Bread recipe: No kneading required

[Clair]

I found this recipe on another forum recently and decided to give it a go this morning. The appeal was in the no kneading required. So I made it and this is the result:

[IMG]http://i139.photobucket.com/albums/q296/clair46/BreadSmall.jpg[/IMG]

this is the recipe I followed (but I did leave them in the oven a tad too long!)

you'll need

1 medium bowl, 1 large bowl, 2 oven/biscuit trays, optional: 2 non-stick baking liners

• 25g freash yeast OR 1 pack levure traditionnelle
• 2½ tsp salt
• 750g flour (you can subsitute up to 90g with wholewheat)
• 450ml warm water + 100ml warm milk
• 1 dessertspoon honey
• extra flour

Method:

• In the smaller bowl, mix warm liquids and honey
• add the yeast to the liquids and mix lightly

• add mixed flour and salt and mix thoroughly with a wooden spoon, but do not beat or knead; the dough should look slightly wet and sticky
• pour the dough into the  lightly oiled larger bowl
• dust the dough surface thouroughly with extra flour (about 2 tbsp)
• cover and leave for 1½ to 2 hours
• heat over to 240ºC and put a dish of water on the bottom plate
• flour the 2 trays (I floured 2 non-stick baking liners which I then pulled onto the trays, it made the next part easier)
• pour the dough on the tray and divide it by cutting with a spatula or a pastry cutter
• gently move 1 half of the dough onto the 2nd tray

• sprinkle flour on the unfloured sides of the dough (as you've turned the bowl over, the bottom of the dough is uppermost)
• divide each into smaller rolls (I made 6 largish ones)
• (if you have not yet heated the oven at this stage, you can leave them to rise for another 20mn whilst the oven heats)
• bake for about 20mn and wait for them to cool before eating!

Excellent result and no effort! This might actually give the bread machine a holiday!

The taste is similar to pain de campagne with a crunchy crust.

You could add walnuts, olives or sun-dried tomatoes...

[PossumGirl]

Looks great, Clair.  They remind me of the Pain Meunier we get at boulangerie.

PG

[Meg]

Thanks Clair, i'll give it a go. How did the texture compare to rolls made from dough from the bread maker?

[Clair]

As I used only ½ the amount of yeats I would in the bread machine for that weight of flour, it is less yeasty tasting and with a slightly denser dough than my usual machine-made bread, using the same flour (in this instance, locally milled flour sold in my Gamm Vert).

The bread did not look artificially risen, if you see what I mean, and it had the look and taste of a good old-fashioned bread: very tasty with a lovely soft crunchy crust.

The baked flour all over gives a nutty taste.

I strongly advocate the use of baking liners side to side, as moving the wet dough without them onto a baking sheet must be really quite awkward.

Next time, I'll heat the oven to 220º rather than 240º, I'll give the cut rolls the extra 20mn whilst the oven warms up and I'll cut smaller rolls! [:-))]

I'll certainly use the recipe again, as it is the easiest bread ever and tasty to boot!

[PossumGirl]

Are thise silicone, like the silicone baking pans, Clair?  I do love those and use them all the time.  No more worries about cakes sticking in the pan.

Two things  you need to  do though, to make them foolproof:   One, rinse them with water before putting the batter in, the finished product just slips out.  Two: you need to let them "rest" after taking them out of the oven and before attempting to unmould the cake. 

PG

[Dick Smith]

Do the silicone baking trays work OK - I saw some in Guy Degrenne and then later in Sainsburys - don't they flop and let the crust crack?

[Clair]

[quote user="PossumGirl"]Are thise silicone, like the silicone baking pans, Clair?  I do love those and use them all the time.  No more worries about cakes sticking in the pan.[/quote]

They're more like a sheet of reusable greaseproof paper, but made of smooth and paper-thin Teflon or PTFE coated material.

I used them in permanence as oventray liners. It cuts down on the washing up, no scrubbing required and everything just glides off them (pizza, biscuits...). I bought them from here

I've noticed a roll of reusable baking paper in my local Géant, but I did not have time to study it!

[quote user="PossumGirl"]Two things  you need to  do though, to make them foolproof:   One, rinse them with water before putting the batter in, the finished product just slips out.  Two: you need to let them "rest" after taking them out of the oven and before attempting to unmould the cake. PG[/quote]

And this is where I went wrong with mine the first time I used it, as I did not wait before attempting the cake removal bit: half of it stayed inside the mould! The manufacturer's recommendations said to grease it beforeuse for the first few uses, but I did not know about water... thanks for the tip.

Don't you just hate the flimsy ones though? I'm not sure they would not collapse sideways once you've poured the cake batter inside...I use these: they have a stiff edge all round so you can pick they up without them collapsing and their content landing on your shoes!

