I found this recipe on another message board, the Fine Cooking forum, where it's become a sensation! It's from a Mark Bittman column in the New York Times. There's an NYT article explaining the technique and even a video demonstrating it on the NYT site. (PM me and I'll send you the article, which I can't reproduce here for copyright reasons.)

I tried it Sunday, and started a new loaf today. It's absolutely the best bread I've ever made, and the easiest. You'll end up with a beautiful loaf with an incredibly flavorful and crackly crust and wonderful crumb.

Here's the recipe (Chris's notes in blue):

No-Knead Bread
Adapted from Jim Lahey, Sullivan Street Bakery

Time: About 1 1/2 hours plus 14 to 20 hours' rising

3 cups all-purpose or bread flour, more for dusting (I used bread flour, and now I'm trying 1/3 whole wheat, 2/3 bread)

1/4 teaspoon instant yeast (I used Active Dry and it worked fine)

1 1/4 teaspoons salt (I followed the recommendations on the other message board and upped this to 1.5 teaspoons)

Cornmeal or wheat bran as needed.

1. In a large bowl combine flour, yeast and salt. Add 1 5/8 cups water (1.5 is enough with bread flour), 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.

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.

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. (Next time I'm using parchment paper--the dough sticks to the towel.) 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.

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. (It's important to use a pan with a tight lid to keep the steam in. I used my 5.5 quart Le Creuset dutch oven. If you use this kind of pan, either remove the knob from the handle or wrap it in thick layers of foil to keep it from being damaged by this very hot oven.)

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 1 1/2-pound loaf.

Enjoy!

If one has, as I do, a great iron pan but the lid isn't tight, you can usually fix that by sealing it with foil and then clamping the lid on as well as it will go.

I'm trying to visualize this - does the dough go into the water in the pot? Or do I need to get a cup of coffee?

Coffee, Kim! There's no water in the pot. It just acts as an oven within the oven, simulating the kind of steam oven professionals use to create crusty loaves of bread.

Here's the bread made with 1/3 whole wheat. It smells wonderful--breakfast time!

Wow! That looks fabulous! I'm going to have to try that tomorrow or this weekend - yummy.

I think you'll love it. And it takes no more than 10 minutes total. Just don't be alarmed by the very soft and sticky dough. I'll email you the accompanying article that describes the details better.

OH MY! IT LOOKS GREAT!!!!
I will try it asap and I hope that I will survive to the cups measurements....
Could you describe the stickyness of the dough after the first stirring? Sticky so that it sticks to everything including the sides of the bowl, it comes off the sides of the bowl, very shaggy....
The problem here is that we don't have what you call "all-purpose" flour here in Italy... when you say "bread flour" do you mean "Manitoba-like flour"?
I tried a quite similar recipe some time ago but it was much too bubbly and at the end too crusty, but the buns where smallish, I really wish I had some time off to try this one it looks like the perfect bread: looking great, tasting great (after 18 hours fermentation it has to), easy enough to make!
Thanks so much for posting!

quote:

Could you describe the stickyness of the dough after the first stirring?

Very shaggy. I don't mix it thoroughly at all, the time takes care of that. It's sticky enough to stick to the side of the bowl when you take it out of the bowl. As you can see by my photo, I use flour liberally to handle it.

I'm not really sure about the flour type. This would be the opposite of what you would use for pasta. What would you normally use for bread?

Probably tomorrow I'll start a new loaf. I will take pictures of what the dough looks like when first mixed and when it's out of the bowl for shaping.

Hi Chris -
Finally got a chance to read through this topic, and that bread does look fabulous!

I have a Pyrex pot with lid that might work, but do you think a Schlemertopf would be okay? I know the top fits tightly ... I might just try it this weekend and let you know!

Thank you Chris! It will be very very useful to see the dough!!!
About the flour: I normally use unbleached organic white flour or slightly-whole organic flour (I mill it myself and mechanically separate the bran, the result is slightly lighter than the bun that you posted) so it's difficult to compare it to any US definition. I'm also experimenting with Manitoba organic flour (we call it strong flour).

