No-Knead Sourdough Bread: The Glorious(ly easy) Rematch

It would come as no news at all to those who know me that I am a stubborn, stubborn sort.

If something defies me, I will hammer at it until I have gotten it.  That goes for most things I have encountered so far, with the notable exception of tennis.  Notable because after having had friends and an ex-boyfriend try to teach me, owning decent rackets, and having taken a course in it, I frankly, suck at tennis still, for all I would love to play it.  But exceptions only prove the rule, and so it was that the no-knead bread that ought to be easy enough for kiddies to make, had dared to defy me.

Once.

Which, of course, resulted in frantic reading of everything I could find and alternative recipes on the internet, and interrogating bread-baking friends regarding their experiences.  And adjusting the flour/water balance some, and calculating a hydration percentage to check against something a friend had read in this very good book (Swedish, sadly no translation available – but I plan to both, get it and post recipes, so rejoyce!).  And, obviously, more baking.

And boy, did that make a difference!

The bread rose, and it puffed up further in the oven, and the crust crackled gratuitously as it cooled on the rack when it came out – and the crumb… it was truly impressive, just the right amount of moist chewiness and large and well-spaced holes.  This, this is what I had been going after in that previous attempt!  Moreover, I had used 2 teaspoons of dried (and pretty well pounded in a mortar) culinary lavender in the dough, so the aroma was utterly amazing.

If you haven’t ever used lavender in baking, I would really urge you to try – just please, for the love of little green apples, get the culinary-grade one.  You don’t want a mouthful of soap with your bread, and that is what you would be getting if you tried using something out of a potpourri sachet or something intended for a bath preparation!  But, I digress.

Now, after having made all the adjustments, it is a truly lazy-sofa-dweller-easy recipe for gorgeous bread, and the best part is that if you have a sourdough starter, it is also a completely painless, really novice-proof method for sourdough breadmaking.  One that is, arguably, easier than making bread with regular yeast and other methods.  Now, do I have your attention?

If you make it with sourdough starter, it will also keep like a sourdough.  Which is to say it neither molds, nor goes tough outrageously for several days when kept unwrapped, with just the cut side covered in foil, or in one of those neat bread bags that I do not have.  So not only is this easy, it is a good way to make bread that is not in a hurry to go off, making it a good option when you count pennies and do not want to waste what you have bought.  In this case, that is just flour and salt and the optional lavender – sourdough starter, while not free, only needs feeding about once a month if kept in the fridge, so it is virtually free as well.

Behold, the glorious remains of the no-knead bread!

Since my camera was not at home when the bread was cut open originally, and there was daylight around, it was photographed two or three days later, which has done it really no harm!

So, to the recipe (minimal as it is), which is this time NOT adapted from any website, nor do I agree with the original New York Times no-knead bread article – neither about proportions, the time to raise it, nor about the whole proofing-in-towel idea, which is frankly asking for a stuck-dough disaster.

The idea, however, is downright brilliant!

You will need:

• A bowl, a dough spatula, a dutch oven or clay baker or a bottom of a cast-iron casserole and a large steel bowl to cover it (for baking – do NOT preheat the bowl if using).
• To get the pretty stripes and domed shape, a banetton is really helpful.  I imagine you could also raise this bread on a sheet of floured baking parchment or a silpat (non-stick baking mat), and it would turn out fairly decent too.
• If using a banetton, you will need a bit of wheat bran or rye flour or whatever it is you use to powder it before using it for bread to avoid sticking.  I used wheat bran this time.

• Sourdough starter (about 50g, bubbling and awake).  I feed mine with some rye and some wheat flour, it appears to like the combo best, but a pure wheat one will be juuuuust fine!
• 475g bread flour.  I will experiment more with various flours, but pure white bread flour (about 11-12% protein) works fine.
• 1.5-1.75 teaspoon salt.  Iodized table salt works fine, though you can go fancier.  I couldn’t be bothered to grind my sea salt so that is what I used.
• 3.5dl (350ml or 0.35L) cold water.
• 2 teaspoons dried herb of your choice (lavender, oh yes, make it lavender if you have some!), pounded to soft shreds in a mortar.  Bashing is therapeutic you know!  I would say fresh would work too, just make it an even tablespoon then and chop finely instead of pounding.

• Note:  I use a 100% hydration starter so it can be counted as 25g flour and 25g water.  This brings us to 375ml water and 500g flour.  375/500*100=75% hydration.  If you want to adjust the size of the dough, keep the math in mind.  If you just want to use the recipe, it’s a useful thing to remember but not necessary as the quantities are already written above.

