The Comforts of a No-Knead Bread....

No Knead Bread by Jaden Hair
[http://steamykitchen.com/168-no-knead-bread-revisited.html]
Jaden Hair from her Steamy Kitchen shares "No Knead Bread recipe so insanely brilliant – no sticky fingers, no doughy mess, no intricate measuring, no complicated kneading. Totally hands-off. The crust is thin, crisp and snaps as you cut into the loaf. The interior of the bread holey, chewy, airy and light. If bread could sing, this would be an angelic choir. In Dolby digital surround sound. Now, with that, how could you not try No Knead Bread? It only takes 3 minutes to mix and a wooden spoon. You can’t even boil spaghetti in 3 minutes!"

No Knead Bread Recipe is adapted from Mark Bittman of NY Times who got it from Sullivan Street Bakery. When the recipe first came out, it was the blogging community who took the bread to new heights, especially Rose Levy Beranbaum, author of The Bread Bible. I followed Rose's experiments through the weeks and learned from her recipe adjustments and the why's of how this bread works.

Ingredients:
3 cups bread flour (I like Harvest King bread flour)
1/4 teaspoon instant yeast
3/4 tablespoon kosher salt (or 1 teaspoon table salt)
1 1/2 cups warm water
Covered pot (five-quart or larger cast iron, Pyrex, ceramic, enamel...something that can go into a 450F oven.)
Directions:
1. Mix dough: The night before, combine all ingredients in a big bowl with a wooden spoon until the dough just comes together. It will be a shaggy, doughy mess. Cover with plastic wrap and let sit 12-20 hours on countertop.
2. Shape & preheat: The dough will now be wet, sticky and bubbly. With a wet spatula, dump the dough on a floured surface. Fold ends of dough over a few times with the spatula and nudge it into a ball shape. You can use your hands if you like, just keep your hands wet so that the dough does not stick. Generously dust a cotton towel (not terrycloth) with flour. Set dough seam side down on top of towel. Fold towel over the dough. Let it nap for 2 hours. When you've got about a half hour left, slip your covered pot into the oven and preheat to 450F.
3. Bake: Your dough should have doubled in size. Remove pot from oven. Holding towel, dump wobbly dough into pot. Doesn't matter which way it lands. Shake to even dough out. Cover. Bake 30 minutes. Uncover, bake another 15-20 minutes or until the crust is beautifully golden and middle of loaf is 210F. Remove and let cool on wired rack. If not eating right away, you can re-crisp crust in 350F oven for 10 minutes. Best way to eat it? Smear a warm slice with some good butter (Kerrygold and Lurpac are both found in your grocery stores, usually on top shelf).

No-Knead Bread by David Lebovitz
[http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/08/dining/081mrex.html?_r=1&ex=1167282000&en=498bd3f6f6e9e548&ei=5070]
[http://www.davidlebovitz.com/archives/2006/12/the_nail_in_the.html]Adapted from Jim Lahey, Sullivan Street Bakery
Time: About 1½ hours plus 14 to 20 hours’ rising

David Lebovitz from his Living the Sweet Life in Paris storytells, "....But I was determined, and once I got the proportion of flour(s) right, my final bread indeed looked fabulous as I pulled it out of the oven. I could barely wait for the bread to cool, so I took a knife to the warm bread and hacked a nice slice from heel of the steaming load.
I took a bite and chewed.
And waited.
Then I waited a bit more.
I waited for that yeasty scent that curls up into your nostrils. A slightly-sour, pungent flavor that draws your tastebuds forward..."

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

Basic Yeasted No Knead Bread by Eric Rusch

http://www.breadtopia.com/basic-no-knead-method/
Eric Rusch from his Breadtopia shares an email  from Leanna who says more for the benefits of the no knead method than I (Breadtopia) could ever convey. She says…

"Love This Method....I’ve been baking bread for 40 years and this method has turned my bread baking upside down. I even had kneading down to an art. My dough had to feel just right. My ingredients had to be the best. Now I just throw these four items into a bowl and with no effort on my part, I end up with perfection. I take care of a lady with handicaps and bake it for her too. She has a gas oven and mine at home is electric. I have had no problems with this method. I used to have a sourdough starter but several moves ago, I discarded it. Now with your starter I am back in business. I can hardly wait for my first loaf of NK sourdough bread."

