Sweet Heartland: Small Triumphs: baking bread

To me, baking has a mystique. It's so exact, so unforgiving- I'm awful at it. This doesn't get me down too much though, except for bread. I remember my mother baking baguettes in their special pan when I was growing up- that smell, fresh baking and bread is something I want to replicate in my home. This weekend I tried a simple recipe for bread and I DID IT. Maybe I broke the baking seal? My neighbor and I are attempting french macaroons next, which is a large leap because they seem impossible and expensive to make. But for now, tonight, I'm basking in my bread-making success.

*a note before you try this recipe- the actually preparation time is maybe 15 minutes. This bread takes about 24 hours in all to make, so be sure to plan accordingly.

Recipe: No-Knead Bread, via New York Times

Adapted from Jim Lahey, Sullivan Street Bakery
Time: About 1½ hours plus 14 to 20 hours’ rising

3 cups all-purpose or bread flour, more for dusting
¼ teaspoon instant yeast
1¼ teaspoons salt
Cornmeal or wheat bran as needed.

1. In a large bowl combine flour, yeast and salt. Add 1 5/8 cups water, and stir until blended; dough will be shaggy and sticky. Cover bowl with plastic wrap. Let dough rest at least 12 hours, preferably about 18, at warm room temperature, about 70 degrees.

At about 10:30 Saturday morning, the bread looked like this:

Like Mr. Bittman says, it takes 18 hours to rise. What to do with those 18 hours?

Have some lunch:

Do some research:

Around 1:00 am Saturday night, the bread had expanded considerably:

2. Dough is ready when its surface is dotted with bubbles. Lightly flour a work surface and place dough on it; sprinkle it with a little more flour and fold it over on itself once or twice. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rest about 15 minutes.

Um, okay. If you get nervous like I did, you will want to watch this video while you wait:

3. Using just enough flour to keep dough from sticking to work surface or to your fingers, gently and quickly shape dough into a ball. Generously coat a cotton towel (not terry cloth) with flour, wheat bran or cornmeal; put dough seam side down on towel and dust with more flour, bran or cornmeal. Cover with another cotton towel and let rise for about 2 hours. When it is ready, dough will be more than double in size and will not readily spring back when poked with a finger.

While I waited for the bread to rise, I did some ballet flat shopping:

Oh my lord, is it really supposed to look like this?

It was a tense hour

4. At least a half-hour before dough is ready, heat oven to 450 degrees. Put a 6- to 8-quart heavy covered pot (cast iron, enamel, Pyrex or ceramic) in oven as it heats. When dough is ready, carefully remove pot from oven. Slide your hand under towel and turn dough over into pot, seam side up; it may look like a mess, but that is O.K. Shake pan once or twice if dough is unevenly distributed; it will straighten out as it bakes. Cover with lid and bake 30 minutes, then remove lid and bake another 15 to 30 minutes, until loaf is beautifully browned. Cool on a rack.

Yield: One 1½-pound loaf.

An hour later I had an ugly duckling of a bread loaf: