The Adventures of Sourdough Starter and the No Knead Bread

Week 6 Report: Pizza. Not as good as previous weeks, but it looked better than previous weeks.

I've been reading a lot lately about the No-Knead Bread, or No-Time Bread on food blogs everywhere. So when my co-worker mentioned she had had a dinner party and made bread with some sourdough starter, I pounced. She gave me some of her sourdough starter (which she also obtained from another co-worker (one who remains anonymous to me) on April 28th, and I've been trying to bake bread to make use and keep it alive every week. One thing that I think disadvantages the "greatness" of my attempts at the No Knead Bread is that I don't have a heavy, cast-iron covered pot. I've been using a casserole dish with foil on top (something that needs to be sprayed well, because as I found out on my first attempt during week 1, the coveted crust attached itself to the aluminum foil).

Let me recap my breadmaking trials and tribulations from the past couple weeks.

Week 1: I find instructions online on how to make the Jim Lahey's phenom No Knead Bread (http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/08/dining/08mini.html) and also how to incorporate the sourdough starter. I try and come back with not-so-stellar results: semi-impressive texture, weird twang, and so-so crust.

Week 2: I try the bread again. Better taste. Still not impressive.

Week 3: I get lazy and just feed the starter (dump 1/2 -3/4 of it, add 1/2 cup flour, 1/2 cup water)

Week 4: I find "Notes from the Vegan Feast Kitchen" and get inspired to make pizza dough. The dough is really wet, and I just dump it half-assed on the pan with some spinach on top. Great sourdough taste, good texture. Yum!
See: http://veganfeastkitchen.blogspot.com/2008/03/5-minute-no-knead-yeast-bread-and.html

Week 5: see week 3

Week 6: The only thing I did different was add more flour to the dough after it rose to make it more manageable. I have been trying to figure out how every no-kneader has worked with handling the dough after it rises. Mine have always been so wet and sticky, sticking to everything it touches! So I added more flour, worked it flat like a pizza and baked for 10 minutes @ 500 F.

The crust was a different color, beigey-white...

Well, tune in sometime, I'll definitely post my trials in the upcoming weeks.

Jim Lahey's No-Knead Bread
3 cups all-purpose or bread flour, more for dusting
¼ teaspoon instant yeast
1¼ 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.

Yield: One 1½-pound loaf.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/08/dining/081mrex.html