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SubscribeMonday, September 10, 2007
No Knead Bread: so easy a 4-yr old can make it!
It’s been almost a year since NY Times unveiled the secret to the revolutionary No-Knead Bread. And while fads come and go, this certainly is a recipe that has transcended the fickleness of foodies. It’s time to revisit the bread…. as many of us have been brainwashed by this summer’s ice cream! We’ve made close to 60 loaves since last November and I’ve got to tell you, it is still one of our family’s favorite things to eat.
I firmly believe that every person should bake a loaf of bread at least once in their lifetime. Granted, it’s easy to just drive to your local bakery to pick up a loaf, but have you ever experienced the intense joy of smelling freshly baked bread coming from your very own oven?! Foodgasmic eyes-roll-to-back-of-head, soul softly moaning as you tug a piece of warm, pillowy mound gently with your teeth. In case you’ve not heard of No Knead Bread….let me tell you about it. Baking bread does sound intimidating…all that kneading and loaf-shaping business is best left to pros. But what if I told you that you don’t even have to knead or shape, that it is so easy my little son makes it.
No Knead Bread recipe so insanely brilliant – no sticky fingers, no doughy mess, no intricate measuring, no complicated kneading. Totally hands-off. The crust is thin, crisp and snaps as you cut into the loaf. The interior of the bread holey, chewy, airy and light. If bread could sing, this would be an angelic choir. In Dolby digital surround sound. Now, with that, how could you not try No Knead Bread? It only takes 3 minutes to mix and a wooden spoon. You can’t even boil spaghetti in 3 minutes!
So, without further blabbering, I’ve pimped out my son to demonstrate that baking No Knead Bread is so simple a 4-year old can do it.
Of course I had to bribe him with 2 temporary tattoos. Cheap labor. 10 cents apiece. There is nothing that says, “I’m a kick-ass no knead bread baker” more than a tattoo of a killer whale. Move over Bourdain, here comes someone cuter…
So, let’s start. 3 cups of bread flour in a big bowl.
secret: I sometimes use 1/2c whole wheat flour + 2 1/2c bread flour
1/4 teaspoon of instant yeast:
1 teaspoon of table salt
(secret: I use 3/4 tablespoon of kosher salt. Why the difference?)
Add 1-1/2 cups of lukewarm water. Sorry no pic – he dumped water before I could pick up camera. But you know what “dumping water” looks like! Stir. Use those muscles, boy. Stir like a badass-baker with whale tattoos would stir!
See? This is what it is supposed to look like…a shaggy, goopy mess.
Wrap up the no knead bread dough
Give it a kiss good night and let the no knead bread dough sleep for 12-20 hours on counter or in a nice, warm, cozy place.
secret: I’ve let it sit for as little as 8 hours and it still tastes great! I did knead with wet hands just a little tiny bit to make up for the time OR you can add a touch more yeast.
After sleeping, the no knead bread dough should look like this: (better than what I look like in the morning.)
Dump out on floured surface:
Wet your hands. This will prevent the very sticky dough from sticking to your hands. If you find dough sticking to your hands, wet again. Why not flour your hands? You could, but you want to keep the flour: water ratio pretty even. Since we are adding flour to the surface, I balance it out by wetting my hands. It is the high water content that makes this bread so deliciously light and the crust very crisp. With wet hands, grab the dough and fold over all ends towards the middle. Turn dough blob over so that you get a nice, smooth, tight surface. Try to tuck the dough ends under to get that taut surface.
Gently move dough onto a floured towel. Cover. Let nap for 2 hours. It should puff up nicely and double in size.
secret: When I run out of time, I sometimes let it sit only for 1 hour! If you let it nap in a tall, narrow bowl (pictured below), the dough rises nice and tall, about 6″ high. If you leave it out on the counter – that is fine too, the dough will rise up and also out….making a flatter No Knead Bread loaf, about 3″-4″ high.They will both taste the same, just looks a little different.
A half hour before the nap ends, we will need to begin preheating your baking vessel. Slip a covered pot into the oven. Crank up the heat to 450F. Let it pre-heat for 30 minutes or longer.
The perfect pot for No Knead Bread
Let’s talk about the pot. So, you know you’re going to put the pot into a very very hot oven. Make sure that the pot can withstand 450F. Generally, if the pot is cheap, flimsy, has plastic handles and a remnant from your poor college days, it’s probably not going to be safe to use in that hot of an oven. Use a 5-qt or larger cast iron, ceramic, Pyrex, stainless steel or enamel pot.
