here's the inside of the bread. As you can see, it has nice, big holes:



Here is the recipe if you want to give it a try. It calls for instant yeast, which I don't keep around. If you'd like to make it with the more common active dry yeast instead, proof 1/2 teaspoon of yeast in 2 tablespoons of warm water . Add that to the dough and cut the water in the recipe to 1 1/2 cups. I also used 2 cups of bread flour and 1 cup of whole wheat flour here.