Perfect Kneadless Bread

Perfect Kneadless Bread

The slow rise or no-knead bread method is an old French technique that lost favour when bakers started using machines to mix and knead dough and wanted to speed the process. I wish I knew more about its history. Perhaps some of you will share some stories.

No-knead bread is so easy a child can make it. It tastes much better than any artisan bakery bread, breadmaker bread, or kneaded bread because the gluten has time to develop into the most wonderful taste and texture.

The slow rise method is currently enjoying a resurgence of popularity with home cooks and there are many methods and recipes. After a lot of experimentation, I created this recipe because:

• it has the least number of steps and each step takes only a couple of minutes
• it involves least number of times I need to be there to do something (4 times)
• takes the least effort (no kneading or beating)
• it can be made using a bowl, a spoon (or hands), measuring cups and spoons, and two bread pans, in other words no special equipment and minimal clean up time
• it uses the least number of ingredients, only flour, water, salt, and yeast
• it contains wholewheat which I love
• it contains no fat or sugar or dairy products to keep things simple.

I use Rogers whole wheat flour, rye flour, and unbleached white flour (no additives).

Here's the recipe for two loaves of Perfect Kneadless Brown Bread. Start around lunch time one day and have warm bread for lunch the next day.  If you are out of the house all day, start at dinner time and bake the next evening. Please let us all know what results you get.

You'll find the instructions for Kneadless Multigrain, Kneadless Rye, Kneadless Walnut, and Kneadless Ciabatta following the Brown Bread recipe.

Perfect Kneadless Brown Bread

Dry Ingredients:

In a large pottery bowl, measure out the following:

• 2 cups unbleached white flour (For beginners: Do not sift or tamp the flour. Use a stainless steel measuring cup made for dry ingredients. Use the edge of a table knife to level the flour.)
• 4 cups whole wheat flour
• 1 cup wheat bran (If making Kneadless Multigrain or Kneadless Walnut Bread, leave this out.)
• 1/2 tsp. yeast (instant or breadmaker)
• 2-1/2 tsp. salt (Put the salt in a different place in the bowl from the yeast because dumping it on top of the yeast will kill the yeast. Once mixed with the flour it won't be a problem.)

Mix well with a spoon.

 









Wet Ingredients:
Add 3-1/4 cups of cold water measured in a measuring cup made for liquids (e.g. pyrex or glass measuring cup). Warm or room temperature water works as well, but cold water is best as it slows the yeast action and allows flour enzymes to work.

Stir with a metal spoon to minimize sticking, just until the dry ingredients are incorporated (less than 60 seconds). Hands are okay too.

You just have to stir enough to more or less get all the dry ingredients wet, no more.  The dough will be very sticky and look like this.  

Cold rest (optional):

Cover the bowl with a clean tea towel and put it in the frig for 3 hours. This step is optional but it does noticeably improve the texture (more holes) and it rises higher. During the cold rest, the yeast is not active but the enzymes in the flour do their magic. You can use the cold rest to adjust the timing to suit your schedule, but don't leave the dough in the frig for more than 10 hours.   I usually skip the cold rest.




First rise:

If you use the cold rest, take the dough out of the frig. 
Put the bowl, covered with a clean towel,  in a quiet place at room temperature (cooler is better than warmer) and leave it undisturbed for 12 to 18 hours. The dough will approximately double in size. You can peek but generally don't bump or move the bowl too much. The house will smell very yeasty and wonderful.

This is what the dough looks like after the first rise.

Second rise:

Place two standard metal or glass (5 " x 9") bread pans nearby (not non-stick pans). Oil the pans generously using olive oil, bacon fat, or lard. Oil your hands lightly.

Using a clean metal spoon to minimize stickiness, work around the edge of the dough to loosen it from the sides and bottom of the bowl. It will collapse as you do this. The dough will be very sticky and elastic.

Add-ins: At this point, add the proofed grains or walnuts for Kneadless Multigrain Bread or Kneadless Walnut Bread (see recipes below). Fold them in by tucking the bread with your hands under itself over and over until the add-ins are well distributed.

As the dough comes away from the bowl, pick it up in your hands, and pinch it into two equal pieces. Put one back in the bowl and keep the other one in your hands. Don't worry if they don't seem exactly equal in size.  This step is pretty messy, as the dough is sticky, but it will work out fine no matter what you do.

With your hands, tuck the dough under itself so the top is smooth.

Make a longish shape and put it into the first bread pan. Do the same with the other piece of dough. Don't worry if they don't look equal in size, but you can pinch off a piece from one and add it to the other one using the tucking under method.

Cover the pans with a clean tea towel and leave undisturbed for 3 hours. The dough will rise again to double in size. You can peek but don't bump or move the pans too much.

Baking:
20 minutes before you are going bake, turn the oven to 425 degrees F. Put the rack in the middle of the oven and don't open the oven while it is heating.

