Brooklyn Bread & Butter: An Epic Undertaking

Well, friends, my epic two-day-no-knead bread adventure was a success! I set out on my journey Friday night, after reading the first chapter of "The Art of Eating In," by Cathy Erway, and ended about two hours ago. Cathy's book landed on my desk last week, and I was compelled by the title (and awesome cover graphic of a grocery bag made entirely of food). Cathy's a Brooklyn girl like me, and she stopped eating out in New York for two years. I was intrigued - and admittedly a bit terrified - of her recipe for Peppercorn, Potato and Parmesan No-Knead Bread on page 42. The bread sounded delicious, but since I'm not the most patient person in the world, I wasn't sure I could handle watching a bowl of dough for two days. I recommend starting the dough on a Friday night and keeping yourself out of the kitchen 'til Sunday afternoon.

You might wonder why anyone would spend two days watching and nurturing bread dough. It's because this is the only way to achieve that glorious I just bought-this-from-a-bakery result. Well, I suppose you could just go to the bakery, but seriously, what fun would that be? There's a crisp, artisan-like quality to this bread that's both professional-looking yet extremely comforting.

The incredible, sometimes frustrating, thing about bread is that it requires so few ingredients (typically just some yeast, flour, water and salt) but demands so much during the baking process(perfect room temperature, time to rise, shaping and flouring, more time to rise). So you want to make sure that whatever you make is going to be worth it. I promise this recipe is. The boiled potato water adds depth to the dough, the peppercorns add a pleasant spiciness, and the Parmesan makes the crust golden and crispy (but I don't think I have to convince any of you of the power of bread and cheese).

Three things I had never done before making this bread:
1. Bought one and only one potato. Reader, be forewarned: you will undoubtedly get a strange look from the cashier.
2. Put peppercorns in a plastic bag and beat them with a rolling pin. It's surprisingly satisfying.
3. Put my dutch oven in the actual oven. This bread needs to bake in a 6 to 8 quart pot. I definitely thought the pot was going to break my oven rack. It didn't, and yours won't either.

Peppercorn, Potato & Parmesan No-Knead Bread
From "The Art of Eating In," by Cathy Erway

Ingredients:
3 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting (Note: my dough was still SUPER sticky after 18 hours - to the point where I almost threw everything away and started over. I added another cup about three hours before baking. Don't be afraid if your mixture looks more like gray, peppery soup than dough. Simply add more flour and combine).
1/4 teaspoon active dry yeast
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
About 3 tablespoons black peppercorns, cracked (place them in a Ziploc bag and roll over them with a rolling pin several times)
1 5/8 cups water that was used to boil a potato, slightly cooled (this is a funny measurement. Anywhere between 1 1/2 and 1 2/3 is just fine)
Grated Parmesan

In a large bowl, combine flour, yeast, salt and pepper. Add water, and stir until blended; dough will be shaggy and sticky. 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 the surface is dotted with bubbles. Lightly flour a work surface and place dough on it; sprinkle it with more flour and fold it over on itself once or twice. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rest about 15 minutes.
Using just enough flour to keep dough from sticking to work surface or your fingers, gently and quickly shape dough into a bowl, tucking folded parts underneath.
Sprinkle and gently pat the grated Parmesan across the top of the load. Generously coat a cotton towel (not terrycloth) with flour, semolina, or cornmeal, and place loaf seam-side down on it. Coat another cotton towel with flour, cover the dough and let rise for two more hours. When its ready, dough will be more than double in size and will not readily spring back when poked with your finger.

At least a half hour before dough is ready, preheat oven to 450 degrees. Put a 6-8 quart heavy covered 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 the towel and place dough Parmesan side up in the pot. Cover with lid and bake 20 minutes; then remove lid and bake another 15 minutes, until loaf is golden and gorgeous.