Just check your pot collection – look for large, heavy, no plastic.
Round, oblong – doesn’t matter. Should be at least 4″ tall. I use my Le Creuset emameled cast-iron. Yes, my cover has a thick plastic knob – but I did call Le Creuset’s customer service and they said while their literature says safe to 400F, it is still fine at 450F. Now, I don’t know whether the gal who talked with me really had the authority to tell me such a thing….but after over 30 loaves, my pot is still unblemished. After pre-heating, remove the hot pot from oven. Now plop this wobbly dough into the hot pot. Doesn’t matter how it lands – actually, the messier it lands, the more “rustic” it looks. Shake pot a bit to even out the dough.
secret: if you aren’t using a well-seasoned cast iron pan, you can put a piece of parchment paper in the pot first so that the No Knead Bread won’t stick to the bottom.
“It looks like a belly button!“ ~Andrew
Cover and put back into the oven. Bake covered for 30 minutes. Photo below is peeking through oven door after 30 minutes. Then uncover and bake further for 15-20 minutes. To check – you can either tap the bread (should sound low, hollow, like a drum) or take its temperature (should be 210F in middle).
Here is No Knead Bread just after baking. See? I told you that “messy” turns out “rustic!” Kids- don’t you DARE tell me that your toy room looks “rustic!!!” GO CLEAN YOUR ROOM!
Remove and let cool. The No Knead Bread really does sing – the crust crackles as it cools. Listen to it!
secret: Because the bread has such high water content- the crust will not stay crisp forever. If you aren’t eating soon, you can re-crisp the crust by re-heating it in a 350F oven for 10 minutes.
Thats it! You will be rewarded with a thin, crunchy brown crust, large, open holes. The bread is slightly chewy, flavorful and perfect texture. Making your own bread is deeply soul satisfying, it makes me feel like I am so close to the earth. Eat with good butter – like Kerrygold or Lurpak – splurge on your butter for this loaf!
Just a little story for you: The first time Andrew and I made this bread together, I let him mix all the ingredients together the night before. We watched it bake together. When it came out of the oven, Andrew wanted to cut into it immediately. But we had to wait until it cooled. Then it was time. As I placed the tip of my knife into the bread and moved down through the crust, the snap and crunch of the crust gave way to tender, spongy body. I knew even without tasting it, that it was the most perfect loaf of bread that I have ever made. Andrew and I slathered butter on our slices. We sat on the kitchen floor, my hands still with traces of flour, and had a wonderful moment of just enjoying bread that we made together. Just like his Po-Po, Andrew loves bread. Each time, he would come ask, More bread please with arms outstretched. I would place a warm buttered slice in his small hands – he cradled it so gently, carefully ran to the stairs, never taking his eyes off the prize. He sat on the third step and ate his bread, wiggling his toes between bites. Three times he did this. Yes, this is my son. Perhaps one day when he is older, he will read this recipe and story and remember how his Mommy taught him how to eat homemade bread – with lots of butter and with eyes closed, totally savoring every single bite.
No Knead Bread Recipe
No Knead Bread Recipe is adapted from Mark Bittman of NY Times who got it from Sullivan Street Bakery. When the recipe first came out, it was the blogging community who took the bread to new heights, especially Rose Levy Beranbaum, author of The Bread Bible. I followed Rose's experiments through the weeks and learned from her recipe adjustments and the why's of how this bread works.
Ingredients:
3 cups bread flour (I like Harvest King bread flour)
1/4 teaspoon instant yeast
1 teaspoon fine table salt (or 3/4 tablespoon of kosher salt)
1 1/2 cups warm waterCovered pot (five-quart or larger cast iron, Pyrex, ceramic, enamel...something that can go into a 450F oven.)Directions:
1. Mix dough: The night before, combine all ingredients in a big bowl with a wooden spoon until the dough just comes together. It will be a shaggy, doughy mess. Cover with plastic wrap and let sit 12-20 hours on countertop.
2. Shape & preheat: The dough will now be wet, sticky and bubbly. With a wet spatula, dump the dough on a floured surface. Fold ends of dough over a few times with the spatula and nudge it into a ball shape. You can use your hands if you like, just keep your hands wet so that the dough does not stick. Generously dust a cotton towel (not terrycloth) with flour. Set dough seam side down on top of towel. Fold towel over the dough. Let it nap for 2 hours. When you've got about a half hour left, slip your covered pot into the oven and preheat to 450F.