Ingredients for basic yeasted No Knead Method:

3 cups bread flour (or 1 cup (5 oz.) whole wheat flour & 2 cups (10 1/2 oz.) white bread flour)
1/4 tsp. instant yeast
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1 1/2 cups purified or spring water

Method:

• Mix together the dry ingredients.
• Mix in water until the water is incorporated.
• Cover with plastic and let sit 18 hours.
• Follow video instruction for folding (check out the above link).
• Cover loosely with plastic and rest for 15 minutes.
• Transfer to well floured towel or proofing basket. Cover with towel and let rise about 1 1/2 hours.
• Bake in covered La Cloche or Dutch oven preheated to 500 degrees for 30 minutes.
• Remove cover; reduce heat to 450 degrees and bake an additional 15 minutes.
• Let cool completely on rack.
• Consume bread, be happy.

No Knead Bread....Make-it-Yourself Bread!
http://www.aresrocket.com/bread/
Rocket Bread! says it all, "Unlike most recipes that have you hunting in speciality stores for ingredients you will never use again, this recipe has four basic ingredients: Flour, water, salt and yeast. No sugar or added fats. And it's inexpensive - one standard package of yeast will make about 6 loaves of bread! I estimate ingredients for this bread cost about 50 cents - you would pay $3.00 to $4.00 for this loaf in an artisan bakery! Plus, there is NO KNEADING! None! Time does all the work in creating the gluten that gives bread its unique structure. Time and patience are the key elements to making this recipe work. The bread needs 19-24 hours to work its magic prior to baking.

In a large glass or ceramic mixing bowl, (NOT metal) combine:
3 cups all purpose flour or bread flour
1 1/2 - 2 1/2 teaspoons salt (depends on your taste)
1/4 teaspoon instant dry yeast
Mix well to combine dry ingredients
Add:
1 1/2 cups water
Mix well with a spoon. No need to beat this , just get all the flour absorbed - you might need a little extra water if it's very dry where you are. Make sure you purchase instant yeast such as Rapid Rise from Fleischmann's or Quick Rise from Red Star. You only need 1/4 teaspoon, not the whole package. Fold the foil package that the yeast came in and place it in a zipper bag in the refrigerator for the next loaf.
Cover your dough (it will not be very pretty) with plastic wrap and place in a warm place (at least 70 degrees). I find the microwave oven (off, of course) makes an excellent resting place. I usually make this in the evening so I can bake bread the next evening. In some ways, this is easier than conventional bread baking where everything happens in compressed time - you end up baking until 11 at night. With this method, this first step takes just five minutes.

Once your dough has rested for 12 hours, it should be very bubbly and doubled in size. You can choose to stir the dough down and have it rise again if you need to delay the baking process, up to 24 hours or more, especially if you like more of a sourdough taste. Don't worry that there will be spoiling or mold formation. The live yeast are producing carbon dioxide and alcohol, which keeps all the nasty bacteria away, plus they have a hard time with the starch anyway. Another bacteria, lactobacillus, is producing lactic acid, which gives sourdough bread its great tangy taste. I find that if you make the dough in the evening, stirring it down in the morning and then letting it rise again during the day gives excellent results.

