It looks lovely Michelle, and with a nice crunchy crust!

Love the clay pot too.

SharonCb

Looks great Michelle ... seems the "food critic" does not like NK bread, crust is too hard ... but I want to get clay loaf pans ... and a clay cooker for my veggies.

Did you have to soak it first ?

Michelle, That looks like perfection. Just like my Italian momma whose job it was to make the bread every day from the family.

michelle, if only i lived closer!!!!!!

what a fine crust on that bread. a toasted slice with some jam and a hot cup of tea, and i'd call it breakfast!

maryanne

Beautiful! I can practically smell it through the screen.

Teresa

Yum Yum Yum!! I wish that had just come out of my oven.

Your bread is beautiful..and I am coveting the baker..there I said it.

I love that new way too!

Good job on both..the purchase..and le pain!

I just did a search for the recipe and it was posted on the CF on Dec 4th....that is how long I've been trying to make this bread!! And I finally made the dough on Thursday, forgot about it for a time, and got it in the oven late last night.

I will link the recipe below for anyone interested. I did not add the beer as the recipe indicates, I subbed my SD starter and it is delicious and a perfect sized loaf for me. I'm the only one that likes SD bread, DH prefers WW for everything.

Linda, No, I did not soak the clay baker. You do not soak a clay bread cloche so I did not think it necessary.

I am still so excited to be able to bake this bread in raw clay. YAHOO!

Michelle

Here is a link that might be useful: Cook's Illustrated Almost No-Knead Bread

Gorgeous loaf, Michelle! I have yet to try no knead bread, but I will, I promise! Cute clay baker, too!

Now I have to ask....do you EVER leave your kitchen? LOL

Linda

drool!

That looks fantastic!!
DH made the new version with the beer and vinegar..it was good.
In case anyone who is reading wants to make it, I don't have a clay or LeCrueset. Did it on a pizza stone and a bowl on top. Worked fine.

What a great looking bread. Pass the butter please LOL

Linda

Cute chicken, Michelle! Love it! Bread looks great!

Your bread looks wonderful Michelle, looks like a spectacularly perfect loaf.

I have a clay baker that is fairly large, it would definitely hold a 9 pound bird, that I would like to try. The inside of the bottom piece is glazed, the rest is not.

My questions for you are:

1. Did you soak the baker

2. Did you preheat the oven and the baker? My baker says to start food in it cold and in a cold oven.

3. What temp did you have your oven at?

4. How long before you uncovered the loaf?

I know this is a lot to ask and I will really appreciate you sharing your experience.

Lee, wishing a piece of your bread was really in front of me now.

I know this is a lot to ask and I will really appreciate you sharing your experience.

No problem Lee.

I have a clay baker that is fairly large, it would definitely hold a 9 pound bird, that I would like to try. The inside of the bottom piece is glazed, the rest is not.

My clay baker, just the bottom and inside measurements are 8 1/2" long by 6" wide by 4 1/2" deep. It worked perfectly for the NK bread as it rose to about 4". The glaze should not effect the bread baking at all.

My questions for you are:

1. Did you soak the baker.

No. I just did not think it was necessary to pre-soak. You do not soak a bread cloche and it is just raw clay, no different then my chicken clay pot.

2. Did you preheat the oven and the baker? My baker says to start food in it cold and in a cold oven.

No I did not preheat the oven but I did place the clay baker in the oven when I first turned the oven on at 500 degrees. And then when I put the dough in the baker and returned it to the oven I lowered the temp to 425 degrees.

3. What temp did you have your oven at?

500 degrees to heat the baker/pot and I let the baker sit in the oven for maybe 15 minutes so it was good and hot when I put the dough in it. Then I turned the oven down to 425 degrees when I put the pot with the bread dough back in the oven.

4. How long before you uncovered the loaf?

30 minutes. Then I took the top off the baker and let the bread bake until it was nicely browned on top. This did not take long maybe 8 minutes if that much.

One other thing...I did not oil my parchment paper. I just did not think it necessary and it wasn't.

Let me know if you have any more questions.

Michelle

Your bread and clay pot are both gorgeous. I never seem to find steals like that. Sigh.

