No-Knead Artisan Bread
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Once you’ve been introduced to the world of sourdough, you realize that all other bread is essentially inferior. Nothing seems to beat a slice of fresh, authentic sourdough bread—not even challah or brioche.
Maria has written a really quite beautiful reflection on sourdough as part of her introduction to her method and recipe. Every now and again I return to her post, where she writes things like,
“Sourdough opens up the world of bread, both forwards in time and back. You leaven dough just as people did ages ago. You get into a rhythm, you incorporate it into your day. You start to understand the work of yeast simply by experience. You feel liberated from recipes and start experimenting with flours, add-ins, fermentation periods and techniques.”
It’s inspiring stuff! And it was enough to get me to jump on the sourdough bandwagon and give it a try. Both Maria’s post and Sophie’s post on their sourdough methods are great places to start. Following my sisters’ instructions and encouragement, I began to get the hang of sourdough and turned out some wonderful, flavorful loaves.
But the thing I continued to struggle with was just getting sourdough into my regular routine. Maria says you “get into a rhythm, you incorporate it into your day.” Well, I just couldn’t get there. I’d feed my starter, get it bubbly and active, spend 12+ hours developing, shaping and baking a loaf, enjoy the fruits of this labor for one or two days, and then be fizzled out. I’d stick my starter back in the fridge and forget about it, or put off feeding it, for months at a time, until I was inspired by photos in my sisters’ IG feed and I’d finally work up the nerve to do the whole process again.
There’s no doubt about it: the end results are certainly worth it. But I continue to find it very difficult to work it into my daily life enough to have fresh sourdough even once a week.
This Fall, with the start of a new school year, and a new pregnancy (!), I found myself returning to Artisan Bread.
Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day (or ABIF) was something of a revolution when it first hit the market just over a decade ago (in fact, the word “revolution” is present in its very title). It was the bread-baking technique that first got me, and countless others, baking bread on a regular basis. The notion was simple: bread baking shouldn’t be prohibitive; it’s a basic human activity. How can this ancient tradition be reintroduced to the modern home? With a recipe that takes roughly “Five Minutes a Day,” Artisan bread was back on American tables.
For about ten years I made Artisan Bread regularly. And then for the last couple years, I fell out of the habit. Despite my husband’s begging (can you pleeeeeease make Artisan Bread??), I preferred sandwich bread, challah, soft fluffy loaves, and the incomparably more flavorful sourdough (see recipes linked above). But now that I find myself pinched for time, running around between activities, and mostly uninspired in the kitchen (read: pregnant), Artisan Bread has walked back into my life.
The main magic of ABIF is that it takes only a few minutes to mix up the dough, and only a few minutes to shape the dough, so you’re looking at roughly five minutes of active time total. Of course, there is still a two-hour bulk rise, and a 40-6o minute second rise after shaping, and then a 30 minute bake time, but still. You can get other things done during that down time. But it gets even better. You can mix up the dough, let it bulk rise, and then stick it in the fridge for up to two weeks. Which means, if you have this dough sitting in the back of your fridge, on any given night of the week, you are about an hour and a half from a fresh loaf of bread—just tear a hunk off the chilled dough, shape into a loaf, preheat the oven, and bake.
And it’s really really good.
I mean, maybe it’s not as flavorful as Sourdough, but it is just so darn good—and easy. Which, in my current books, makes it a winner.
P.S. The ingredients are simple and I know the instructions look complicated, but trust me, they’re not. As soon as you understand the process, it’s a cinch. After the first time, I didn't even need the instructions—I just wrote down the ingredients on an index card and taped it to the inside of my baking cupboard. And after a few more times, I didn’t even need the index card anymore. It’s that easy.
P.P.S. I forgot to mention. I often use this dough for pizza, flatbread, calzones and naan, too, if I need something fast and easy. See notes below.
No-Knead Artisan Bread
Ingredients:
3 cups warm water
1 1/2 tablespoons yeast
1 1/2 tablespoons kosher salt
6 1/2 cups all-purpose flour*
cornmeal, for easy sliding (or use parchment paper)
more water, for creating steam
special equipment: large bowl/container with lid for mixing and storing, pizza stone for baking, broiler pan for steam, cornmeal or parchment paper for easy sliding onto stone, cutting board or pizza peel for transitioning dough onto stone.
Directions:
Pour the water into a large mixing bowl or lidded container (like this). Sprinkle yeast over top. Add flour all at once, and then salt. (The ordering here doesn’t matter much, but just remember that salt can kill yeast so you don’t want to add them so that they touch.) Stir with a large spatula, wooden spoon, or dough whisk until thoroughly combined. Cover bowl with lid or plastic wrap and set aside to rise at room temperature for two hours. No kneading required!!
