Almost No Knead Sandwich Bread

[mic]

I’ve been making bread for five years now, and this is my best, most consistent recipe by far.  You will need a dutch oven pot for this.  If you don’t have a stand mixer, make this a no-knead loaf.  Simply mix the ingredients with a chop stick or a metal spoon, form it in a rough ball, cover, let rise for a couple to four hours and then put in the fridge for a total of 24-30 hours.  If you want the same day bread you will have to hand knead.  It is a sticky dough so keep your hands oiled, and probably add a touch more liquid if you are flouring your kneading area.  If you want wheat bread mix in a ¼ to ½ percent wheat to white flour.  There is a lot of steps here, but it actually an easy build.

Almost No Knead Bread

1.      1.5 teaspoons of salt

2.      3 cups (15oz) of all purpose flour

3.      ¼ teaspoon of instant or rapid rise yeast

4.      ¾ cups water – Room or skin temperature

5.      ½ cups of mild lager beer

6.      1 tablespoon of white wine or plain white vinegar

 

·        Best to start very first thing in the morning for same day bread, afternoon for next day

·        Set cooking spray uncapped or a very small bowl of oil in your work area

·        Set up your stand mixer and put salt at the bottom of the bowl

·        Add flour on salt

·        Add yeast on top of the flour

·        Add water, beer, and vinegar

·        Stir at low speed with dough hook until ingredients are mixed together.        

      o   If needed in very small amounts, add beer until all the flour is just incorporated

·        Leave alone for 10-15 minutes to allow for the flour to absorb the liquid

·        Set mixer on ¾ high speed.  On my mixer it is level six of ten

·        Knead for 2 minutes

·        This is sticky dough so wet your hands and pick up dough and form into ball, but hold in your off hand.  Spray the mixing bowl with cooking spray and replace dough ball back into the bowl seem side down.  Spray the dough lightly to keep from drying

·        Cover with saran wrap, and set aside for eight to ten hours for same day bread and six hours for overnight bread

·        Overnight bread, put in the fridge after six hours

 

·        Pull out dutch oven and get a sheet of parchment paper that just barely fits over the top. Crumble the parchment paper in ball, uncrumple and put in the dutch oven

·        Drop the dough on a lightly floured or oiled counter and punch it down flat popping any big air bubbles. 

·        Then form into a dough ball again.  If you don’t know how, there are lots of videos on youtube.

·        Put ball seem side down, spray lightly to keep moist, rip a second peace of parchment paper lay across the top and cover with the lid. 

·        Set timer for 45 minutes

·        At the end of timer, set oven to highest setting 500 or 550, and reset timer for 15 minutes.

·        After second timer, check to see if dough is ready.  Keep checking every 10 minutes until it is.  If you don’t know how, again check YouTube. 

·        Score the bread with a very sharp knife, a razor blade, or best a scoring tool (find them on Amazon) in a cross pattern

·        If the parchment paper basket sticks way out of the pot, cut is down.  Save the top piece for another day. 

·        Spray water into the pot to add moister and put on lid.

·        Put in oven for 10 minutes, and then lower to 425 for ten minutes more

·        Take the lid off and continue to cook until desired color, I like golden brown, but some like it darker

·        Bread should have an internal temperature of 205 or higher or when flipped upside down and tapped sounds hollow. 

 

·        If you want a quicker recipe, change yeast to 1.5 teaspoons and give it a full knead

      o   Set timer for one hour and forty-five minutes

      o   After timer set over to 550.  When oven is ready, check your dough and follow cooking instructions

[tjm]

You'll get better yeast or sour-dough bread with a hard wheat flour than with all purpose flour. 50 years ago King Arthur was the best, I haven't baked in the past several years so, don't know if it still is. All purpose flour is fine for baking powder biscuits or sausage gravy or fish -breading and that sort of thing. 

[rps]

8 hours ago, mic said:

I’ve been making bread for five years now, and this is my best, most consistent recipe by far.  You will need a dutch oven pot for this.  If you don’t have a stand mixer, make this a no-knead loaf.  Simply mix the ingredients with a chop stick or a metal spoon, form it in a rough ball, cover, let rise for a couple to four hours and then put in the fridge for a total of 24-30 hours.  If you want the same day bread you will have to hand knead.  It is a sticky dough so keep your hands oiled, and probably add a touch more liquid if you are flouring your kneading area.  If you want wheat bread mix in a ¼ to ½ percent wheat to white flour.  There is a lot of steps here, but it actually an easy build.

