I’m obviously a very simple dude.
I like bread, and I found out that it can be ridiculously easy to make bread with minimal effort. This seems like a match made in heaven.
Yesterday I found myself perusing lifehacker.com for tech tips, but they’re all about everything cool, so I came across an excellent recipe site: “Budget Bytes“. It’s a site that (in concert with my analytical nature) takes the time to figure out the per-serving cost of a particular meal. Pretty sweet! In my perusing, I came across a video recipe from another dude from a different site, and the video was quick, easy, and awesome. It’s for “No-Knead Ciabatta”!
Take a look at it yourself…
So, I decided to give it a try. The hardest thing about completing this recipe is having the ingredients in your kitchen. Seriously. The most time I spent on the whole process was going to the store – go figure, I was out of flour!
Anyhow, as the video states, it’s super easy:
- Mix four ingredients (4 cups white flour*, 1/4 tsp yeast, 1.5 tsp salt, 2 cups warm water).
* The guy said he does 3.5 of white and .5 wheat, but I’m gonna re-try this recipe with different proportions. I hear all-wheat can be trouble, but 1/2 & 1/2? Why not!? - Let sit for 18 hours (or so).
- Form the loaf on the counter, transfer to the cookie sheet** for cooking, cover with dry towel, let sit for 2 hours.
**spread a light layer of olive oil on the cookie sheet and then sprinkle with cornmeal before placing the bread. - Cook at 425 degrees for ~30 minutes (till hollow sounding when tapped).
As simple as it is, I screwed it up. In alignment of my weird bread timing, I prepped the batter last night which meant 18 hours was up around noon today – but I didn’t get home till 4:15. The few extra hours wasn’t too big of a deal, I guess your mileage may vary though.
Also, as another pro-tip (for good crusts) is to have some steam in the oven; this can happen through keeping a tray of water in the hot oven, or spritzing with water periodically (from a pistol-grip sprayer).
Anyhow, the result was probably my best yet… Great grain to the bread. Wonderful flavor. Delightful crust. And moist to boot!
Check out the picture of my results, and then go make it yourself!
Enjoy,
-Cody
No-Knead Ciabatta!