After two hours, you have two options: a) prepare to bake immediately; or b) store in the fridge for up to two weeks and use when ready. I’ll begin with Option A:
Option A: Bake Immediately: If you plan to bake immediately, here’s what you’ll do. Prepare a pizza peel or cutting board by sprinkling liberally with cornmeal or simply lay down a sheet of parchment paper on top, which is my preferred method. (The shaped loaves will rise on this surface, and then they’ll need to be able to slide onto a preheated stone in the oven.)
With flour-coated hands, reach into the container and grab out a 1-pound or grapefruit-sized hunk (this is roughly 1/4 of the dough). Working quickly, shape the dough into a loaf by pulling the sides around and tucking underneath, using more flour on your hands as needed to prevent sticking. (This video is helpful.) Place on the prepared peel/cutting board. Continue shaping as many loaves as you plan to bake (up to four from one batch of dough) and store whatever dough you don’t use in the fridge for up to two weeks.
Let the shaped loaves rise for another 40-60 minutes. About halfway through this rise, place a pizza stone on the middle rack of the oven, and a broiler pan on a rack positioned beneath. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.
When the loaves are finished rising and the oven is preheated, sprinkle lightly with more flour, use a sharp knife to slash the top of the loaves (I usually do a cross or three lines), then open up the oven and slide the loaves onto the hot stone. (If you’re using parchment paper, the parchment paper can just slide in too—so easy.) Pour one cup of water into the hot broiler pan beneath the stone, and quickly close the oven door. Cook for 30-35 minutes, until the loaves are crisp and golden.
Remove from oven and cool before slicing. (Allowing it to cool completely will yield the crustiest crust, but I have a weakness for warm sliced bread and will sacrifice a little bit of crispiness for that.) Store unsliced loaves in a brown paper bag, or simply covered with a towel. I store sliced loaves by tipping them up so the sliced end sits on the cutting board and prevents it from drying out excessively. Loaves rarely last more than a day around here.
Option B: Store in fridge and bake later. If you mixed up your dough and don’t plan to use it right away, or you only bake one loaf and plan to store the rest for later, then after the two hour bulk rise, simply place the covered container in the fridge for up to two weeks. When you are ready to bake, follow the instructions under “Option A,” but simply allow for the longer rise time because the dough will be cold.
notes:
flour: I find I get the best results with King Arthur’s All-Purpose Unbleached Flour, and I get comparable results with Trader Joe’s All-Purpose Flour.
using dough for pizza or flatbread: to use this dough as a base for pizza or flatbread, after the bulk rise, simply tear off a 1-pound or grapefruit-sized hunk of dough, place on parchment paper, drizzle liberally with olive oil, and use your fingers to stretch and push the dough outwards into a round. Add toppings and bake on a stone at 450 degrees until crust is crisp and golden.
using dough for focaccia: this is probably terribly inauthentic, but if I want to use this dough for a focaccia-like bread, after the bulk rise I’ll tear off a 2-pound sized hunk of dough. drizzle a 13x9 inch pan liberally with olive oil, place the dough in the pan, drizzle with more olive oil, and stretch and push the dough to fill the pan. Then I’ll use my fingers to poke dimples, and let it rise for 30 minutes or so. Before baking, drizzle with more olive oil as needed, sprinkle with salt and rosemary, and bake at 400 degrees for 20-25 minutes or until golden. It’s not really a recipe—just something I’ll do spur of the moment! Another favorite and popular way to serve this “focaccia” style is, instead of salt and rosemary, to top with torn hunks of mozzarella, a drizzling of honey and cracked pepper. It’s too delicious.
using dough for calzone: if I’m going to use this dough to make calzones, after the bulk rise I’ll tear of a 1-pound sized hunk and roll it out in a circle on a floured surface, fill one side with desired stuffings, fold the other side over and seal the edges, then bake on a pizza stone at 450 degrees until golden. Like I said above, I don’t have exact times for these uses…it’s just something I’ll throw together.
using dough for naan: to use for naan, preheat a dutch oven on the stovetop over medium heat. After the bulk rise, tear off a small amount, like the size of a golf ball, and roll out on a generously floured surface to roughly the size of a salad plate. Add a small amount of butter or oil to the bottom of the dutch oven, toss in the rolled out dough, cover with lid and cook until underside is speckled with golden/charred spots, about 1-2 minutes. Flip, cover and cook another minute or too. Repeat for more naan.
Based on the original master recipe found in Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day: The Discovery That Revolutionizes Home Baking