Almost No Knead Bread

1.      1.5 teaspoons of salt

2.      3 cups (15oz) of all purpose flour

3.      ¼ teaspoon of instant or rapid rise yeast

4.      ¾ cups water – Room or skin temperature

5.      ½ cups of mild lager beer

6.      1 tablespoon of white wine or plain white vinegar

 

·        Best to start very first thing in the morning for same day bread, afternoon for next day

·        Set cooking spray uncapped or a very small bowl of oil in your work area

·        Set up your stand mixer and put salt at the bottom of the bowl

·        Add flour on salt

·        Add yeast on top of the flour

·        Add water, beer, and vinegar

·        Stir at low speed with dough hook until ingredients are mixed together.        

      o   If needed in very small amounts, add beer until all the flour is just incorporated

·        Leave alone for 10-15 minutes to allow for the flour to absorb the liquid

·        Set mixer on ¾ high speed.  On my mixer it is level six of ten

·        Knead for 2 minutes

·        This is sticky dough so wet your hands and pick up dough and form into ball, but hold in your off hand.  Spray the mixing bowl with cooking spray and replace dough ball back into the bowl seem side down.  Spray the dough lightly to keep from drying

·        Cover with saran wrap, and set aside for eight to ten hours for same day bread and six hours for overnight bread

·        Overnight bread, put in the fridge after six hours

 

·        Pull out dutch oven and get a sheet of parchment paper that just barely fits over the top. Crumble the parchment paper in ball, uncrumple and put in the dutch oven

·        Drop the dough on a lightly floured or oiled counter and punch it down flat popping any big air bubbles. 

·        Then form into a dough ball again.  If you don’t know how, there are lots of videos on youtube.

·        Put ball seem side down, spray lightly to keep moist, rip a second peace of parchment paper lay across the top and cover with the lid. 

·        Set timer for 45 minutes

·        At the end of timer, set oven to highest setting 500 or 550, and reset timer for 15 minutes.

·        After second timer, check to see if dough is ready.  Keep checking every 10 minutes until it is.  If you don’t know how, again check YouTube. 

·        Score the bread with a very sharp knife, a razor blade, or best a scoring tool (find them on Amazon) in a cross pattern

·        If the parchment paper basket sticks way out of the pot, cut is down.  Save the top piece for another day. 

·        Spray water into the pot to add moister and put on lid.

·        Put in oven for 10 minutes, and then lower to 425 for ten minutes more

·        Take the lid off and continue to cook until desired color, I like golden brown, but some like it darker

·        Bread should have an internal temperature of 205 or higher or when flipped upside down and tapped sounds hollow. 

 

·        If you want a quicker recipe, change yeast to 1.5 teaspoons and give it a full knead

      o   Set timer for one hour and forty-five minutes

      o   After timer set over to 550.  When oven is ready, check your dough and follow cooking instructions

My wife loves this recipe and uses KA flour. She uses the new Cook Illustrated start with a cold oven recipe.

[mic]

13 hours ago, tjm said:

You'll get better yeast or sour-dough bread with a hard wheat flour than with all purpose flour. 50 years ago King Arthur was the best, I haven't baked in the past several years so, don't know if it still is. All purpose flour is fine for baking powder biscuits or sausage gravy or fish -breading and that sort of thing. 

Your right.  This recipe with bread flour gives you large air bubbles... a rustic loaf.  It is best to warm the pot in the oven and very carefully put the risen dough in the pot with parchment paper sling.  GP flour and the cold pot will give you store bought bread crumb (texture).  

 

[MOPanfisher]

I have used a very similar recipe, I like the rustic type breads.  Make good sammichs

[kjackson]

May have to try this or a close facsimile. I've been using a Leite's Culinaria recipe that has kicked out tasty but rather flat loafs. I just popped a 4-2-1-1 loaf out of the oven, and it's a lot better than the Leite's no-knead recipe as it produced a nice, high loaf.  The bread got rave reviews from my wife, but it doesn't have a lot of taste IMO.  Maybe adding some beer would help.

[rps]

On 10/17/2022 at 9:31 PM, rps said:

My wife loves this recipe and uses KA flour. She uses the new Cook Illustrated start with a cold oven recipe.

 

[kjackson]

5 hours ago, rps said:

 

That looks good.  Is there a link to the recipe?  

[rps]

27 minutes ago, kjackson said:

That looks good.  Is there a link to the recipe?  

Cooks Illustrated is a subscription site, so I hunted down a link that had the recipe and a video. In the video, the man kneads the bread a bit more than my wife does, and he uses the older version where you put the bread in a hot DO. The more recent recipe starts the bread in a cold oven in a cold DO. Start the 30 minute bake time when the oven reaches the bake temp.

https://breadtopia.com/cooks-illustrated-almost-no-knead/

[kjackson]

Many thanks. I'll let you know how it turns out.