River Cottage

I am a covert, after many attempts to bake bread that have come out heavy we have finaly found a fool proof recipe. baked my first no knead loaf 2 days ago and have a thired proofing now!

"just one bowel and one preheated pot."

Shudders....

No Knead Bread took the States by storm a couple of years ago. A new cookbook on the subject (author Nancy Baggett (?)) was featured on NPR.org March 22, 2009. A recipe on their website. Bonus is no sticky towel (disregard author's suggested oil spray and lightly brush dough with oil)-- just one bowel and one preheated pot. Very versatile and almost impossible to screw up.

An American cup is 8 LIQUID ounces. It's used whether measuring the flour or the water. It's really quite a good way to measure if you've got the right measuring cups. To make do, you just need to find a mesuring jug that measures in ounces.

I worked with this recipe until I figured out in metric weights the right combination for the kind of flour I use, because from what I have read people often have to add some extra. I also do give it a little bit of light kneading because I found it too sloppy.

Adding six or seven whole, pealed garlic cloves and a tablespoon of cracked pepper makes a really delicious savoury loaf. So easy and absolutely divine.

Sorry about the yeast, i don't measure it, but i use about half a teaspoon, the recipe does say 1/4 teaspoon. I not good at measuring. I think time may vary from place to place, warmth etc, but it it works for me, and fits our family time table - mix dough before work, rise during the day, proove and bake in the evening, eat/make sarnies in the morning. IMHO it makes the finest toast and is great with home made marmalade and an expresso in the morning.

This is a great recipe but I had some problems with the measurements. I eventually found that the new york times had soon after published the recipe with weights given. So I use 430g flour, 345g of water, 1g easy bake yeast (1/4 teaspoon - not sure where you got 10 grams from?) and 8g salt.

I always leave mine for about 24 hours but a little more or less works too. I personally find the texture is not as good when I go below 15 hours.