This part can be a little sticky and tricky, so be patient. Your dough should be well risen after the 19-24 hour rest period. Sprinkle some flour over the top and start scooping the dough together - use more flour if you need to. Place the dough on a well-floured piece of parchment paper. It MUST be WELL floured, or the dough will stick. Now, simply fold the dough from the sides, and then the top and bottom, like you were folding all four sides to the center, and flip it over. Roll up the top of the parchment paper so the dough has a little covering, like a tent. Parchment paper should be available in any grocery store - you can also use waxed paper.
The original recipe from the New York Times called for the dough to be placed in a towel. Both times I tried that I had a sticky mess on my hands - others who have baked this bread and written up their results on blogs have reported the same problem. I have used the parchment three times and it works much better than the towel method - cleaner too as you can just throw the parchment paper away when finished.
Now, let the dough rest in the paper from 1-2 hours, or until about doubled in size. I usually do this out on the counter.

Perhaps the second most crucial part of this recipe (after the long rise period) is the selection of a baking dish. You need to essentially create "an oven within an oven" which will produce the steam you need to achieve the wonderful crust. Commercial bakeries have steam injection ovens which keep the humidity high while baking to aid in crust formation. Other bread baking methods call for pans of water in the oven, spraying the bread with water while baking, or even placing ice cubes in the oven! I DO NOT recommend any of these methods - one person reported on a blog that placing ice cubes in a hot oven warped the floor of her oven, which could not be repaired.
Selecting a proper baking pan means finding a round baking dish that can handle lots of heat and has a lid. In the original recipe, a Le Creuset dutch oven was recommended, in the 4 to 5 quart size. If you have such an implement, by all means use it. This cast iron enameled pot is perfect. However if you do not already own one they are not cheap, costing well over $150. A tip - place foil over the knob on the lid to protect it from the extreme heat. There are other less expensive alternatives. Some on internet sites have recommended a clay baking pot like a Romertopf, the inside of a crock pot (the crock part), Corningware or Pyrex.
I bought new Pyrex and it seems to work quite well. Many though have warned that Pyrex could be dangerous and possibly shatter, so use at your own risk! I bought a 5 quart bowl and use a Pyrex pie plate as a lid - a $10.00 solution. As Pyrex ages, it becomes more likely to shatter due to the continuous heating and cooling, so if you go the Pyrex route, buy new. Some have also used their Cephalon dutch ovens, but have reported sticking and cleaning problems. Also, do not be tempted with a knock-off Le Creuset...I saw one in a big box store for $39.00, but the knob at the top would not have taken the high temperature needed for this bread.

About 1/2 hour before baking, place your baking dish as selected above in a cold oven to pre-heat. You should not need to grease the pan, but you can if you choose to. I have found it unecessary with the Pyrex. Set the oven to 475 degrees - a very hot oven, so be careful! When the oven has reached that temperature, open the oven door and pull out the rack (wearing oven mitts) with your preheated pan. Take the dough in the parchment paper and "plop" it into the pan - PLEASE BE VERY CAREFUL AS THE OVEN AND THE PAN ARE VERY HOT!!! It does not need to be all nice and perfect - this is a rustic loaf. Carefully place the lid on the pot and slide slowly back into the oven. Close the oven door and set the timer for 30 minutes.
DO NOT OPEN THE OVEN DOOR TO PEEK! If you oven has a window and light, you can watch the bread do its final rise or "oven spring" (if you are using Pyrex). Otherwise, you will have to curb your curiosity. Don't worry if a lot of the flour from the parchment ended up on the bread - it will actually add to the look of the bread when it's finished. Also, remember that when the yeast was "brewing," it was producing alcohol - the very small amount produced will burn off during the baking process. The yeast used in baking is actually the same type used in brewing beer, latin name Saccharomyces cerevisia.
After 30 minutes, open the oven and CAREFULLY remove the pot lid, wearing your oven mitts. Set the lid in a safe place, away from any children or pets, to cool. Close the oven door and set your timer for 20 minutes - oven temperature stays the same at 475 degrees. After 20 minutes, check the loaf to see if it has sufficiently browned. If not, let it bake an additional 5-7 minutes.

