Monday 29 April 2013

Pip and her Quick 'n' Easy Speedy No Knead bread solution


Today is my gorgeous pal Pip Lincolne's middle child's birthday!

Rad huh!

How did our kids get to be so grown up already?!

It's really totally awesome to see our babies grow into rad young adults actually.
Totes worth celebrating.
And that is what Pip is organising.
A celebratory 'YAY- you are 17 and AWESOME birthday dinner"

So of course there was going to be delicious bread.....but Pippy forgot to organise for the L O N G wait of the No Knead.

Here's how she fixed that problem.

She was worried about stealing my #ggbreadrevolution bready thunder but I totes love to share and I certainly LOVE to share speedy solutions! And I love having my mates over at my place AND at my blog so here she is with her speedy fix recipe to share with you here- really it was a win win! (phew that was a really LONG sentence and I'm all out of breath!)

Over to Pip (thanks Pippy!) & HAPPY BIRTHDAY MAX!!!!!!:


I first made no knead bread when the original NY Times article came out and lots of great bloggers were excitedly posting about how great it was. I already have my own recipe for sloppy, bubbly bread (http://mikesrecipejournal.blogspot.com.au/2008/11/pips-famous-pane-toscano.html) but it's not as special as The NY Times version and it hasn't got the great crust that the cast-iron baked ones have. 

I am SO glad to be reminded to make these delish loaves by Miss Ruth.

Today it's my son's birthday and I forgot to make my long-rise dough before I went to bed. Gazooks! 

I decided to try a speedier way, to boost the yeast and go for a shorter rise and see what happens. The news is it totally worked!  This means you don't have to think quite as far ahead, when you get bready.  

I thought the crust might be squishy and the texture might be cakey with this speedier take... NOPE! The crust is still delicious and it's got the same fabulous bubbly crumb. To tell you the truth, I can't notice much of a difference between the 16 hour rise and the 3-4 hour rise… So it's good to know that you can make a version of this bread in a (lengthy!) rush, if you're not in the slow food mood.

We're having it tonight with Julia Child's Boeuf Bourgignon (it's the birthday kid's choice!) and some pommes dauphinoise! YUM!

Here's how I sped up the recipe (and made it gooey-hands-free too!) :

Pippy's Speedier No Knead No Hands (kind of!) Bread:

  • 3 1/2 cups of bread flour
  • 1 sachet dried yeast
  • 1 teaspoon of salt
  • 1 1/2 cups of water

Put all ingredients into a mixer and mix until combined. I use a dough hook for this.

Oil a largish bowl and using a spatula, scrape the soggy dough into the bowl.
Cover with plastic wrap and let it rise for 3 or 4 hours in a warm room.
It needs to be bubbly all over. (My loaves today took 3 hours in a heated room.)

Punch the dough down through the plastic wrap. It'll stick to the wrap. Yank the wrap off and cover with fresh plastic wrap.
Let it rise and recover in a warm spot for another half an hour or so.
Meanwhile, preheat your oven to 450F (230C) .

Grease a cast iron pot with a lid well and put that in the oven (empty!) - the dough will almost double in size as it cooks, if that helps you go choose which pot to use! I use the spray oil stuff for this job.

When your dough is ready (after a half hour second rise!) use a spatula to scrape it into a bit of ball in the bowl it has risen in.
Now get your cast iron pot out of the oven and plonk the ball into it (again, scrape it in gently with the spatula, keeping it a bit ball shaped)
Put the lid on. 
Bake for 30 minutes at 450F (230C).

Remove the lid and bake for an extra 15 minutes until golden brown.
Remove and marvel at your amazingness!

Ta-dah!



4 comments:

  1. Love it!! We were struggling with the timing! This is great!

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  2. Alli @ ducks on the dam29 April 2013 at 20:06

    I am yet to try these versions (with the hot pot) but do bake bread regularly. My rise time is only about an hour....... because I put the bowl into a sink half full of warm water. Works a treat. Must try hot pot bread.....

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  3. aaahhhh Pip, she full of clever ideas isn't she?!

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  4. Great idea for a speedy loaf! Here's my 10 cents... I have been making the NY Times No-Knead bread for just over 2 years now, and I think the only reason I am still doing it is because I have altered the timings a little and have a "cheats version" that is too easy. I mix up the dough as per the original recipe while I make dinner (although I do a mix of wholemeal and plain flour, and add LSA and chia seeds). I let it rise overnight and in the morning I put the dough out on the bench on a piece of floured baking paper (I roughly shape the dough into a loaf or a round using floured hands), and at the same time I turn the oven on. I give the oven about 20-30 mins to heat up and then just whack the bread in. I have gone back to using the cast iron pot just recently cos it gives such a lovely crust, but for about 18 months or so I would just put a tray in the oven to heat up. When it was time to put the bread in, I bring the hot tray to the bench and pull the baking paper/dough on to the dough. You don't get such a good crust but it's a completely respectable and delicious loaf of bread. Still looks pretty good too, if you artistically slash the top of the dough just before baking! But this way it fits in easily with my daily routine without having to calculate rising times in advance.

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