I’ve also been hanging out on the cooking thread and the gardening thread. I didn’t want to overlap topics, so couldn’t come up with anything i thought would be interesting, lol.
So the topic i came up with crosses prepping with cooking. My thoughts lately have been about bread. i know it will get warm, so i better use the oven while i can!
The prepping portion comes from the fact that i have buckets of wheat berries and need practice making 100% whole wheat bread, in case white bread flour is scarce. I also have vital wheat gluten stored, and of course, salt. I have a beloved jar of sourdough starter in the frig. She’s probably 5 year’s old and got moved cross-country when we moved from Mexifornia to Tennessee. I’m disappointed because i don’t get a real sour flavor from her, but the rise and texture of the bread is great, so i hate to part with her after all these years. A little flour and water every other week is all she requires.
The other prepping topic about bread is the new fad of no-knead breads. I have to admit i am a closet no-knead bread fan (don’t tell my kitchenaid!). I figure in a prepping situation where our electricity could be intermittent or mixer parts hard to find, making no-knead bread could be the solution. And if we’re busy with other duties or want to expend our energy on other activities besides kneading, no-knead bread can be a time and arm saver. I personally cannot knead bread due to some arm and wrist injuries. I tried it once, because i thought i should, and boy did it cause pain for several days! But i got the feel of the bread as the gluten developed and it helps me recognize when it’s been kneaded sufficiently with the mixer.
But with no-knead breads, we don’t have to worry about any of that! I’ve researched - read recipes and watched videos - and tried about a half dozen no-knead recipes. So far, they’ve all been with white flour because i wanted to make sure they work as written before attempting to transition the recipe to whole wheat. i’ll try some WW ones shortly, and let you know how they did.
From what i can tell, the basic no- knead recipe has simply flour, water, salt, and yeast. It is just mixed until it is a shaggy dough. I think the key is a high hydration, as all the recipes i’ve tried have been quite sticky. I imagine the high hydration coupled with a high baking temperature gives the bread more oven spring than a typical bread recipe. After rising overnight - which takes the place of kneading to develop the gluten - the shaggy dough is folded over on itself numerous times, creating that all-important gluten web that helps the loaf rise. Then it is divided and formed into rolls or loaves in the usual fashion, other than having to wet one’s hands or use extra flour because of the wet dough. These get to rise a bit, while the oven heats up. Then the loaf is slashed to provide an opening for that wonderful oven spring that gives us a light holey interior. The outside of the loaf is either sprayed with water or a pan of water heated in the bottom of the oven to provide steam to aid in rising and for a crunchy crust. Sometimes the bread is baked in a covered dutch oven, for the same reason.
Now i bet you’re wondering how i think i can use my oven if i can’t use my mixer...,good point! Yet one more step i want to practice with after getting down the WW version of no-knead bread is baking it in my pizza oven or in a dutch oven over a fire. Of course the pizza oven would be optimal - which was part of my rationalization in spending money on it! You never know what lengths prepping will take you to.
The no-knead recipe that got the interest in no-knead bread started is from the evil New York Times. I’ll post it here anyway.
NYT No-Knead Bread
https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/11376-no-knead-bread
Click on the picture for a bigger version
Here is one of the most popular recipes The Times has ever published, courtesy of Jim Lahey, owner of Sullivan Street Bakery. It requires no kneading. It uses no special ingredients, equipment or techniques. And it takes very little effort — only time. You will need 24 hours to create the bread, but much of this is unattended waiting, a slow fermentation of the dough that results in a perfect loaf.
3 cups all-purpose or bread flour, more for dusting
1/4 teaspoon instant yeast
1 1/4 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.
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I tried these for Easter dinner and they were really good! The only thing i did different is i slashed each roll about 1/4” deep and with a serrated knife held at about 30 degrees from the horizontal, which creates a beautiful ‘ear’ when it opens up in the oven.
No Knead Crusty Rolls
For the water, I just use hot tap water. It’s important to make sure your oven reaches 450° F. (my oven takes 35 minutes). For the overnight method, simply switch to COOL water and let the dough rest overnight on the counter top for 8 to 24 hours. Be sure to aerate your flour before measuring. - Jenny Jones
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 25 minutes
Total Time: 4 hours
Makes: 8 rolls
Ingredients:
2 1/2 cups bread flour (or all-purpose flour)
1/4 teaspoon instant or dry active yeast
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cups hot tap water (up to 130° F)
Instructions:
In large bowl combine dry ingredients. Stir in water. Mixture will be thick and sticky.
Cover with plastic wrap & let stand on counter top for 3 hours.
After 3 hours (mixture will be puffy and bubbly on top) place dough on a well-floured surface. Using a scraper fold over about 12 times, adding enough flour so it doesn’t stick (about 2 Tbsp).
Using a scraper cut dough into 8 pieces. With floured hands, shape each into a ball by folding and tucking, like making a drawstring bag.
Place on parchment paper-lined baking sheet & cover with a dish towel. Let stand at room temperature for 35 minutes. They will puff up but will not double in size.
As soon as rolls are covered, start preheating oven to 450° F. Oven must be 450° so use an oven thermometer if possible.
Bake for 25-30 minutes until golden brown. To re-crisp the next day, preheat the oven to 325° F and place the rolls directly on the oven rack for 10-12 minutes.