Almost No-knead Bread - Generic By Bill Recipe

How to make it

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• WARNING: This recipe involves the use of extremely hot pots or bowls in which dough is placed to get it to rise quickly. Be careful and have your pot holders ready.
• Note: this bread can be made from plain flour or a mix of flours and other
• ingredients like Ezekiel flour. I tried a whole 12 oz bottle of Goya Malta
• with this recipe and wow what a wonderful result. But I suspect you could
• use half that amount and it would be just as good. Most Latin markets carry
• Goya Malta, a very sweet drink containing malt and other sweetingul
• ingedients. I kneaded the bread a bit longer than the 10 - 15 times... more
• like 50 times and worked in a more flour as it was too sloppy to deal
• with.
• Whisk flour, yeast, sugar and salt in very large bowl. Add water, beer
• or Goya Malta and vinegar. Using rubber spatula, fold mixture, scraping up
• dry flour from bottom of bowl until a very sloppy "mess" forms. Add more
• water if you need to. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and let sit at room
• temperature for 8 to 18 hours.
• Lay 12- by 18-inch sheet of parchment or wax paper inside 10-inch
• skillet and spray with nonstick cooking spray. Transfer dough to floured
• work surface and knead 10 to 15 times or more. Shape dough into a flat ball
• by pulling edges into middle. Separate into 3 parts. Transfer each dough,
• part seam-side down, to a parchment-lined skillet or bowl and spray surface
• of dough with nonstick cooking spray. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and
• let rise at room temperature until dough has doubled in size and does not
• readily spring back when poked with finger, about 2 hours.
• About 30 minutes before baking, adjust oven rack to lowest position,
• place 6- to 8-quart heavy-bottomed Dutch ovens - 3 (with lids) on rack, and
• heat oven to 500 degrees. Note: bowls and other heavy open containers can
• be used in a steam oven. Lightly flour top of dough and, using razor blade
• or sharp knife, make one 6-inch-long, 1/2-inch-deep slit along top of
• dough. Carefully remove pots from oven and remove lids. Pick up dough by
• lifting parchment overhang and lower into pot (let any excess parchment
• hang over pot edge). Cover pot and place in oven. Reduce oven temperature
• to 425 degrees and bake covered for 30 minutes. Remove lid and continue to
• bake until loaf is deep brown and instant-read thermometer inserted into
• center registers 210 degrees, 20 to 30 minutes longer. Carefully remove
• bread from pot; transfer to wire rack and cool to room temperature, about 2
• hours.
• NOTE: If baking in a steam oven, just remove bread from bowls or
• containers after 30 minutes and turn over to brown on bottom and sides. It
• can take up to another 30 minutes to brown completely. I used a steam oven and the results were great.
• Another Note: this recipe can be challenging as you need to have a feel of how dough should look and feel and be able to adjust the amount of liquids and flour accordingly. But in this case, wetter is better than a stiff dough.
• Adapted from: http://www.cooksillustrated.com/recipes/login.asp?docid=11829