When it comes to sandwiches, nothing quite beats the flavor of homemade bread. The main issue, however, is how incredibly long it can take to make a lot of breads! You have to create a starter, mix the ingredients, punch them, let rise, re-punch, punch again, and much more for a bread recipe. We wanted to see if there was a good hard loaf bread recipe out there that could be made simpler. What if there was a recipe that required a minimal need to knead?
We tracked down a few no-knead recipes and found that some of them were hard to shape consistently. Also, some of the loaves lacked a certain tang we’ve come to love in the long way of making homemade bread. The solution was to add a little less water to make the dough a little tougher and better able to form into the shape we desired. For the taste, we added just a little white vinegar to get that tang we love. Just a little beer helped add more flavor, and in the end we baked a delicious loaf of bread perfect for sandwiches (though they tasted just as good with a little butter). Keep reading below for the recipe…
MinimalKnead Bread
(makes about 8 servings)
Ingredients
- 3 cups unbleached flour
- 1/4 teaspoon instant or rapid-rise yeast
- 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
- 3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons room temperature water
- 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons lager (or non-alcoholic lager)
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 1 tablespoon white vinegar
Directions
- Whisk together the flour, yeast, and salt in a large bowl. Add the water, beer, honey, and vinegar. Fold the mixture, scraping up the dry flour from the bottom of the bowl until a large, shaggy ball forms. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let sit at room temperature for at least 12 hours, though 18 is preferable.
- Line a 10″ skillet with parchment paper and spray with nonstick cooking spray. When the surface of the dough is dotted with bubbles, lightly flour the work surface and place the dough on it. Sprinkle with a little more flour, and knead 10 to 15 times. Transfer the dough to the parchment lined skillet and spray the surface of the dough with nonstick cooking spray. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rest for about 1 hour 30 minutes.
- Lightly flour the top of the dough, and using a sharp knife, make a 6″ long, 1/2″ deep slit along the top of the dough. Pick up the dough by lifting the parchment and lower into a 6-to-8-quart Dutch oven. Cover the pot and place in the oven. Set the temperature to 425F, and bake for 30 minutes after the oven has reached temperature.
- Remove the lid and continue to bake until the loaf is a deep brown (about 20 to 30 minutes longer). Remove the bread from the pot, and transfer to a wire rack to let cool to room temperature (about 2 hours).
- Enjoy!
Recipe adapted fromNY Times