We cut into the bread this evening. It was wonderful - everyone loved it. Since my DIL is the only one in the family to have a Dutch Oven, she will now be in charge of the bread-making for her family. I wanted to try it first, and it truly was very simple to do (as long as you remember to start the night before!) Thank you again, Annie!! :>)

Excellent! Nice that you could include your DIL, even if it was just for her pot. :) It's a nice bonding experience. :) And so good to have good bread!

Oooh, edie, that's pretty.

I also use the parchment paper trick, just pick the paper up with the loaf on it and put it into the hot dutch oven.

I'm glad you liked it, it's sure easy!

Annie

Could someone link us the recipe from the thread it was on? Please!

I can't remember what thread it was in originally, but here's the recipe as I copied it. If I got something wrong, maybe Annie will correct it:

3 cups flour

2 teaspoons salt

1 teaspoon Active Dry Yeast

1-1/2 cups room-temperature water

Mix all ingredients. Cover bowl (I used plastic wrap) & let sit overnight, 8 - 18 hours.

Turn dough out, form into a ball but DO NOT KNEAD. Put on a piece of parchment paper and let rise one hour. 30 minutes into the rising time, put a cast iron Dutch Oven into oven and turn to 450°. When hot, place dough into hot Dutch Oven. Bake with the lid on for 30 minutes, then remove lid and bake another 15 minutes. Cool on rack.

And that's it! I think my overnight rise time was about 9 hours. It was nice and bubbly by then.

Thanks!

That's very high hydration. Between 89% and 95% (based on between 4.2 and 4.5 ounces of flour to cup - the range of conversion amounts from different websites). So it's not surprising that it was hard to get into a ball.

The recipe is in the "What's for Dinner #378" thread and I just checked. What I wrote above is how it was posted. Whew, wouldn't want to tell someone something wrong! But my eyes are going bad so it may be I might have had a little too much water in the measuring pitcher. But it still made good bread!

I think the high hydration is why it does not require kneading. I cannot make this because I do not have a Dutch oven, plus I am scared of trying to put loose dough into a hot pan. I can understand that this is a good recipe for those who are unable to knead dough because of health problems, but I personally love kneading dough and am glad that I am still able to do it - for now. It's nice that there are options.

I had read somewhere that the no knead breads bake just as well without preheating the Dutch oven. Of course, the oven still gets preheated. I've tried it and I have seen no difference either. Baking time remains the same.

I would be willing to try this recipe if I did not have to pre-heat the pan. Thanks for that info.