A "You've Got to See This" Moment

Have I mentioned I like bread? I can’t think of anything more wonderful than hot bread fresh from the oven smeared with salty butter (preferably this butter). I’m starting to wonder if this blog should be devoted to bread, since no other food seems to excite me as much. I think the photo below says it all.



Recently, I discovered the most wonderful, simplest way to make bread. I believe in it so much that I don’t think there’s any good reason not to make your own bread. All the time. Every day. I’ve tested out the no-knead bread method before here, but I I didn’t realize the importance of starting at the beginning (a very good place to start). Bread baking is something you need to get the hang of. This is a basic white, rustic bread, or boule adapted from Jim Lahey, founder of the Sullivan Street bakery in NYC – who henceforth, I will refer to as the bread genius. In his book, My Bread, Lahey provides the recipe for a straightforward, no nonsense loaf that’s unbelievably crusty on the outside and fluffy and chewy on the inside. Besides the requisite bread flour, yeast, salt and water, the major components to a successful no-knead bread are time (lots of it) and a durable Dutch Oven. Make sure you invest in a good Dutch Oven, such as Le Creuset or Lodge. Not only will you use it for everything from soups to baking, but the enamel can withstand a 500 degree oven. Trust me, I learned this the hard way.



The trick to a successful no-knead bread is leaving it alone. The dough needs to rest and rise for at least 12 hours, though I prefer 18. During winter months, it can be left alone for up to 24 hours. All in all, it’s a lot of waiting - but if you strategize, I bet you won’t even notice. I must admit, however, that every time I make this recipe, visions of fresh-baked bread dance through my head for hours at a time. The first time I made this bread, I began at 11 o’clock at night. By the time I came home from work the next evening, it was ready to slide in the oven. When the bread was done, it was a thing of beauty. I couldn’t believe I’d produced it - I felt like a proud parent. It was definitely a “you’ve got to see this” kind of moment. After baking this bread, you may want to call your friends over for a look. But only offer the special ones a taste.



The Basic No-Knead Bread
Adapted from Jim Lahey of the Sullivan Street Bakery

Ingredients
3 C bread flour – make sure you buy bread flour. Unlike all-purpose flour, bread flour has more protein, a necessary component to creating gluten. Bread flour makes for a chewier loaf.
1 1/4 tsp table salt
1/4 tsp instant or active drive yeast
1 1/3 C cool water (55 to 65 degrees)
Wheat bran, cornmeal, or additional flour for dusting.

In a medium bowl, stir together the bread flour, salt and yeast. Add the water and, using a wooden spoon or your hands, mix until you have a wet, sticky dough (about 30 seconds). The dough should be quite sticky to the touch. If it’s not, add another tablespoon or so of water. Cover the bowl with a plate, tea towel or plastic wrap and let it sit at room temperature (about 72 degrees F), out of direct sunlight, until the surface is dotted with bubbles and the dough is more than doubled in size. This will take a minimum of 12 hours and preferably up to 18 hours. The slow rise – fermentation – is key to flavor.

When the first fermentation is complete, generously dust a work surface, such as a cutting board, with flour (all-purpose or bread). Use a rubber spatula to scrape the dough onto the board in one piece. When you begin to pull the dough away from the bowl, it will cling in long, thin strands (that’s the developed gluten). It will be very loose and sticky, but do not add more flour. With lightly floured hands, lift the edges of the dough in towards the center. Nudge and tuck in the edges of the dough to make it round.

Place cotton or linen tea towel (not terry cloth, which tends to stick and may leave lint in the dough) and generously dust the cloth with wheat bran, cornmeal or flour. Using your hands or a bowl scraper, gently lift the dough onto the towel, so it is seam side down. If the dough is tacky, dust the top lightly with wheat bran, cornmeal or flour. Fold the ends of the towel loosely over the dough to cover it and place it in a warm, draft-free spot to rise for one to two hours. The dough is ready when it is almost doubled. If you delicately poke it with your finger, the dough should hold the impression. If it doesn’t, let it rise for another 15 minutes.

Half an hour before the end of the second rise, preheat the oven to 475 degrees F, with a rack in the lower third position. Place a covered Dutch oven in the center of the rack.

Using potholders, carefully remove the preheated pot from the oven and uncover it. Unfold the tea towel, lightly dust the dough with flour or bran, lift up the dough, either on the towel or in your hand, and quickly but gently invert it into the pot, seam side up. Be careful – the pot will be extremely hot. Cover the pot and bake for 30 minutes.