3. Bake: Your dough should have doubled in size. Remove pot from oven. Holding towel, turn over and dump wobbly dough into pot, using your hands to get the dough off the towel. Doesn't matter which way it lands. Shake to even dough out. Cover. Bake 30 minutes. Uncover, bake another 15-20 minutes or until the crust is beautifully golden and middle of loaf is 210F. Remove and let cool on wired rack. If not eating right away, you can re-crisp crust in 350F oven for 10 minutes. Best way to eat it? Smear a warm slice with some good butter (Kerrygold and Lurpac are both found in your grocery stores, usually on top shelf)
See the kids make German Oven Pancakes 
Also try: 
Dip bread in Olive Oil and Dukkah
Dip in Bagna Cauda
Sop up juices in Killer Cajun Shrimp
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Wow! I saw this post on friday and was thinking about making this bread all day at work! So I baked it today and I was amazed!! Thank you for sharing and the wonderful pictures. No just have to decide what we are going to have along side of it for dinner!
Loved this bread…so easy…so tasty. Thanks so much for oh too simple bread recipe. Used sea salt instead and used maybe a little more iodized salt but less than kosher. Love your website, come so often I think I’m OCD about visiting.
Hi Jaden. After almost a year of procrastinating, I finally made the recipe. In a display of my dazzling mathematical prowess, I put in 1 7/8 cups instead of 1 5/8 cups of water (I had the original Mark Bittman recipe handy; should have printed out the one you tweaked). I let the dough rise for almost 22 hours, shaped (ok, more like patted, really, since it was too wet to shape), then let rest for almost 3 hours while we went for late-night groceries. Slipped it into my pre-heated pot and let it bake 30 minutes covered and another 15 minutes uncovered. The bread came out a little gummy but had a terrific crust and aroma. Still, not bad for a measurement-challenged baker =) We ate the last of it for breakfast today and I will try it again this week with less water. When I made this, the skies were overcast and the weather was hot and humid. Mila, I live in the Philippines where it’s hot and humid most of the time; I would love to read about your experience. What would you have done differently?
Hello Jaden,
So sweet of you to invite me to try this. Actually, I have seen this recipe in so many blogs that I am dying to make it. I have two problems that prevent me.
I don’t have an oven! Yeah yeah, I know you have totally judged me by now but let me make an effort at a defense. I stay in a bachelors apt in a city called Hyderabad in India, where kitchens don’t come with in-built ovens and stoves and (hahaha) dishwashers. So all I have is a toaster, which can be doubled up as an oven to bake cookies but that’s about it. It does not generate enough heat to bake bread
I am working on this, I promise. And I will bake bread atleast once in my life, as you say 
What? You still want me to give the second reason why I can’t do this? Err..
DS- as long as you’re not a stalker!
Nathan- I actually use 1.5 cups…knowing that I wet my hands while handling dough will add a bit more water. I live in FL where its pretty humid (but I do have the air conditioner on inside which makes a different). Next time, try 1.5 cups of water and go from there. Also, do you have a thermometer? Take the temp of the bread, which should be 210F. Good luck!
Nags- lol! Well, then I suggest making friends with people who have ovens!
Will certainly do, my gorgeous yeasty muse =) I will also use my 5-qt oval Le Creuset instead of the round 10-qt monster I used the first time around. My first loaf didn’t rise high enough and I was looking forward to a taller loaf. I’ve got a silly Williams-Sonoma thermometer with 2 probes and (very annoying) pre-set temperatures for roasting meat. Still, I guess it will do with a little fiddling. You know what they say about beggars and being choosy… =)
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Amazing. Such a wonderful bread that required so little effort! This is an instant classic. I’m glad I finally heard about it.
Topslakr
I just had my first bread baking experience and now I’m addicted! And not just to this delicious bread either
OMG that’s my couch! LOL! Now if only that was my dutch oven…
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Hi Jaden,
I’ve tried making the KNB, however the mixture that slept for 20 hour, it’s watery that I can’t even hold it as a dough at all.
I used the exactly amount of every ingredient, does it got to do with the flour?
My mouth is watering! I’m tempted to get a loaf of No Knead Bread sleeping, and then mix up a loaf of regular ol’ bread to tide me over. Looks delicious!
