Continuing my march through the world of no-knead breads, I tried my first recipe from Nancy Baggett's Kneadlessly Simple: Fabulous, Fuss-Free, No-Knead Breads. I was very excited to get this book, because I have two of Nancy Baggett's other books (The All-American Cookie Book and The All-American Dessert Book), and I like both of them quite a bit.
I don't drink beer and I actually hate the taste of the stuff, but I still wanted to try out the recipe for "Crusty Seeded Pale Ale Pot Boule." Baggett describes this particular loaf as having a "hearty flavor, faint bitterness, and the same light yeasty aroma that always seems to hover in brewpubs." The dough was a snap to make. You combine flour, sugar, salt, and yeast, and then vigorously stir in ice water and an entire 12-oz. bottle of chilled ale. In the Kitchenaid stand mixer, this requires no effort at all. For timing convenience, Baggett's recipes have an optional extended rise step where you can leave your dough in the refrigerator for several hours after it is first made, during which the yeast fermentation process is slowed. I mixed this dough on Saturday morning and kept it in the refrigerator until the early evening. Then I left the dough out at room temperature overnight for the specified 12-18 hour first rise.
On Sunday morning, for the second rise, I transferred the dough to a piece of parchment paper (the recipe doesn't call for parchment, but I really like this technique from the Cook's Illustrated method for almost no-knead bread, which makes it so much easier to transfer the dough into a hot dutch oven without deflating it). When I was ready to bake two hours later, I brushed the top of the dough with water, covered it liberally with sesame seeds, and then picked up the parchment paper to transfer the parchment and dough together into the preheated dutch oven. After 55 minutes of baking with the lid on, I pulled out the dutch oven and lifted the lid to find a beautifully domed, perfectly risen, dark-crusted loaf.
I put the loaf back into the oven uncovered for another 25 minutes, until the interior reached 210 degrees, the temperature specified in the recipe. After the bread cooled and I cut into the loaf, it looked gorgeous. I used a 3.5 quart Le Creuset dutch oven (the size specified in the recipe) and the loaf filled the pot edge to edge, so the loaf had about a 8.5-inch diameter. The sesame seeds were toasted golden brown and the color of the crumb was a very light tan. Best of all, this bread tasted amazing. The loaf had a very hearty and complex flavor that was slightly ale-like without being overpowering. I really enjoyed eating this bread plain.
This is definitely my favorite loaf of bread so far. I was thinking about sharing some of the bread with our neighbors or maybe taking some of the office tomorrow, but it's so tasty that I think we're going to have to keep this bread for ourselves!
Recipe: "Crusty Seeded Pale Ale Pot Boule" from Kneadlessly Simple: Fabulous, Fuss-Free, No-Knead Breads by Nancy Baggett.
Previous Posts:
I don't drink beer and I actually hate the taste of the stuff, but I still wanted to try out the recipe for "Crusty Seeded Pale Ale Pot Boule." Baggett describes this particular loaf as having a "hearty flavor, faint bitterness, and the same light yeasty aroma that always seems to hover in brewpubs." The dough was a snap to make. You combine flour, sugar, salt, and yeast, and then vigorously stir in ice water and an entire 12-oz. bottle of chilled ale. In the Kitchenaid stand mixer, this requires no effort at all. For timing convenience, Baggett's recipes have an optional extended rise step where you can leave your dough in the refrigerator for several hours after it is first made, during which the yeast fermentation process is slowed. I mixed this dough on Saturday morning and kept it in the refrigerator until the early evening. Then I left the dough out at room temperature overnight for the specified 12-18 hour first rise.
On Sunday morning, for the second rise, I transferred the dough to a piece of parchment paper (the recipe doesn't call for parchment, but I really like this technique from the Cook's Illustrated method for almost no-knead bread, which makes it so much easier to transfer the dough into a hot dutch oven without deflating it). When I was ready to bake two hours later, I brushed the top of the dough with water, covered it liberally with sesame seeds, and then picked up the parchment paper to transfer the parchment and dough together into the preheated dutch oven. After 55 minutes of baking with the lid on, I pulled out the dutch oven and lifted the lid to find a beautifully domed, perfectly risen, dark-crusted loaf.
I put the loaf back into the oven uncovered for another 25 minutes, until the interior reached 210 degrees, the temperature specified in the recipe. After the bread cooled and I cut into the loaf, it looked gorgeous. I used a 3.5 quart Le Creuset dutch oven (the size specified in the recipe) and the loaf filled the pot edge to edge, so the loaf had about a 8.5-inch diameter. The sesame seeds were toasted golden brown and the color of the crumb was a very light tan. Best of all, this bread tasted amazing. The loaf had a very hearty and complex flavor that was slightly ale-like without being overpowering. I really enjoyed eating this bread plain.
This is definitely my favorite loaf of bread so far. I was thinking about sharing some of the bread with our neighbors or maybe taking some of the office tomorrow, but it's so tasty that I think we're going to have to keep this bread for ourselves!Recipe: "Crusty Seeded Pale Ale Pot Boule" from Kneadlessly Simple: Fabulous, Fuss-Free, No-Knead Breads by Nancy Baggett.
Previous Posts:
- "Bread in Five Minutes a Day?," January 9, 2010.
- "More Yeasted Breads: Whole Wheat Loaves," January 4, 2010.
- "2010: The Year of Yeasted Breads?," January 3, 2010.
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