Now, the moment! Carefully remove the baking bowl from the oven, wearing your oven mitts. Flip the bread out of the baking dish and carefully place the bread on a cooling rack. Turn off the oven and return the baking dish to the oven to gradually cool down.
If all went right, you should have a beautiful rustic loaf that will SING to you - as the bread cools, you will hear crackling noises which indicate your crust is perfect! See what a nice finish the dusting flour gives?
RESIST the temptation to cut open your cooling bread. It must sit at least one hour before slicing.

The fruits of your labor are evident! After a few successes with this basic recipe, allow your imagination to take over - use different types of flour such whole wheat, rye or spelt; add things such as chopped olives or dried tomatoes. I cut my loaves with an electric knife, but any good bread knife will also do the trick.
Storage: Keep this bread out of the refrigerator! It will ruin the crust. Keep it cut side down covered with a piece of paper or a towel. That keeps the moisture in but does not ruin the crust. Keeping in a zipper bag will also cause the crust to become less crunchy.

No Knead Bread by Frumpyfoodie

Adapted from the New York Times
http://www.frumpyfoodie.com/photos/savory_baked_goods/index.html
Frumpyfoodie from her Restaurant Widow proudly talks about her baked wonder, "This bread turned out beautifully.  It might be one of the most satisfying things I've made.  The crust is crackly-crisp and lightly browned - so crisp is this crust, in fact, it's no match for my sad bread knife - the crumb is fully of shiny tunnels indicating a long, satisfying rise with lots of yeast growth and death, it is savory and yeasty - I highly recommend that everyone try it"
Ingredients:
3 cups flour (I used bread flour because I had it on hand, so I can only speak to those results)
1/4 tsp yeast (yes, you read correctly, 1/4 tsp)
1 1/4 tsp salt (yep, in with the yeast)
1 5/8 cups water - if your liquid measure doesn't measure in eights, 5/8 is about halfway between 1/2 and 3/4 on a liquid measuring cup.  I used slightly warm water
Directions:
Combine ingredients in a large bowl - it's easiest to use your hands. The dough will be very wet and sticky.  Cover with plastic wrap and allow to rise for 14- 24 hours.  Sprinkle a board with flour and turn the dough out, fold in half and in half again, cover lightly with plastic wrap and allow to rest 15 minutes.  Form the dough into a ball, folding all the seams to the center and place, seam side down, on a floured (or cornmeal, which I used) tea towel or plastic wrap.  Dust with more flour or cornmeal and cover with the towel.  Allow to rise another 2-4 hours until doubled in size.
About 20 minutes before the end of your second rise, place a 4-8 quart, ovenproof pot (I used a 7 quart cast iron Dutch oven from Lodge, they used cast iron and enameled cast iron such as Le Crueset) on a half baking sheet and put it in the oven.  Preheat the oven - with the pot inside - to 450 degrees.  When the oven is hot, remove the lid from the pot and carefully plop (if there is such a thing) the dough, seam side up now, into the pot.  Replace the lid and bake for 30 minutes, then remove the lid and bake an additional 20-25 minutes or until crust is deliciously browned and the bread sounds hollow when thumped.  Remove from oven, pry the bread out with a spatula (it won't stick) and place it on a rack to cool completely before cutting in.

No Knead Bread by Soma Rathore
http://www.ecurry.com/blog/breads/no-knead-bread/
Mommy Ecurry now asks us, "When there is no need to knead, & when the bread talks to you, what are you waiting for?" For those of you who are still contemplating taking the first step to baking a loaf at home, this is for you, a Bread in a pot. The unbelievably great crackling crumb, the hole-some lightness, awesome flavor — all come from no kneading, a long fermentation, & a hot pot. It is a simple method of making a wet, sticky dough with flour, water and a little bit of yeast -barely folding it up to a ball – and then letting it ferment slowly for a long long time & then plopping it into a “blazing hot” pot with a lid to bake. Harold McGee, an amateur bread maker validates saying “The long, slow rise does over hours what intensive kneading does in minutes: it brings the gluten molecules into side-by-side alignment to maximize their opportunity to bind to each other and produce a strong, elastic network. The wetness of the dough is an important piece of this because the gluten molecules are more mobile in a high proportion of water, and so can move into alignment easier and faster than if the dough were stiff.” In the video, Lahey claims a 4-year-old can make this bread.
And Mommy Ecurry excitedly shares her experience, "The bread literally sang to me!! I could hear the Crrrrr…. crackle!! & saw the bread cracking all over while it cooled! My goodness, I sat there mesmerized! More Surprises when I sliced the bread.. Look at those air pockets! The fantastic air holes which I used to so envy are mine now.. mine, mine, mine…"