Remove lid and continue baking until the bread is a deep chestnut color but not burnt – about 15 to 30 minutes. Use a heatproof spatula or pot holders to carefully lift the bread out of the pot and place it on a rack to cool thoroughly (if you can resist eating it, which I cannot). Try not to slice or tear into the bread until it has cooled, which typically takes at least one hour. The operative word here is “try.”

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.



Cool on rack. Or, if you can't help yourself (like me), break off a piece immediately and enjoy - with butter, of course.

In the Beginning, There Was Bread.

Hi there, my name is Maura. I love to cook, and I love to eat. While I've always been into food, being unemployed for six months helped me discover my inner cook (well, forced me to: my lack of paychecks translated to many a homecooked meal).

I left my Manhattan apartment for Brooklyn's greener (cheaper) pastures in April. Since then, I've been floored by the incredible food offerings in my neighborhood. While this blog won't be entirely Brooklyn specific, it's definitely going to focus on all the great food here - some of which, hopefully, I will make myself.

I decided to add the Bread & Butter to my blog's name because in my mind, there's no food more perfect than bread and butter. I've been known to eat an entire baguette with butter in one sitting, blissfully and without apology.

My love affair with bread began when I was eleven, during a summer in France. The baguettes were perfect: crusty on the outside and soft and airy inside. Wonderful with butter and jam but equally delicious plain or dunked in cafe au lait. I traveled to France with my aunt, a remarkable cook whose whole wheat bread recipe is featured below. I have always been fascinated with the magic my aunt creates in her kitchen. In that small room on the lower east side, the woman caters, tests recipes and cooks a Passover Seder for 20 people each year WITHOUT A DISHWASHER. She taught me to love food, and to make food with love.

There's something to be said for making your own bread. It's kind of like a lost art. It's pretty easy to buy decent bread (I'm within walking distance of Sahadi's and Mazzola's Bakery, which both have fantastic bread) and admittedly, baking bread requires a lot of patience. There's the kneading and the waiting, the waiting and the kneading. There are living organisms to consider. Still, there's nothing like the smell of fresh-baked bread. And people are consistently impressed with bread you've baked yourself.

This is my aunt's whole wheat bread recipe. It couldn't be easier to make, and it's completely delicious and versatile. I love it with butter (obviously), cream cheese or jam. It's also great for sandwiches.

© Lynn Kutner

Whole Wheat Bread Yield: Two 9"x5" loaves

This recipe for whole wheat bread follows the format of the white bread recipe. Within the six-cup flour allowance, feel free to vary the proportion of whole wheat flour to white. My measurements are four cups whole wheat and two cups white, which gives you 66 2/3 percent whole wheat bread. The reason I use white flour at all is that it is much easier to knead with than whole wheat. For a very lightweight whole wheat bread, use only one or two cups of whole wheat flour.



1 ounce fresh yeast or 2 packages dry yeast, proofed

1/4 cup cold tap water

1/4 cup unsulphured molasses or honey

1 tablespoon salt

2 cups liquid: milk, water, soy milk, or buttermilk (add 1/4 cup water with buttermilk because it is thick)

4 cups stone-ground whole wheat flour

1/4 cup melted and cooled sweet butter or (sunflower) oil

2 cups bread flour or unbleached all-purpose flour

1.Dissolve yeast in 1/4 cup water in a large bowl. Let stand 5 minutes.

(For dry yeast, add 1 teaspoon of sugar. Should foam in 5-10 minutes.)



2.Mix in molasses or honey. Then mix in milk. Use wire whisk.



3.Mix in 2 cups whole wheat flour, 1 cup at a time. Beat well with whisk. Now beat in salt.



4.Scrape in melted butter with a rubber spatula (or add oil). Mix well.



5.Switch from whisk to wooden spoon. Add the rest of the whole wheat flour. Beat well.



6.Beat in 1 cup of the white flour and turn dough out onto floured cloth.



7.Knead well, using what is necessary of the last cup of white flour.



8.Allow dough to rise in an oiled bowl covered with a cloth or plastic wrap. You may also allow it to rise in a floured bowl covered a damp cloth or plastic wrap. Dough will double in about 1 hour at room temperature.



9.Punch the dough down, (knead), and allow a second rise in the bowl.



10.Punch the dough down, knead, allow to rest if necessary, and shape your loaves. Place in greased and floured pans. Allow dough to double before baking.



11.Preheat oven to 350°, rack set on lowest rung. If desired, glaze the risen breads with butter or corn starch glaze (1 teaspoon corn starch cooked for 2 minutes in 2/3 cup water--cool before using).



12.Bake 30-40 minutes until toothpick in fattest part of loaf comes out bone dry. Immediately remove from pans. Cool on racks 2-3 hours.