Yes! A fantastic recipe! Something to rave about! Finally. What a relief. If you all aren't running home to buy instant yeast (not that stuff that comes in little packets, that's not instant) and throw together your loaf of supremely gratifying, holey, tasty bread, well, then I can't help you either. Do it! You'll be so happy you did. And then you can laminate this recipe and add it to the hall of fame.
It's so easy - you mix together some instant yeast, flour (I used a mix of bread flour and AP flour, half and half) salt and some water to form a “shaggy” dough. You cover this tightly and let it sit undisturbed for 12 to 18 hours. Then you sort of manhandle the dough around for a bit, let it rise a little longer while you preheat an oven and a cast-iron pot (I used a round one, but next time might try the smaller oval pot), and then dump your wobbly dough into the hot pot and let it bake in the oven (first covered, then uncovered) until you have a golden, hollow-when-thumped, crackling loaf of bread (it crackles! As it cools!).
You have to let it cool before slicing, but when you do, beware. A taste of those slices of bread - plain, spread with honey, whatever - will make the people around you become singularly fixated and before you know it the entire loaf will be gone. Gone! It's okay. You can make another loaf and barely even dirty your hands. Go! Bake! NOW!
{(rater>id=100|name=Jim Laheys No-knead Bread|type=rate|headline=off)}
Preheat: ° | Yield: 1x 1-1/2 lb loaf | |
Prep: 0:10 | Wait: 15:00 | Cook: 0:30 |
3 cups all-purpose or bread flour, more for dusting
¼ teaspoon instant yeast
1¼ teaspoons salt
Cornmeal or wheat bran as needed.