no-knead bread Q&A

[Arjon]

Although my baking repertoire is limited, I did start making no-knead bread some years ago, and have made a few hundred variations since then. I'm no expert, more like an intermediate home bread baker or maybe just an advanced beginner. That said, if anyone has questions about this type of bread, I'm willing to try to answer them.

To find the recipe that popularized this type and was the first I tried, you can search for "no knead bread Jim Lahey". Lahey is a New York bakery owner who adapted one of his recipes so as not to require a steam oven, which very few home bakers have.

If you're new to no-knead, here are a few things to be aware of:

- Although no-knead recipes can take up to 24 hours or more from start to finish, almost all of that time is completely hands-off. It just takes a bit of planning to mix the dough well before baking it. There's even a "safety valve"; baking up to a day or more later than originally planned requires nothing more than refrigerating the dough.

- Lahey's recipe calls for bread flour, but Canadian AP works fine since it has roughly the same gluten % as American bread flour.

- His method uses a dutch oven, but any container that can be used in a 450-475 degree oven will work. For instance, when I make oblong loaves, I put the dough on parchment, which I then put on a pizza stone that has been in the oven during preheating, then cover with an upside-down graniteware roaster.

- Baking with steam produces a crusty loaf. The inner texture is clearly chewier than store-bought Wonder-type bread.

- Although it's not necessary to do so, artisan bakers including pros and most amateurs past the beginner stage measure by weight, not volume. The primary reason is to make it easier to produce consistent results; since a cup of flour can range in weight from about 100 grams to around 150, measuring by volume requires considerable experience to feel that the dough needs more flour or water.

[Thatdone]

Nice of you to offer your time Arjon. I don't bake but I will let my wife know that if she has any question you might beable to help

[flemeth]

Thanks @Arjon for doing this

[Anna Michele]

Curious what type of variations you have tried.
I have been following the keto lifestyle and have been baking much of my own lately the kids and the rest of the family like the regular bread so I was thinking of trying making it myself

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