Giulia, the flours you use sound like they might be ideal. The only definition I could find of the "bread" flour I use is that it has a higher gluten percentage than all-purpose flour. It is
also unbleached. I've read that unbleached is very important for this kind of bread that doesn't contain any fats. I'll definitely take photos tomorrow.

Colleen, is the Schlemertopf an unglazed clay pot? My only worry with would be whether it would be strong enough to heat to a very high heat while it's empty and then drop the dough
into. You wouldn't to use anything that might shatter under these circumstances. I have a regular stainless 5-quart pan with a good-fitting lid that I'm going to try tomorrow instead of my Le Creuset just to see what the difference is. I find it a little scary to handle the heavy dutch oven when it's that hot.

Chris,
Yes, the Schlemertopf is an unglazed clay pot. I didn't even think about heating it when empty, but I'm sure you're right. Recipes for cooking in it call for putting it into a cold oven.

Okay, back to looking at my other pot options!

Ok, this recipe sounds great - I've read about it here as well as on the Chowhound website.

So....last night I bought a small bag of King Arthur All-Purpose Flour and a small bag of King Arthur Whole Wheat Flour and did the 2-parts all-purpose, 1-part whole wheat variation.

I mixed it all this morning at 7 am and set it in the warmest part of the house.

That, in itself, was a bit of a problem. The recipe calls for leaving it in an area where the avg temp will be 70-degrees. Well, it's a little chilly here in NY today and I hate turning up the heat too much (I'm saving my $$$ for trips to Italy, after all).

I tried to find the part of the house that I thought would be consistently warmer and put the bowl there. Which was fine until about an hour ago when the temp in the house dropped to 67-degrees.

So, I repositioned the bowl.

I'll keep watching. It has risen and the plastic wrap on top has become a big fat bubble.

Chris...did you have a problem with the 70-degree thing?

I would prefer to set it up in the evening, leave it to rise overnight and then bake it in the morning but our nighttime temps are too low...(?)
Am I overthinking?

Anyway, I'll let you know the results....tomorrow

My house is almost always cooler than 70, Annie. Since you want a slow fermentation, I don't think it's a problem. I just started a new batch this afternoon, which will probably go nearly 24 hours before I bake it. In general I think you can figure a little more time if the room is cooler.

I'm on my third batch now, and the first two have seemed very forgiving. I loved the whole wheat variation, and this afternoon I started one with a little rye flour included too.

I promised Giulia a photo of the dough when it's first mixed up. Here's today's, which seems a little bit dryer than my last batch. I'm hoping it will be a little bit easier to work with, but I'm still experimenting.

I just took mine out of the oven, let it rest and tasted it.

What a great, flavorful crust - it is outstanding.

However, just from the look of it and the smell of it, I know it's not perfect...I will try again.

I think I rushed it. I can still smell "raw" yeast (if that's the right term for it).

It looks and tastes great though and I will definitely try it again.

I just won't rush it so much.

I'll wait a little longer for the rise and not worry so much about the house temp being a problem.

Thanks Chris, I think this recipe's a keeper. I just need to get my act together a bit with it

Chris, thank you for posting the photo!!!! Had my dough turned out like that I would have thought that I did something wrong!!!
Annie, do not worry about a low temperature. The only "problem" is that you have to leave the dough to raise longer. Infact, there are recipes that say to put the dough in the fridge overnight! Infact the idea is that the longer the dough raises, the better the taste, but of course you can't leave a dough raise very long in a very warm place because it will "collapse" after a few hours.
I can't wait to try this!!!!!!!

The bread has such a great, flavorful, crunchy crust. My husband thinks it turned out perfect (but I know better ) (he's a little prejudiced in my favor - lucky me )

I will try it again, not worry about the temperature in the house, and let it rise some more.

Thanks Chris. I love this recipe. There is nothing like warm home-baked bread slathered in butter - yum!

Okay - I need to help out at a craft fair this morning but then I'm putting up the dough when I get home to - hoping to have with dinner tomorrow night .

Annie - try letting it rise in the oven if you're concerned about temperature.

Have any of you tried adding anything to this recipe? Fruit, seeds. nuts......

Would it work?