We’ve talked about Jim Lahey’s No Knead Bread before, in our Mother’s Day post (2007). It’s pretty much dummy proof, you barely do a thing, and you get a fantastic artisanal hearth bread. The only downside is that you have to have incredible foresight. It takes a minimum of 15 hours from start to finish (don’t worry, it’s rising time and you don’t do anything). To me, it was already a blessed gift from heaven, but then Mark Bittman went and released a 5 hour No Knead Bread. Of course we had to test it out and yes, it’s just as fabulous. We made both last night and it has the same wonderful crispy crust, soft, chewy, and bouncy inside, wonderful flavor. The result is pretty much the same as the original No Knead Bread, one that you’d easily pay $4 for at a bakery. The only downside I can see is that it requires bread flour, which not everyone keeps at home, but I do. Woohoo!
Ooo, that looks wonderful right about now.. I need breakfast! Anywho, I’d like to give this a try and wanted to ask if I can add things like seeds and raisins to the recipe? Also, can I get bread flour in a regular supermarket… and will the label actually say “bread flour?” Thanks =)
This looks amazing! So crunchy…my absolute favorite quality in a hardy bread.
Purelily living, I’m not sure if you can add stuff to it but you can try. Bread flour is available in most supermarkets and is labeled as “bread flour”.
ellie, yes, this is my favorite kind too, crunchy outside, soft chewy inside.
I dont understand whats so special about this
eatingfoodboy, traditional methods require kneading (more work) and it also helps to have experience with doughs so that you can tell when it’s done kneading. The no knead recipes are amaxing because you just throw together the ingredients and wait, then bake. No work and no expertise needed.
i love a crunchy crust to my bread–this looks perfect. lucky for me, i also keep bread flour on hand. 🙂
Grace, you’ll love it!
Yay! yummy bread requiring no know how! How awesome is that! I’ve been playing around with the bread baking idea since I started making my own pizza dough!
Kelley, yum, pizza dough! With this recipe, it’s hard to convince myself to make traditional breads.
Did you try the whole wheat version, or just the white? This looks so great, and my attempted at the whole wheat version failed MISERABLY…
http://www.pithyandcleaver.blogspot.com
Did you think this tasted as good as the original no-knead?
Maggie, I only did white and it’s great. It’s very very similar to the original and pretty interchangeable.