Okay Michelle.....now you have me looking for a "Clay Baker" That bread looks so good !!! I really must find one. Diana55

Wow that looks tasty-- what a beautiful crust !

that is gorgeous!

Lee, and anyone else interested in clay baking..
I bake almost exclusively in/on clay. I use the unglazed stuff that Pampered Chef sells. My cookie sheets are clay, my cake pan is clay, my bundt pan is clay...I have various other baking pans that are from them as well.
NO SOAKING ever...unless it's to clean them and then that's hot water ONLY.

Thank you so much Michelle, I'm C & P your photo and your tips. I made the CI version shortly after the issue came out and liked what the beer and vinegar did. It's time to do it again. Whatever I bake it in, I'm going to try the parchment this time.

Once again, your bread is an awesome success.

Lee

Oh that's inspiring Michelle. I too have a non-hard crust person chez moi, but I'd like to try this out for myself.

It looks like you are a dedicated shopper as well as a cook! ;-)

That bread is on my list of recipes to try. Not sure what I'm going to bake it in...your clay chicken looks perfect!

I've got quite the selection of Corningware that I don't use much anymore...think something like that will work?

Nancy

Michelle,

That's just beautiful! Love that pot. I've been meaning to try CI version; I have the issue sitting here. Maybe I'll start the dough today.

I recently tried the Times latest version of no-knead bread: Simple Crusty Bread. Have you seen that? It uses more yeast for a faster rise. I was unimpressed, but I have half the batch sitting in the fridge to try again. Supposedly the longer it sits, the better it tastes. The loaf I baked on the first day really lacked flavor, so I'm curious to see what happens if I let it sit for a week or so.

I've got quite the selection of Corningware that I don't use much anymore...think something like that will work?

I have the French White Corningware and have used it for the No-Knead Bread. Really just about anything works as long as it's not too big. I've even used a pot and tented aluminum foil over the top but the bread does not rise as well with this method but it works.

The problem I had and the reason I bought the chicken baker was for the size and I wanted an oval shaped loaf too.

I know the original NK recipe said to use a 6 qt pot but IMO this was way too big. The version I have of the Cook's Illustrated NK recipe does not specify a pot size. But I think a 3 or 4 qt pot or dish is about the perfect size. You do have to make sure the bottom is relatively flat otherwise your bread might be difficult to cut.

Kathleen said she used a baking stone and covered the dough with a bowl and this worked out well.

Sharon, no I've not tried the new Times version of NK bread but I did find it on line and will link below. But for a recipe for 4 loaves and over 6 c. of flour I think it probably needs more salt then the 1 1/2 TBL in the recipe. I use Kosher salt and for 1 loaf use at least 1 1/2 tsp salt and sometimes more. And I usually add my sourdough starter and sometimes I add a bit of honey too. More Salt, sourdough starter, honey, beer all will add flavor to bread dough. It is fun to experiment but make sure to write down what you did and the outcome.

I did get a picture of my bread after slicing. It does not have the large holes that hold the butter so well. But the flavor is excellent but I'm pretty sure that's due to my sourdough starter.

The next time I make the Cook's Illustrated bread I am going to follow the recipe exactly but it is hard for me to not change things and experiment a bit!

Michelle

Here is a link that might be useful: Simple Crusty Bread

Thanks Michele, I'm going to have some 'bread fun' soon. The method used for the Simple Crusty Bread looks good too.

One can never have too many bread recipes.

Nancy

Gorgeous loaf. It has that wonderful rustic look. I was expecting to see a more open crumb with holes. Bet it would make great toast. YUM!

Ann

I was expecting to see a more open crumb with holes.

I was so surprised when I cut a slice as I was expecting an open crumb too. It is not a dense bread though and it has a very sour taste too which is great. I think it's probably the best tasting SD bread I've made yet.

Ann, I kneaded this dough longer than I think I should have being it's "almost no-knead bread". Does more kneading tighten the crumb?

Michelle

Michelle, that looks absolutely delicious and your clay baker is cute as heck. I haven't tried the no-knead bread yet, but now you've reminded me that I should. I even have sourdough starter in the fridge and Elery just loves sourdough bread, so that's a great idea.