What you do:

• Put flour, salt, and any seasoning if using (lavender in my case) into a bowl.  Swirl with a dry whisk to mix.
• Whisk your sourdough starter into your cold water in another bowl.  Trust me you want to do this and not skip this step – since there is barely any mixing, left alone kneading in this method, you want to distribute the starter well into the dry ingredients from the start.  So whisk whisk till it’s all murky water and no large starter blobs clinging to bottom of bowl.
• Pour the water+starter mix into the dry ingredients and stir with a wooden spoon, silicone spatula or whatever.  It will be shaggy and not appear too wet.  Keep stirring and poking it till most of the flour is incorporated.  Or you can cover it and let it sit 10 min to soak through and then stir a bit, pushing bits of dough down the sides of the bowl if any get stuck there.
• Cover with plastic wrap (clingfilm), or put the entire bowl into a plastic bag and seal with a clip.  Put in non-too-cold place in your kitchen.  Doesn’t have to be very warm (don’t stick it on the radiator, but say half a meter from it is good, or on a counter).  Don’t get hung up on temperature as long as your kitchen isn’t freezing cold.
• Leave for about 8-12 hours.  If you do not intend to bake it the same day, leave out for 6-8 hours and then stick the bowl in the refrigerator till the next day.  If your dough was refrigerated, give it about an hour to come to room temperature the day after and then go to next step.
• Flour a board or surface generously and poke the dough out of the bowl onto it.  It will be somewhat sticky but it will not be liquid and it will not actually get stuck to anything.  Or shouldn’t.  It will flatten out some under its own weight.  Flour your hands and sprinkle the top of the dough with a bit of flour too, and do a single stretch-and-fold.
• Powder the top of the folded dough with a bit more flour, cover it with the plastic wrap you used on the bowl (unless it is wet then get a new piece), and leave it be for 30 minutes or so.
• Sprinkle the banetton with wheat bran, or flour a baking parchment/mat.  Pick up your dough, lightly shape it into a ball with your hands, and rest it seam-side down if using banetton, but seam side up if you are using baking parchment or a mat.
• Cover with a towel and allow to rise for 1.5 hours or until approximately 1.5-2 times the size.  About an hour into the rise, pop your dutch oven, pan or clay baker into the oven and begin preheating it to 250C  (yes, that high).
• When the dough is ready and oven is preheated (read this post about safety and handling of really hot cookware for baking!), invert the banetton onto a piece of baking parchment or gently slide the dough off the mat onto baking parchment right-side up (silicone mats are not rated for the sort of temperature we are talking here).
• Take the hot dish out of the oven USING THICK MITTS! and place the baking parchment with dough on it inside.  Edges sticking out are not a problem.  Cover with preheated lid, or the upside-down bowl if using.  Stick back into the oven.
• Bake for 30 minutes covered, then remove the lid or bowl (latter may need a bit of help with a spatula stuck under an edge to lift), reduce heat to 190-200C and bake for a further 15-20 minutes uncovered until the bread is no longer pale.
• Remove from oven and out of the baking dish and cool on rack for 2 hours minimum before cutting.

Trust me, the wait (and lack of effort) is worth it.

Cooking From Scratch :: How To Shop

My wonderful other half has returned from Canada, and appears to have lost our camera.  Now, I love him anyway, with camera or without (not to mention the fact that he’d bought me a really fancy large bottle of Canadian maple syrup and a box of maple fudge – fudge which I will have to try to replicate at home.  I must, for I am not sure that I can live without it any longer, and we’ve only been reacquainted for one short night!), but for the moment my ability to photograph food is somewhat limited.  No, don’t blame him, transatlantic flights make everyone (I’ve ever heard of or from) brainless.  I’m just glad I got him back in one piece!  If the airline won’t find our camera, a new one can easily be bought.

In the meantime, you get yet another list-post.  Why?  Because I’ve been too busy to cook anything fancy (though ok, I did make that millionaire’s shortbread, but I will have to repeat it to make sure the recipe works with all the tweaks before I post it!), and because I’ve wanted to write this one for a while.

I have a Jewish thing with bargains.  This includes everything from utility companies to shoes, and, of course, food.

Fillet cut of Norwegian salmon

Now, wanting to get a bargain does not mean I would compromise on quality – after all, buying something cheap for cheap is no kind of bargain at all.  That’s so against my religion and philosophy on the subject, it is not even funny – but on the other hand, there are things, mostly what would be considered luxury food items, which in my opinion (unless you are allergic to them, or hate them with a passion) should always be purchased when and if they are seen on sale.

The reasons why that is so vary, but most of them have to do with things that keep, things that are typically expensive, and therefore in general, to improving the quality of what I eat while minimizing food budget.  The list is by no means exclusive of other things you may consider necessity and to be always bought for you, but as always, I give mine as a guideline and an idea, not a rule set in stone.

