Photos of my "no knead" bread! Success first time, even though I forgot to turn down the temperature

And here it is cut, so you can see all the holes. You'll need to imagine the crunch!

We smeared on unsalted organic butter--I thought it needed just a grind of sea salt. The stuff on top is wheat bran. The loose stuff burned in the pan, but not a bit of the bread burned.

Can't wait to try a slab tomorrow toasted.

Excellent recipe.

PS: It's almost an hour later and the crust is still crunchy.

https://recipeswap.org/fun/wp-content/uploads/Finer_Kitchens/DSC01084.jpg

 
I love the ruler Mar! You made me laugh with that! Who is your AAE

(alter anal ego) again? You and my husband would get along famously. My maybe 3 or 4-year-old explained to me that he was not supposed to jump onto unstable platforms. Love it.

 
Okay, I'm trying this! For years I've been processing, kneading, folding, punching, shaping...

hot-tiling and steaming. If this works, it means abandoning everything I believe in. I won't be able to sleep through the overnight rise.

 
Or maybe "The Day ANY Diet Died"...haha! There's a tidal wave of people posting about this

on the NYTimes board and other cooking boards and the article is one of the most popular e-mailed articles on the NYTimes website. Sheesh!

 
More details on The Bread

It's the morning after the Great Carb Binge. I stored it overnight in a OPEN gallon zip-lock bag, yet it has deflated a bit and is not crunchy to touch.

However, a slab toasted in a pan with a touch of butter crisped right up to crunchy level. I haven't tried a toaster yet. It is DEFINITELY rustic (which we love), but that may be because I used bread flour (AP plus gluten). Not sure if there would be so many holes with AP alone.

I still had to put a grind of salt on the toast, so I'll definitely be increasing the salt amount next time. For the recipe, I hand-ground sea salt crystals to the 1 1/4 tsp, but to both of our tastes, it's not enough. However, if you use salted-butter, it may be enough.

I panicked because I didn't turn down the temperature from 500 to 450 until only 10 minutes remained from the original 30 minutes "lid-on" time, so I only baked it 10 minutes with lid off. That may be why the bread deflated later.

Thanks to Val for the chowhound link. They gave an internal temperature reading of 200 which I think I'll use next time.

Joe, I'm with you on the frustration level of bread. As I wrote early, I actually love the whole bread-making ritual, but I'd sure like a bit more confidence/insurance on the outcome.

By the way, ours did not form into a neat ball. It was very smooshy and we kept "trying" to get it to "flip the seam over to the other side" but finally just gave up. And when we "flipped" it into the hot pan, it all fell to one side and didn't right itself. So we just shoved on the lid and let it go. But it did smooth out while baking. Very forgiving piece of work.

That's about all the background info I can give. Give it a try...it really is easy enough for children (OTHER than the hot pan step).

 
questions on temperature and thermometer...

I thought the whole baking time was at 500 deg.?? Guess I missed something there...

Also, to get an internal temperature of 200 deg., does that mean you bake it with the thermometer stuck in it?

 
I'm going to be the only failed attempt for sure. (Please see link) I started>>>

it last night, sat for 15 1/2 hours, continued with remaining steps. I have 9 minutes left on the timer that I set for 1 1/2 hours so that I would start the oven and put the pot in. I will then set the timer for 30 more minutes. Now, it says that at the end of the 2 hours it should be doubled in size. I can't see how that could possibly happen in just 30 more minutes. I begged you guys to stop me from trying again. I'm going to be humiliated! Should I just give it more rising time or just throw it out? LOL...Woe is me

http://www.finerkitchens.com/swap/forum/index.php?action=display&forumid=1&msgid=33327

 
Don't throw it out yet...I haven't made this, but spent some time this morning reading different

boards where it was discussed. I'd give it a bit more time to see if it does rise more. Is the dough real wet and soft? That might cause it to spread more than rise. Just get it into the pot and give it a chance, almost everyone seems to love the bread, even if it didn't turn out quite they way they wished the first time. YOu've gotten this far, forge ahead. I hope I'm not too late, and please let us know how it turned out.

The general consensus on several boards is the recipe is a little vague and contradictory on a few points, but whatever one does, it seems to work.

 
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