I agree, Nancy, we can't have too many bread recipes! Like Ann T, I was thinking toast, but suddenly my mind has wandered off in the direction of grilled cheese, maybe with a nice mix of cheddar and provolone.....

Annie

Annie, I'll join you..but my newest cheese combo is Munster and Mozzarella or Provolone..

I honestly think I could live on grilled cheese, in fact I almost did live on it while in college.

I know I was so disappointed when I could not join in on the Grilled Cheese Virtual Dinner, wasn't that in Fall '06 or was it earlier than that?

Michelle

Michelle, no I don't think that kneading the dough would have made the crumb small. I knead all my doughs and when I want a dough with bigger holes I make a very wet dough. I only made the no knead bread once, but if I remember correctly it was also a very wet dough.

Ann

Thanks Ann!

Well with this dough I did eliminate the beer and subbed my SD starter. Next time I will add the beer and the starter too and then hopefully, it will have those butter-catching holes that I love!

Michelle

Your bread came out great! And I really love your clay cooker. I like the original NK bread better. I have had success with it every time. And I make mine half WW and half white. I tried the new one with beer and vinegar and it didn't come out as well. Also I was not wild about the taste.
Clare

I feel really dumb, but I have never heard of a clay cooker. Please tell me about it and where to buy one. What's the reason for using it--except it is so darn cute???

Thanks!

MICHELLE....I HAVE BEEN LOOKING FOR ONE OF THOSE ALL DAY TODAY, AND I CAME UP EMPTY HANDED. I CAN'T FIND ONE ANYWHERE IN THIS TOWN. DO YOU KNOW IF THERE'S ANYTHING ELSE THAT WOULD WORK? I REALLY WANT TO MAKE THAT BREAD!!! DIANA55

Diana, just use a cast iron dutch oven. That is what the original No Knead bread recipe called for. I didn't read the Cook's Illustrated version but they probably recommend a cast iron dutch oven too.

Ann

Diana, you can make the NK bread in just about any pot as long as the handles are oven proof. You can also use a covered casserole.

I think a 3 or 4 qt pot is about the right size for NK bread. Any pot larger and my bread was too flat and smaller well the bread rose to the lid and you have to careful to remove the lid in time.

Kathleen used her baking stone and just put an oven proof bowl over the bread and it worked out well.

There's also a bread cloche and I will link one below. I was going to ask for a cloche for Christmas but then I found my clay baker.

Michelle

Here is a link that might be useful: clay bread cloche

Thanks Ann...Michelle!!! I think I will try the cast iron pot, like Ann suggested, and if that doesn't work, then I shall buy the Clay Baker. Diana55

Your bread looks awesome.

Not to highjack your thread, I hope, but I made the NY times no knead bread linked above EXACTLY acording to instructions. If you knew me you'd know I speak the truth LOL.

It was made in a 6 qt pot, and it did have a bigger crumb but I wish it had a more sour taste. Now I will experiment. Do you have a recipe for your starter?

loves2cook4six, your bread looks wonderful. But you won't get a sourdough flavour with that recipe though. You need to "grow" a sourdough starter. Here is the recipe that I've had success with. Once you get it going you won't need to add additional yeast. The starter will be sufficient.

Home Cookin Chapter: Recipes From Thibeault's Table

copied from: http://countrylife.net/pages/recipes/672.html

Amy Scherber's Sourdough Starter

RYE STARTER
From AMY'S BREAD, copyrighted.

Amy's bread

This starter is begun with rye flour because rye just LOVES to ferment and is an easier starter to get going than a wheat starter. When I first made it, it had a bubble or two within a couple hours.

The procedure is to start it with rye flour, then transform it by changing what you feed it. The original rye will dilute to nothing over time and you'll end up with a white flour (or whatever other grain you choose, it could be whole wheat or pumpermickel, or you could leave it as a rye starter) and water based starter, but it had the advantage of beginning it's life from highly fermentable rye flour.