Ingredients:
2.5 Cups of All Purpose Flour
1/4 Tablespoon Dry Active Yeast
1.5 Teaspoon Salt
1/2 Cup Luke Warm Water
1/4 Cup water (more or less)
1 Teaspoon Sugar
Cornmeal or flour for dusting
Preparation:
1. Stir the sugar in the 1/2 cup luke warm water. Stir in the yeast & let it sit till it gets frothy & rises.
2. Combine salt & flour. Add the water with yeast & with a with a wooden spoon ( my daughter actually just combined everything with her hands:-D ), combine till it just starts coming together. Add the 1/4 cup water.. more or less if needed. The dough will be kind of sticky.
3. Cover the bowl where you made the dough & leave it in a warm place overnight, or about 14 hours. Dough is ready when its surface is dotted with bubbles.
4. Lightly flour a work surface with cornmeal/flour and place dough on it. Sprinkle some more flour and fold it over on itself a couple of times. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rest about 15 minutes.
5. Shape the dough to a ball, & cover with a damp towel & let it rise for another couple of hours. It will be more than double.
6. At least a half-hour before dough is ready, heat oven to 450 degrees. Put a 6-8 quart heavy duty pot with lid in the oven while the oven heats ( make sure the pot & the lid is oven proof & can withstand the high temperature). I used a Corning/Pyrex with a lid.
7. When the dough is ready, carefully take out the pot, uncover the lid & plonk the dough ball inside the pan. Cover it back again & bake for about 30 minutes.
8. At the end of 30 minutes, uncover the lid & bake for another 15 minutes approximately. This allows the so special crust formation.
9. When done, take it out & ENJOY with all your senses. It is literally a superb 5 sensation! You see how beautiful it is, you smell it, you feel it like your baby, you really hear it & last .. you obviously taste it.

No Knead Bread from Jugalbandi 
Rose Levy Beranbaum version
http://www.wellsphere.com/vegetarian-article/laura-s-portuguese-sweet-bread-a-no-knead-bread-from-jugalbandi-and-meeta-s-achari-aloo/802559“Take some flour, water, salt and yeast, stir it around a couple of times, cover it and forget about it until the next day, put the gooey mess on a board, pretend to ’shape’ it, but you’ll fail anyway ‘cos it’s so sticky. Leave it alone for a couple more hours, throw the gooey mess in a pot in a hot oven, and after 40 minutes, take it out, and admire your work” ???? That’s our kind of recipe, and even though we try and incorporate whole grains in our baking, this bread is best made white.We call it ‘hole bread’ or ‘balloon bread’. The high water content in the dough and the steam generated during the baking process give it a crackling crisp crust, and a very airy, porous inside. It has an almost sour-doughy taste because of the long fermentation process. If white flour is substituted with whole wheat in this recipe, it adds flavour, but compromises the porosity of the crumb and makes for a much denser loaf. Baking it on a stone gives the bread the most holes, but the dough being so sticky, tends to spread out. She prefers a cast iron pot to give it some height and a great crust.

