I made bread!

How'bout your bread?
When you go out to a respectable restaurant, don't you always expect they serve good bread? It should arrive at your table warm, crispy on the outside, soft and chewy on the inside. Spreading butter on it should melt instantly and absorbs into your perfect bite. Well guess what? I baked bread this weekend and I accomplished just that!

I found a receipe by Jim Lahey of Sullivan St. Bakery. Never tried this Hell's Kitchen bakery but the recipe is all over the web, it shouldn't be THAT hard to do.

And so I did it. As an amateur and first time baking bread without the right instruments, I made a fantastic loaf of bread. I encourage everyone with a free weekend to try this out. I paired it up with a curry chicken stew that is full of healthy ingredients such as celeries and carrots. I was so surprised I was able to pull it off! May be there is a bit of domestication in me after all!

Here is the recipe:
Potato No-Knead Bread

(makes 1 1 1/2 lb loaf)

3 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp active dry yeast
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 5/8 cups boiled water, slightly cooled

In a large bowl, combine flour, yeast, salt and pepper. Add 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 (or two days) at warm room temperature, about 70 degrees.

The trick is, the longer you ferment the dough, the chewier it gets. So test your patience, people!




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.

Using just enough flour to keep dough from sticking to work surface or 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 douhg 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.
At least a half-hour before dough is ready, heat oven to 450 degrees. Put a 6-8 quart heavy covered pot (cast iron, enamel, Pyrex or ceramic) in oven as it heats.

I used a stainless steel pot for baking and it still worked. This is an indication that it is the recipe that works, not the pot! Here is the pot I used. However, I did moist the pot with my olive oil spray. But it didn't seem like that would matter ... just a thought.



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 OK. 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.



My bread was utterly crispy on the outside and soft in the inside. It was heavenly!!