I really enjoy baking! Did you know with only 3 pantry staple ingredients you can make your own bread? It is super easy and tasty. Once you see how easy it is you might never go back to store bought bread again. You can also leave the dough in the fridge for up to a week for later use. You will have to punch it down every so often.
No Knead Bread
Ingredients:
3 Cups Flour
1/4 teaspoons instant yeast
1/2 cups plus 2 tablespoons water
1 1/4 teaspoons salt
Instructions:
In a large bowl combine flour, yeast and salt. Add water, and stir until blended; dough will be shaggy and sticky. I like to do this with the hook of my Kitchen-aid mixer. Cover bowl with plastic wrap. Let dough rest at least 12 hours, preferably about 18, at warm room temperature, about 70 degrees.
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. Put it back in the bowl. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rest about 15 minutes.
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; put dough seam side down on towel and dust with more flour. 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.
At least a half-hour before dough is ready, heat oven to 450 degrees. Put a heavy covered dutch oven 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.