[PossumGirl]

[quote user="Dick Smith"]Do the silicone baking trays work OK - I saw some in Guy Degrenne and then later in Sainsburys - don't they flop and let the crust crack?[/quote]

Not the ones I've used, Dick.  I do usually put them on a solid baking tray though, so I don't have to transport a wobbly mess to the oven.

PG

[PossumGirl]

I'luse the regular parchment paper, Clair, but of course that does have to get thrown away after each use. I just added the link to these to LaRedoute account, then I can order them next time I need to buy something else.

I like the Tefal pans as well.  They are very sturdy and work great.  They do cost a little more, but I think they're worth it.

PG

[PossumGirl]

There was another version of a no-knead bread in the New York Times, but I'll provide the link from Recipezaar instead, as the NYT article will become unavailable next week.

We haven't eaten it yet, but it looks fantastic.  The main difference with your recipe, Clair, is that this uses only a 1/4 tsp of yeast and then does a VERRRRRY long slow rise (18 - 20 hours).

I didn't have a pot that worked, so I used a ceramic bowl that was oven proof, and put the lid of another pot on top.  It worked great and the resulting bread looks stunning.

PG

[Clair]

This sounds very much like the version shown here (very good bread making info)

Since my last post here, I have made this bread with

• a Netto multigrain bread mix (just add water to the mix as salt and yeast are already included)
• Francine pain au lait/brioche flour
• Francine pain aux céréales flour
• ordinary white flour mixed with wholewheat flour

In all cases, the bread has turned out exactly as before, with no kneading required. I have been careful to adjust the water to obtain a sticky and wet looking dough.

My next attempt will follow the starter given in my link above, prepared the night before and mixed as directed to the balance of flour+water+yeast, but I will not knead the dough...

This is  turning out into a very interesting experiment, as my local boulangerie turns out absolutely dire bread and it would really pain me to encourage the guy's trade, which I have managed to avoid doing so far.

I really enjoy making my own "by hand" so successfully!

EDIT:

Is this the article in question? PG, would you be kind enough to "convert" the US measurements into metric? Thank you in advance...Can't wait to try it!

also see this page and this page which shows the bread in the pot

[PossumGirl]

Clair, I used the Francine Pain de Campagne mixture for mine and it turned out great.  I'm going to start a "wild yeast" sourdough starter and see how that goes I used to do this all the time because we couldn't buy decent bread in L.A....Well, we could, but it was difficult to find and very expensive.  Much easier to make my own.

My problem is that unlike your boulangerie, ours is excellent.  In fact, we have two and one is terrible.  When the excellent one is closed, I refuse to buy bread at the other one, so I do know what you mean.

This is the conversion for the NYT article:

709.77	ml all-purpose flour or bread flour, more for dusting
1.23	ml instant yeast
6.16	ml salt
384.46	ml water

The link you sent is, indeed, to the correct article.  However, if you don't read it before Thursday, I think it may be hard to access, as I think they then put things into the paying archives...

Recipezaar has a great measurement converter.  You can also look at any recipe, click on "change" button and change from metric to U.S. and back again, as well as change quantities for increasing or decreasing a recipe.

[Clair]

Well, I've made the NYT bread and I can't say I'm overwhelmed!

Too much ahead planning for me! Unles the taste is out of this world, I don't think I'll do it again...

I can just about remember to prepare a starter before going to bed, mix it into the flour in the morning and bake it for lunch!

Then again, I suppose I could work it out backwards and prepare the thing at 3pm latest for eating at 12 the following day...  or 24 hours ahead, just about...!

[Fridgeman]

Hi Clair

I make bread 3/4 times a week using my £9.99 Tesco breadmaker mainly as my mixer/prover then bake it in an oven with Great Results, so I thought I would give your No Knead bread a try and ....................Great Results ...... worth getting your teeth into ............even though we have a GREAT baker in our village! 

[PossumGirl]

I can see that the planning ahead part might be a pain, Clair.  Still, I did it in the morning while I was making breakfast, then was able to just bake it the next morning.

BTW, the loaf I baked on Sunday is still excellent and quite edible, hasn't dried out at all.

PG

[Clair]

[quote user="Fridgeman"]Hi Clair, I make bread 3/4 times a week using my £9.99 Tesco breadmaker mainly as my mixer/prover then bake it in an oven with Great Results, so I thought I would give your No Knead bread a try and ....................Great Results ...... worth getting your teeth into ............even though we have a GREAT baker in our village! [/quote]

Well thanks Fridgeman, but it would be wrong of me to take credit for this recipe, as I found it on a baking website I sometimes frequent for sheer pleasure! I am glad to have shared it and to know you've enjoyed discovering it...

If you google "no knead bread", you'll find many versions of the same recipe, and some more on Google.fr under "pain sans petrissage".

I'll keep experimenting with this as it's just soooo easy![:)]