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| The perfect crust Boule in all it's glory |
Can you believe that bread machines exist? You just put all the ingredients into this odd vessel and turn it on, and it just churns out a perfect loaf of bread, baked and all? It sounds like something from The Jetson’s, although, if I had my choice, I would prefer that hair styling machine that Judy and Jane always experimented with. I imagine that besides all the time one waits on dough to rise, the biggest deterrent in making bread by hand is the process of kneading. The first few times I tried to seriously knead, I got very frustrated with the amount of dough that stuck to my hands and my wrists, with how much flour was flying everywhere, and by the amount of dough that was stuck to the cutting board. I gave up on kneading, and have been relying on the trusty dough hook of my Kitchen Aid mixer ever since. After committing to this project, I knew that would all have to change. None of the recipes in the Tassajara bread book call for a mixer, opting instead for stirring the dough 100 times with a wooden spoon, and then kneading the dough for about 10 minutes. Is kneading all that necessary to making a good loaf of bread? Dare I say it? Does one need to knead?
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Part of my research for this project has been getting to know more about baking bread through various cookbooks. I stumbled upon a book at the library called, “My bread. The revolutionary, no-work, no-knead method,” by Jim Lahey and decided to check it out. Without reading through the book, I chalked it up to a gimmick, something that would prove to be worthless to me and my journey of baking bread ahead. After I picked up the library book, I didn’t even look through it until 2 days before it was due at the library. Once I did crack it open, I was pleasantly surprised. The book is written by the owner of Manhattan’s Sullivan Street Bakery, which opened in 2006 and is renowned for it’s gourmet Italian no-knead bread. Not only are there several recipes for wonderfully unique crusty boules, but the book also includes sandwich recipes, pizzas, banana breads, Panini and other wonderful delights all collected together in a beautifully photographed book. I was sorry that I hadn’t given this book enough attention when I still had my two weeks with it from the library.
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The no-knead method is possible due to the 12-24 hours that the dough is left to rise, or to put it professionally, the extended fermentation of the yeast. Basically, you mix together the water, yeast, salt and bread flour until it is just combined and very sticky, and then you cover it with plastic wrap and let it rise for 12-24 hours depending on what temperature it is in your home. Then, you take the dough out of the bowl and nudge and tuck it into a ball on a well-floured work surface. Next you place the dough on a well-floured tea towel and fold up the corners of the towel. At this point, you let the dough rise another 1 to 2 hours, making sure to preheat the oven and a heavy pot to 475 degrees a half hour before the dough is done rising. Then you carefully remove the pot from the oven, dust the dough with more flour, and flip it into the pot. Cover the pot and bake for 30 minutes, then remove the lid and cook for 15 to 30 minutes more. Once it is a deep chestnut brown color, remove the bread from the pot and place on a rack to cool thoroughly.
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| The no-knead bread from a different angle |
This bread is unique every time you make it. Every time the bubbles and cracks are different; every time the dusted flour on the loaf bakes and browns to a slightly different color than the last time and every time the bread literally sings a different tune of snaps crackles and sizzles as it comes out of the oven. It feels like a small miracle every time you pull it off. The process feels dangerous at times; the fragility of the slack dough, the porous nature of the ceramic pot, and the extreme heat of the oven. My first impression of this technique and this cookbook was way off. What I judged to be a lazy gimmick, was actually a technique that allows for imperfection and a different gourmet result each time. I still think that kneading dough is necessary in most cases; that the touch and warmth of human hands are very important and connect us to the food that we make, but this book is a very interesting spin on the process of making delicious bread without relying on an expensive space-age-looking bread machine.
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| Air pockets courtesy of the extended fermentation process |