Since no-knead bread has become so popular, people have been frantic to get hold of large-capacity cast iron Dutch ovens of the enamelised, or the plain uncoated variety – basically a large pot that can take very high heat, and has enough room for the bread to expand while baking. It must be covered, to trap the steam. We have neither. We used a Corningware container and covered the mouth with foil. Inverting a baking sheet on it works too. Other suggestions: a large soup pot, a metal roasting pan, the inner container of a crock pot, a cake tin or divide the dough and bake it as two loaves in loaf pans, with foil or inverted loaf pans to cover.

(Photo by Laura of wellsphere.com following the jugalbandi recipe)
Ingredients:
-Harvest King flour or half unbleached all-purpose half bread flour:
468 grams (about 3 cups)-room temperature water: 382 grams, 1-1/2 cups plus 2 tablespoons/13 fluid ounces)
-instant yeast: 0.8 grams/1/4 teaspoon
-salt: 10 grams/1-2/3 teaspoons
-bran/semolina/cornmeal, coarsely ground oats for sprinking

Method:
1. Put all the ingredeints into a large bowl, mix it around until they are blended (it will be quite wet), and keep the bowl in a warm place to rise for 12-18 hours – the longer the better.
If your house is cold, take a picnic cooler, keep a couple of bottles of hot water in it. Cover the dough well with plastic wrap, let the dough sit in the cooler next to (not touching the bottles).
2. After 18 hours, turn the dough on to a flat, well-floured board. Use a scraper to bring it together, flour the top, pat it, then use the scraper again to lift it and fold it over a couple times until you get a roundish shape. It does not have to be precise.
3. Take a coarse towel, sprinkle it with bran (or semolina or cornmeal). Lots of it. Put the dough on it, and cover it with a another towel or inverted bowl. Let it sit for another two hours.
4. Preheat the oven to 450F with the container you are going to bake the bread in.
5. Open the oven door, slide the shelf out a bit. Bring the dough over carefully, tilt the towel so that it rolls off the towel and onto your hand. Plop it into the hot container carefully without touching it. The bran side of the dough should be on top. It may look like a mess, but when it bakes, it wll puff up and take a balloon like shape.
6. Bake it in the container covered with foil or a baking sheet for 20 minutes, then uncover it and bake for another 15-20 minutes (Rose suggest taking it off the pot and putting it on a baking sheet for the second half, but we’ve burnt ourselves too many times to attempt it again.)
7. Take the hot container out carefully, set it on a rack for 5-10 minutes, take the bread out, and let it cool a bit more for the crust to set.

No-Knead French Bread 
About.com makes it even easier for the novice, "If you've never tried a no-knead bread recipe before, this is a great one to start with. It does have to rise overnight, but the crusty French-style bread is so good, it's worth the wait! You'll be surprised how simple this bread recipe really is."
Makes 1 Loaf of "No Knead" French-Style Bread
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 55 minutes
Total Time: 65 minutes

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cup tepid water plus 1 tablespoon
1/4 tsp dry active yeast
1 1/4 tsp salt
3 cups all-purpose flour
cornmeal as needed


Method:
1. Add the water, yeast, salt, and flour into a mixing bowl. Using a spatula or wooden spoon, stir well to form a wet, very sticky dough. Do not try to knead with your hands, as it is too sticky to handle. Once mixed, cover the bowl with a towel, and leave out at room temperature for 12 to 16 hours.
2. Flour a work surface well; using a spatula scrape the bubbly dough on to the flour. Flour your hands and pat down into a square shape. Fold each corner to the center, and flip the dough over so the folds are facing down. Shape into a round loaf. Generously sprinkle cornmeal on a baking sheet about twice the size of the loaf. The dough may stick unless you put a good amount on the pan. Transfer loaf to the pan, folds facing down. Sprinkle the top with flour.
3. Place a clean, dry, floured towel over the loaf, and allow to rise for 1 1/2 hours in a warm spot. Place a pie pan half-filled with water at the bottom of the oven and preheat to 425 degrees F. Remove the towel, and make a 1/2-inch deep incision across the top of the loaf with a sharp knife. Bake on the middle rack for 50 - 55 minutes. Allow to cool on a rack before slicing.