Start it with organic rye flour and spring water. Once you have it going well you can switch to all-purpose white (or other) flour as you choose. The use of spring water is recommended for maintenance, however, as tap water may contain elements (such as chlorine) which may be detrimental to the health of your starter. I also recommend that you use a container that you can mark the volume levels of starter each time, so that you will know when it has doubled. Use a marking pen or tape or any other means to indicate on the container the starter levels each time you feed.

Phase 1 - Combine 2 oz organic rye flour (room temp) with 4 oz spring water in a clear container. The batter should be about the consistency of very thick pancake batter, add more water or flour if necessary. Cover & let it sit for 36 - 48 hours at 75 - 77 degrees (a little cooler is okay but over 80 you will incubate the wrong kind of bacteria and your culture will have an unpleasant bitter taste). You should start to see tiny bubbles forming after about 24 hours. By the time it has doubled, there will be a noticeable network of small bubbles throughout the batter & it will be foaming & bubbling on top. (If the batter has not doubled within 48 hours, feed with 2 oz water & 2 oz flour (add more of either if necessary for the consistency) and let it sit another 24 hours or until you see some definite activity.)

Phase 2 - Stir the culture down, notice how soupy it's become. The batter should have a noticeable sour smell & a mildly tangy taste at this point. Add 2 oz water & 2 oz flour and stir vigorously until well-combined. Let it sit for 12 hours. It should be showing a fair amount of activity at this point. You should see lots of foaming & bubbling through the sides as well as on the top. Don't be concerned if the culture deflates & loses volume. This means the yeast has exhausted its food supply, but it will continue to increase in acidity. Don't worry if your culture isn't dramatically active yet. As long as there is some noticeable activity going on and the mixture smells & tastes sour, you're on the right track.

Phase 3 - The culture should now have a pronounced, sour, fruity taste and smell, it should not taste musty or bitter (if it does, discard and start again, paying close attention to the temp of the culture at all times). Now you can start "transforming" it into a white (or other) flour based starter. Use 6 oz of the starter, add 3 oz water & 3 oz flour, stir vigorously. Let it sit for 12 hrs at 75 - 77 degrees F.

Refresh it again, setting up a maintenance level of 12 oz of starter. This will be your "mother" starter that you use to build the sourdough starters/sponges needed in individual recipes.

Each time you take part of the mother out to build a starter, you must refresh it with equal weights of flour and water to bring it back up to its maintenance level.

To maintain - Use 6 oz of the mother culture (discard the rest), add 3 oz water & 3 oz flour, stir vigorously, let it sit at room temp until doubled in volume.

A strong mother will double in 8-12 hours. If yours doesn't do that, let it continue to sit out until it has a nice tangy taste and smell; discard all but 6 oz and repeat this procedure. Repeat this procedure as many times as necessary until the mother doubles within 8-12 hrs. It may take several days. Don't get discouraged, it's worth the effort.

To use for recipes - Combine 1/2 c (5 oz) Mother from the refrigerator, add 3 oz flour and 2.5 oz warm water (85 - 90 degrees). The mixture will be stiffer than the mother. Let it sit, covered, until doubled in volume (if it doesn't do so go back to maintenance procedure). When the starter has doubled, it is ready to use in a recipe. Measure the amount needed and discard any that remains.

re: Dutch Oven/ baker size; I just purchased a 7 1/4 qt Le Creuset DO (yay!). If I stuffed some crumpled foil or parchment in the bottom/around the inside perimeter of the DO to take up some of the space, would that help to prevent too flat a loaf?

Also, if I make the dough ahead, and refrigerate it after the first rise (or the second rise?), would I need to, or should I let the dough come to room temp before baking?

With the exception of Ukranian Easter Bread, I've not made bread before so any/all advice welcome!

Also, if I make the Times recipe, since it makes 4 loaves (round loaves or baguettes, btw?), would I be better off baking them on my baking/pizza stone with the water bath on the rack underneath, or could I modify/adjust the recipe to allow for baking 1 or 2 loaves in my 7 1/4 qt DO (and if so, who would I do that)?

Like Monique and Annie, I love that clay baker. But, Michelle, your bread takes center stage.
I haven't made NKB in a while. I think I'll bake some loaves again this week.