After the second rise, drizzle olive oil generously on the dough. Sprinkle generously with zatar.  This step is optional.

This is how the dough looks after the second rise and after the oil and zatar have been added.


Put the pans in the oven keeping the oven open for as little time as possible. The pans should be in the middle of the oven but not touch each other. Bake for exactly 45 minutes. Do not open the oven for any reason. The house will fill with the smell of bread, sesame, and thyme.

Using oven mitts, remove the bread from the oven. The loaves will not rise above the pan and they will seem overbaked, but fear not.


Tap or bang the pans on the stove top or counter hard enough to loosen the bread from the pan. Using the oven mitts, turn the bread out of the pans onto racks to cool. If you don't have racks, just prop one end up on something so the bottom can cool. You'll know the bread is done if tapping the bottom makes a hollow sound. But don't worry, the bread will be done.

Topping Notes:

The students and I like a topping. Our favourite is zatar but you can be creative. Anise seeds are very nice especially with honey on the bread.

Spice Blends - Zatar:
This is a traditional Turkish blend, used for everything.  Mix equal parts of sumac, thyme, and sesame seeds.  Mix with oil for spreading on bread or on chicken to be roasted.  Sumac is available in Greek grocery stores and has a lovely lemony flavour and a dark red colour.

Slicing and Eating:
If you absolutely must, you can slice the bread while hot or warm using a serrated knife and turning the bread on its narrow edge.

The students and I eat it many ways:

Plain, toasted or for sandwiches

With unsalted butter
With unsalted butter and honey (Mie's favourite)

With Bothwell squeaky cheese (squeaky cheese is mild fresh cheddar no more than 7 days old. Mild regular and old versions are available at Safeway, but the really fresh cheese seems to be available only in Steinbach) http://www.bothwellcheese.com/ (Loris' favourite)

With Brie, a thick slice of juicy beefstake tomato, sea salt and freshly ground pepper

With rhubarb orange ginger sauce

To round out a soup or salad meal
With oily tuna or sardines, salt and pepper
With homemade cottage cheese and a few oven dried tomatoes

Storage Notes:

Leave the loaf out on the bread board cut side down, or wrap it in paper or cloth. It will keep this way for 2 days, but it will usually be gone and you will have to start a new batch anyway.

If you put it in a plastic bag it will get moldy faster, and the crust will soften.

If you refrigerate it, the taste will change and it will get stale.

You can freeze it in an air tight plastic bag for up to 2 months.  If I am alone in the house, I freeze half loaves, and take them out of the freezer as I need them.

Variations:

Kneadless Multigrain or Seed Bread
This bread is very moist and soft and has a lovely texture and taste.

Follow instructions for Kneadless Brown Bread above.

Leave out the wheat bran when starting the Kneadless Brown Bread, but keep the other ingredients the same.
One hour before starting the second rise, put 1/3 cup each of whole millet, quinoa, and amaranth, in a bowl of water to proof. 
Just before shaping the loaves, drain the proofed grains, and mix them into the dough, using your hands and the folding under method until the grain seems fairly well distributed.  The dough will get quite wet, but it won't matter.
Then shape the loaves and let them rise in the pans.

Kneadless Walnut Bread
This bread changes and enhances the taste of the wholewheat.

Follow instructions for Kneadless Brown Bread.
Leave out the wheat bran when starting the Kneadless Brown Bread, but keep the other ingredients the same.

Chop one cup of walnuts finely.

Just before the second rise, mix the nuts into the dough using your hands and the folding under method until the nuts are well distributed.
Then shape the loaves and let them rise in the pans.

Kneadless Rye Bread
This is a wonderful bread, which I make as often as the Kneadless Brown Bread.
Follow instructions for Kneadless Brown Bread but use the following ingredients.

1-1/2 cups dark rye flour

4 1/2 cups unbleached white flour

3 tsp. salt

2/3 tsp. instant or breadmaker yeast

3 Tbsp. caraway seeds (be sure to get a good brand of fresh ones).

3 cups water

Kneadless Ciabatta

This bread is incredibly tasty and has a wonderful holey texture. Ciabatta means slipper in Italian.
4 cups unbleached white flour

1-1/2 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. yeast (instant or bread maker)

Mix the dry ingredients well.

2 cups water.

Stir in the water. Cover with a tea towel and leave at room temperature for 18 hours.

Put some wheat bran or cornmeal on a heavy baking sheet to prevent sticking.

Turn the dough out onto the sheet and shape with hands --- pull and pat until it's almost as long as the sheet. The loaf will spread sideways on its own to make that big slipper shape.

Cover with a clean cloth and let rise 2 hours.

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. for 20 minutes.

Bake at 425 degrees F. for 35 minutes.

Remove from the oven and set on rack to cool. The crust will be hard enough to easily pick up the whole loaf.

If you can't wait to eat some, it is easier to slice if you turn it on its narrow edge.