For the past three weeks I have been cultivating a colony of yeast into a sourdough starter. The colony, as you may recall, is much like a pet. And my pet, Pepe, has not always been a good pet. For a while Pepe went on a wild alcohol binge. One of the by products of the yeast fermentation process is alcohol, and apparently Pepe likes his hooch. For about a week, each day, when I would go to feed him, he would smell like your soused up uncle Tom who hasn’t seen a sober day in 10 years. But, with a little tenderness, and some tough love, I was able to wean Pepe off the hooch. And this Sunday, with Pepe back to full health, I cooked part of him up into a nice loaf of No Knead Sour Dough bread. And boy was Pepe delicious. My wife and I almost ate the whole loaf in one sitting.

Here is how I turned Pepe from sour starter to sour delicious. 

• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 2 1/2 cups white bread flour
• 1 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1 1/2 cups purified water
• 1/4 cup starter [Pepe]

 - Mix all ingredients together in a large bowl. The dough should be shaggy. If your starter is a little runny, you might add a touch more flour, to ensure a good shaggy dough.

 - Cover bowl and let sit for 15 hours. After 15 hours the dough should be roughly two to three times bigger, have a sweet sour smell, and be a bit more wet.

 - Pour dough out onto a floured surface or onto a Silpat. P.S. I have a love for the silpat. That doesn’t make me any less of a man does it? Sprinkle lightly with flour and cover with a cotton cloth. Let sit for three hours.

 - Heat oven and cooking dish with lid to 450 f°.  Make sure to use a heavy bottom dish. I use an enameled dutch oven but pyrex will also work.

 - Once the oven and dish are searing hot it is time to get baking. Spill your dough right into the dish. I just kind of scrape it off the silpat. It is not elegant in the least. I am sure real bread bakers would roll their eyes at my neanderthal technique.

 - Cook for 30 minutes at 450. Uncover. Cook for another 10-15 minutes until top is a nice golden brown.

 - Remove from oven. Be careful not to burn yourself. It hurts. Slice up the bread and enjoy the fruits of your labor.

KjO

 

There is nothing better than the smell and taste of fresh baked bread. This past weekend I employed my considerable skills [mocking witticisms of my fabled skills should come rushing to the forefront of your mind right now] to bake up a delicious loaf of no-knead bread. Basically no-knead bread is a technique for those of us who love bread but are a little lazy busy. Below are the photos of the delicious adventure and below that is the recipe. Trust me when I say this is the easiest bread to make..and those who eat it will think you spent hours in the kitchen. 

Recipe.

Recipe found in New York Times Dine & Wine section

3 cups all-purpose or bread flour, more for dusting
¼ teaspoon instant yeast
1¼ teaspoons salt
Cornmeal or wheat bran as needed.

1. In a large bowl combine flour, yeast and salt. Add 1 5/8 cups 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.

2. Dough is ready when its surface is dotted with bubbles. Lightly flour a work surface and place dough on it; sprinkle it with a little more flour and fold it over on itself once or twice. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rest about 15 minutes.

3. Using just enough flour to keep dough from sticking to work surface or to your fingers, gently and quickly shape dough into a ball. Generously coat a cotton towel (not terry cloth) with flour, wheat bran or cornmeal; put dough seam side down on towel and dust with more flour, bran or cornmeal. Cover with another cotton towel and let rise for about 2 hours. When it is ready, dough will be more than double in size and will not readily spring back when poked with a finger.

4. At least a half-hour before dough is ready, heat oven to 450 degrees. Put a 6- to 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 towel and turn dough over into pot, seam side up; it may look like a mess, but that is O.K. Shake pan once or twice if dough is unevenly distributed; it will straighten out as it bakes. Cover with lid and bake 30 minutes, then remove lid and bake another 15 to 30 minutes, until loaf is beautifully browned. Cool on a rack.

Yield: One 1½-pound loaf.