Mark Bittman's Speedy No-Knead Bread--in RKP's test kitchen!
Today’s post isn’t an original recipe of mine, but rather an experiment by a novice yeast-bread maker (me) to reproduce a wildly popular bread catching the country by storm while being touted as both simple and easy. 🙂
You can view and print this recipe right from the New York Times’ website by clicking here.
Author/artist Jana Kolpen recommended that I experiment with this recipe for the RKP readership to demonstrate how easy it is to make and how delicious it comes out. I can also happily add that it’s an attractive bread to hit the table as well!
Start out with a really good bread bowl.
As far as the nomenclature goes, I’d question how speedy four-and-a-half hours is for bread dough, particularly when I don’t mind the kneading, but for others it’s worth the wait. Mostly, it only concerns me because I’d like to eat it quite often and work in a town 30 minutes from where I live, so I can’t really zip home and set out the yeast at lunch time if you know what I mean.
Cover dough while it rests.
But for weekends, this bread has proven both reasonable and rewarding. Also, to a novice like me, it also gives me some confidence in my general bread-making abilities.
So, I give it an initial one solid thumb up, with the other one ready to pop up as soon as I can figure out how to work some honey and wheat flour (or soy) into the recipe. 🙂
Fold dough over on itself once or twice.
I’d also like to note, however, that my oven time was considerably different from the instructions–the total bake time is supposed to be 30 minutes with lid on PLUS 15-30 minutes with the lid off.
Preheat a covered Dutch oven.
My bread was already brown when I took the lid off at the half-hour mark. I let it go about 5 minutes sans lid and then HAD to take it out of the oven because the bottom was already starting to burn.
What an adorable bread round!
So do pay attention to your own oven and bread loaf–you’re a better judge of when your bread’s done than a printed recipe will be!
This bread came out so cute and round, I’d love to try splitting the recipe into two loaves next time and cutting them into bread bowls for some broccoli cheese soup!
Click here for the Speedy No-Knead Bread Recipe by Mark Bittman (NY Times)
redforkhippie
Gracie
The Red Kitchen Project 
Cooks Illustrated did a variation on this recipe. I use one of their variations on the NYT recipe:
preheat the dutch oven at 500 degrees, then reduce oven to 425 degrees to cook. Bake 30 min covered, 20 min uncovered. The bread browns nicely, but does not get the scorched flavor.
The original recipe called for baking to a deep chestnut color, but no one liked the taste.
I start bread in the morning and cook at night or vice versa.
Cooks Illustrated did a variation on this recipe. I use one of their variations on the NYT recipe:
preheat the dutch oven at 500 degrees, then reduce oven to 425 degrees to cook. Bake 30 min covered, 20 min uncovered. The bread browns nicely, but does not get the scorched flavor.
The original recipe called for baking to a deep chestnut color, but no one liked the taste.
I start bread in the morning and cook at night or vice versa, about twice a week. This is the only bread recipe I use.