So, here’s the list of things I always buy if I see them on sale:

Salmon filet, fresh – by fresh, I mean not frozen, and not more than 1 day old (as in delivered to the store the day before purchase).  Salmon is not on sale often, not even in Sweden, and it freezes amazingly well in plastic-bagged portions.  It is healthy, good to eat in any shape from raw to marinated to salted (gravad) to broiled, grilled or pan-fried, to soup, or really whatever.  Most versatile fish in terms of cooking methods, it is fantastic with nearly any sort of marinade and spices, and it’s rich in Omega-3 oils to boot.  While not exactly expensive, it is nevertheless not cheap, and thus whenever you do see it cheap, it should be bought.  It keeps for months in a below -18°C freezer, and defrosts easily either in bottom of the fridge overnight, or in a bowl of cold water if quick defrost is needed.  Bonus to freezing it and keeping it frozen – 2 days at -18°C or below, and you can defrost and eat as suchi or sushimi or make gravad lax.  Deep freeze eliminates certain types of pathogens which otherwise may be in the fish.

Large raw (uncooked) prawns or shrimp, fresh or frozen – the either-or situation here is because they are biologically distinct, but gastronomically interchangeable, and both delicious and high in protein and microelements, like most seafood.  Be they fresh or frozen, I recommend keeping them in the freezer, since they go off very quickly if refrigerated and keep near-forever when frozen to below -18°C.  Fresh prawns freeze just fine portioned up in plastic bags, and frozen ones are usually individually frozen so that you can keep the bag in the freezer and take them out as many as you like at a time.

Good-quality bacon.  And Jewish or not, I don’t bother with Kosher (I’ll take the philosophy and leave the dogma, thank you very much!), and I simply love, adore, worship bacon.  Streaky for me, whatever floats your boat for you.  The reason I mention good-quality specifically, is that inexpensive bacon is often on sale, and is well… inexpensive.  And good quality bacon or pancetta 1 – keeps forever in freezer (or even a chill part of fridge if you have a meat compartment in the bottom), and 2 – can be a quick base for so many delicious things, either as a flavor addition (like to mushroom risotto or a root veg soup or… you name it!), or as a meat component of a dish in its own right.  Or, barring all, a good BLT sandwich, which is the ultimate homemade comfort food, simply requires good thick-sliced bacon.  In short, you want to have this at home.  Yes, you do.

Kalamata (or other) olives in vinegar or brine – canned or jarred.  Or olives in general if you dislike kalamata, but I adore them, and therefore specify so.  Green manzanilla ones as well.  Unopened olives last essentially forever (or a couple of years at least), and they (olives) are not cheap if they are good quality.  On sale = buy.

Dry salami – or any similar cured sausage by another name – whole, unsliced, still in the form of a dry, non-refrigerated sausage.  These keep for months in refrigerator, and longer in the freezer if you are worried.  Again, generally expensive but as they are used in large quantities in our household (we are rather antipasti-happy for lunch or any sort of meal), they are to me, worth buying if I can get them for less money and they will get eaten eventually.

Saffron, threads – the most expensive spice in the world is, by definition, always expensive.  However, a tiny pinch of this goes a long way, and it is absolutely amazing.  If you have never had saffron, try, and if you have, you’ll know the heady, rich aroma and just a few threads (crushed and sprinkled in) add a new dimension to soups, seafood, risotto, baked goods (oh yes!), cream desserts, and much more.  Also, unlike most dry spices (see below), saffron keeps very well so long as it is stored in an airtight jar.

Parmigiano Reggiano (or other hard cheese such as romano, gran moravia, grana padano, etc.).  This keeps forever in the fridge (we are talking months).  It is usually expensive, but sometimes you can buy it in larger chunks for less per kilo, and it is very very much worth it.  I shred this into pasta sauces, on top of pasta, into soups, on top of salads and any vegetables I’m roasting.  Even at full price, hard cheese is a bargain in terms of flavor vs tiny amount of it needed to impart it, and if you can get it on sale (and don’t already have a huge chunk, or do have space in freezer), do so.

On the other side of the equation are the things which should only be bought if you are going to use them soon, as they do not keep forever (even if some people think they do):

Tea and coffee – unless the coffee is vacuum-packed (in which case it keeps ok till opening), neither tea nor coffee keep very well, and taste best as fresh as possible.  Therefore, while finding a good tea for not too much money seems like a bargain, if you are like me and own a whole shelf of teas, you should consider carefully whether it will get used before it goes stale – or whether it’s best to finish what you have before buying this one.

Ground dry spices – the majority of ground spices do not keep beyond 1-2 years.  I can’t count the times I’d been asked to cook at a friend’s house (yes, they all know I can be counted on for that…), have opened their cabinets to find a store of sad, dusty glass jars full of unidentifiable grey flakes or powders.  The owners usually couldn’t tell me how old those were, or shrugged and said “…old”, to which I invariably suggested putting it all (or most) down the garbage and investing in a pepper mill and maybe 1-2 other jars of what they’d use.  An exception to this rule is salt with spice(s) mixed in – presence of salt tends to preserve the flavor longer, especially if kept in an airtight jar.

There are probably more things which ought to go on this list, or a similar seasonal one (which I think I should write seeing how we are almost done with fall, but winter is about to begin), but I think this is a good start and a year-round inspiration (at least to me it is!).

So, do you have an always-buy list?  And what sorts of things are on it?  Please do share, I’d love to hear!