Sol

Thanks Sol and I'm finally glad to have influenced you for a change...LOL! Ya know usually it's the other way around! ;)

IMO, a larger pot makes a flatter loaf which is fine for toast. But if you want to use your bread for sandwiches, IMO, it is best to use a smaller pot or dish. Any pot, baking dish or casserole that has straight sides and oven proof handles will work. And if your pot does not have a lid you can tent aluminum foil over the pot/dish which works great and yes I've tried it.

I've probably made the NK bread over 20 times in the past 3-4 months and I like to use a smaller pot like a 3-4 qt. AND I like an oval loaf which is why I chose the chicken baker.

Michelle

Michelle, your bread looks wonderful! Isn't it nice to see a great outcome? I find the wetter the dough and the longer/slower I let it rise the bigger the crumb will be. I think higher moisture is most important for that.

Loves2cook - I got great advice from Ann a few months ago and now I have a great starter that hardly needs much attention. I can take it from the fridge to wonderful bread in no time. Here are some I've made without any commercial yeast. The second two round loaves are almost no-knead - steel cut oat/whole wheat and onion herb bread. They all turned out great. I have blogged about it on my COOKING BLOG in recent posts.

sourdough bread
{{gwi:2090044}}

sourdough whole wheat steel-cut oat bread
{{gwi:2090047}}

sourdough onion and herb bread
{{gwi:2090050}}

Ann

Thank you so much for the info. I am just starting to bake bread for our family and every loaf I've made so far vanishes like smoke as soon as it is out the oven. I had to hide the loaf I made for dinner on NYE LOL

I am going to try your startter recipe as soon as I can get to TJ or WF to pick up some organic rye flour , hopefully this weekend. Oh, I can't wait!! Thank you again

Cat mom,

For the Times' Simple Crusty Bread, I used a pizza stone and that worked well. For their first no-knead bread, I used a 5 quart pot and that worked well. If you use the parchment sling in the 7 quart pot, that should help make the interior smaller.

I've been letting the 2nd half of the crusty bread dough age in my fridge, to see if that helps with the taste. I'm going to try and bake it tonight. I'm curious to see if the flavor improves.

Sharon S.

Thanks for the tips sharon--so I guess I'd use the pizza stone fro the Times recipe, and my DO for the Cook's Ill recipe (?). The CI recipe does say to use a 6-8 DO so I would think mine would be fine. I'm just getting back into this whole cooking/baking thing, and not being a bread baker prior, makes me a bit tentative!

Adding honey sounds good. I know to add it at the beginning (w/ all the other ingred.), but roughly how much would be a good amount?

BTW, what is the diff between these NK breads and regular knead breads, cooking in a pot vs. on a stone (w/ w/out water bath below)? Would I want to use convection with any or all methods (why or why not)?

TIA!

catmom, the NK breads are allowed to rise for 18 hours to develop flavor. They are simply mixed together, covered and allowed to sit. They have less yeast and usually a higher moisture content than other methods. The long slow rise develops enough gluten and the higher moisture creates larger holes in the crumb. Actually I like to knead it a little bit anyway . . just before shaping or in the middle of the rising time . . by gently folding over the dough 10-15 times. Cooking in a covered pot for the first 30 minutes basically imitates a moist oven. Since most of us do not have steam injectors on our ovens it's difficult to maintain a humid oven for long enough to really develop the crust properly at the first stage of baking. A covered pot keeps the steam from the bread inside and allows for a greater 'oven spring' for the bread. The lid is removed for the last 15 minutes to crisp the crust up at the end. You would not want to have your convection oven on in any case with breads as it will simply drive any moisture out of the oven very quickly. You certainly can bake it on a stone and toss in some ice cubes or water at the beginning, but a cover really does work better. You can also put it on the stone and cover it with a large metal bowl.

Question for Greginnd or others: "You can also put it on the stone and cover it with a large metal bowl."

If doing it that way, wouldn't it allow the dough to spread way too thin and thereby end up with a shallow loaf of bread? Also, wouldn't the sides of the upside down bowl stick to the dough?

Thanks ...