Rye Bread Recipe
The No Knead Bread Baking Way
The no knead method of baking barged onto the scene a couple of years ago with articles in the New York Times and the fame of the Sullivan Street Bakery in New York. The height of publicity for the no knead way of baking seems to have peaked. No one is talking about it in all those fashionable places anymore. But the simplicity and deliciousness of this style of baking will never go out of style.
There are some superb instuctional videos available at the website of Breadtopia. This baker deserves high honors for the clarity of his instructions.
But like almost everything else a few years old, Breadtopia's recipe is now out of date. He takes some steps that are unnecessary.
Follow the recipe given here and you'll get equal results with about 40% less effort than no knead bread baking masters teach. After all, who doesn't want to get more for less?
What you will be doing
The essence of no knead baking is that a wonderful loaf of bread can be baked without bothering to knead the dough for ten minutes. Just mix a few ingredients, wait several hours, mix again, then bake for a bit more than a half. Indeed, the instructions given here eliminate any need to touch any dough with your fingers at any time.
But be warned: the whole operation from start to finish takes about 20 hours, an overnight. Tthe hardest part is waiting and timing. With a good kitchen clock, that's not really hard at all.
First steps
All ingredients will be mixed in the bowl Be sure the bowl is large enough to accomodate four-plus cups of flour and a couple of cups of water--and have enough room left over to accomodate mixing.
Mix five ingredients:
- Three cups of all purpose flour
- One cup of rye or chappatti flour
- Two teaspoons of kosher salt
- Three eighth teaspoon of dry bread yeast
- Two tablespoons of caraway seeds
Once the ingredients are thoroughly mixed, add two cups of water
Thoroughly mix everything into a dough. Seal the bowl with the dough in a plastic bag or lid. Place the container in an oven or other dark place which maintains moderate temperature. Let everything sit for 18 hours.
Notes on First Step items:
- OK, OK, this is a recipe for rye bread, so use rye flour if you like. If you have an Indian grocery store nearby, Indian chappati flour works as well.
- One advantage of this recipe is that measurements do not have to be exact. The recipe works even if most measurements are off by ten percent.
- Use yeast called Regular Active Dry, as opposed to the yeast bought in strips of three packets, which is called Instant or Rapid Rise Yeast. This recipe's dough rises for 18 hours. Instant or Rapid Rise Yeast is supposed to be used for baked products which rise more rapidly.
- Three eighths of a teaspoon is an odd measurement, true. This measurement does not have to be exact.
- Boil tap water beforehand and let it cool. Regular tap water in some localities inhibits the yeast. .
Second Step
Bakers call this step punching down. This recipe differs most from Breadtopia's recipe during this step.
Unseal the dough which has rested and risen for 18 hours. With a rubberized kitchen scraper, scrape portions of the dough off the container walls and fold them back into the larger body of dough. Go around the bowl and repeat scrapng and folding to the entire dough ball.
This action can be conceptualized as gently waking the sleeping dough and turning it over. It won't take long and your fingers never have to touch any dough.
Baking will be done in a heavy Dutch oven. It could be an old-fashioned black cast iron Dutch oven or a more modern porcellain Dutch oven. Heavy, solid construction is what matters.
After gently 'waking' the dough, deposit it into the Dutch oven. Cover the top of the Dutch oven with a non-fluffy cloth or linen.
Let the Dutch oven and dough sit for an hour and a half.
Third Step
After removing the cloth, cover the Dutch oven with its lid. Place the Dutch oven into the oven. Turn on the heat to 450 degrees if you use a black or very dark Dutch oven, or 400 degrees if you use a white or light-colored Dutch oven.
Some bakers suggest preheating the oven, but preheating is not necessary.
Bake for 20 minutes with the Dutch oven lid on.
At the end of the first 20 minute baking time period take the lid off the Dutch oven. Make sure to cover your hands up to the wrists before touching anything inside your stove. Bake for 20 minutes more.
Remove the bread from the oven and Dutch oven. Place the bread on a cooling rack.
Your little bundle of rye bread joy is ready to eat once it cools off enough. It shouldn't take much to convince you that there are few joys in the world that match eating fresh bread. Rye bread, to boot.
An expanded version of this recipe can be found at slowbread.blogspot.com
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