The Hubby's Bread Recipe
Taylor has been making some variation of this recipe for the past couple of years now. It's magical, makes your house smell amazing, and makes me propose to him time and time again upon trying the delicious labor of love.
Luckily, though it does take time, it doesn't take too much labor as it's a no-knead bread recipe. Read the whole thing through and make sure you have a medium sized pot that can go in the oven (as that's how you'll be baking your loaf). I hope you enjoy it!
Ingredients:
- 3 cups (400g) bread flour
- 1 and 1/4 tsp sea salt
- 1/4 tsp instant or other active dry yeast (not sure what the adaptation would be if you have sourdough starter, must try this one day!)
- 1 TBSP of honey
- 1 and 1/2 cups warm water
- Fine ground cornmeal for dusting
- 1/4 cup raisins, walnuts, and or pumpkin seeds (optional).
Process:
- In a medium sized bowl, mix the flour, salt and yeast. Add the water and honey and mix with your hands or a wooden spoon for about 30 seconds (or until you have a wet, sticky dough). Cover the bowl completely (using a plate, the top of a pot, saran wrap), and let it sit at room temperature for about 12 hours (or up to 18!). This is where the bread starts to rise and ferment.
- When the first fermentation is complete, dust a cutting board with flour. When you pull the dough away from the bowl it will stick in long, thin strands (showing you have developed the gluten) and it will be loose and sticky. Don't add more flour! Use lightly floured hands or a spatula to lift the edges of the dough in towards the center. Gently tuck and push the edges of the dough in to make it round. Optional - gently (very gently) fold in optional ingredients (raising, walnuts, being careful not to overmix the dough).
- Place a natural fiber (cotton or linen) kitchen towel on your work surface and dust with cornmeal (or flour). Use your hands to gently lift the dough onto the towel so it is seam side down. If the dough is super tacky, dust it on top with cornmeal (or flour). Fold the ends of the towel loosely over the dough to cover and place it in a room temperature (or even slightly warm) spot to rise again for another 1-2 hours. When you poke the dough with your finger it should hold the impression. If it doesn't wait another 15 minutes.
- Half an hour before the end of the second rise, preheat the oven to 475 degrees with a rack in the lower third position, and place a covered heavy opt in the center of the rack.
- Using pot holders (very carefully), remove the preheated pot from the oven and uncover it. Unfold the kitchen towel, lift up the dough and quickly invert it into the pot so the dough lands seam side up. Cover the pot and bake for 30 minutes. (Taylor likes to check the bread after 20 minutes, but it's up to you! We like our bread a little more doughy).
- Remove the lid and continue baking until the bread is a golden or chestnut color about 15-30 mins more. Very carefully remove from over and lift the bread out of the pot to cool thoroughly (on a rack preferably). If you can stand it, let it cool for about an hour. If not, rip into it and enjoy with ghee, honey, cheese, or all of the above!
*Please note, this is adapted from Jim Lahey's No Knead Bread recipe*