Looks easy and tasty! Definitely going to try this.
I whipped this up yesterday…super easy..easiest bread ever~! I got up early, did the finals and baked it so it was warm for breakfast. Fantastic! This must be the easiest bread in history. My wife and I LOVE a crusty “holey” bread. Very rustic and sooo good. Thanks for sharing this one.
hey fyi everyone i always use the ceramic bit from my crock pot. works like a charm!
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Thanks for reminding me about this bread. I wanted to try it last year when the recipe first appeared, but my oven was too flaky. New oven + new Mario Batali dutch oven + your inspiration = DELICIOUS!
Seems like bread always has a story. Love yours, too.
Thanks so much for the witty humor, fun story, cute kid pics, oh and the recipe too. I so have to make this as soon as I have a pot with a lid that will work. Thanks for the inspiration.
thanks for sharing such a great recipe and i do hope i could do this wid my kid
I loved your story. Very heartwarming and funny!
I have made no-knead bread 4 times now, and I’m in love.
After it’s no longer oven-fresh, it makes the best toast on the planet.
Having read a recipe from King Arthur’s Baker’s catalog , I incorporated some of their instructions as well as my own to make the recipe even easier (if you can believe that).
I skip towels altogether, and do everything on a lightly floured board.
I do all the manipulating with a silicone spatula or bench scraper (no hands).
When it’s time to do the second rise, I put a lightly oiled bowl over the cutting board (after brushing off surrounding excess flour) and just turn the whole thing upside down and let the dough fall into the bowl. When it’s time to bake, I sprinkle corn meal on top of the loaf, and a little into the bottom of the pot, and just dump the bowl into the pot. It always comes out a little crooked (some corn meal on one side of the top, some oil on the other side) but the results after baking are great. I can’t tell what was ever on the surface.
This is becoming a weekend tradition for me and my family.
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Mmmmm.. That bread looks very good… and with a little bit of improvisation on the recipe.. I’m thinking I could even make it here at college.
mmmmmmm… I shall have to try it, once this poor college student amasses enough money for such things as a bag of bread flour and a packet of yeast….
Is this sort of like a really mild version of sourdough bread- rising for 22 hours or so reminds me of making sourdough…. (which I have attempted several times at home…. but it never came out quite right… either good flavor but too dense…or fluffy and no sourdough flavor at all…. do you have some blog post about adventures with THAT?)
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Hi Jaden,
I love your site. I am lucky to have discovered it tonight. I like your recipes and I will try cook some of them one day.
You must be on Food Network. Your young and beautiful, have a great personality, and I am pretty sure you will make it big. Pursue your dreams and good luck to you and your family.
Chris
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Wonderful Blog! I know you were worried about your Plastic knob on your Le Creuset pot. If you cover the knob with tin foil it will deflict the heat from the knob. It should last forever! The knob should be made of cast metal. But, whatever… Check out my blog… Regards, David
I love love LOVE this recipe! Hope you try it and enjoy.
lynn asked if a dutch oven would be alright. It occurs to me that this is a dutch oven recipe, except that you bake it further after uncovering. Aren’t dutch ovens designed to bake on a stove top?
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Love that no-knead bread. I enjoy making variations like walnut and garlic. I always use 50% whole-wheat flour. Anything goes with this simple recipe.
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Hmm, the idea is good, but wouldn’t it be easier to spend 15 minutes kneading then leave for an hour or so and do it again? Most people waste 15 mins on a coffee break!
Sounds like such a cool thing to do with your kids !
Thanks for a great article, Jaden! Your son has the face of an angel, like my granddaughter.
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Your son is just so adorable, my boys also like to help me out in the kitchen. I love your serving suggestions.
I just made my first loaf of this bread and the whole family loved it. I was disappointed at first because in the AM the dough had risen very little but, it was quite cool in my kitchen so, I placed the dough by the wood stove all day and by the afternoon it did rise and get bubbles. I then made a ball and placed it a towel to let it rise but, by then it was late and I was too tired to bake it that night so I let it sit again all night. I thought it may rise too much but, it looked fine when I got up. I baked it in a covered Pyrex dish and it came out perfect. In all it was about a 36 hour affair to bake it! Then it only took about 10 minutes for us to eat it! This bread really is fool proof!
Another thing I wanted to mention. About 10 years ago I saw a Swiss woman I know make a no-knead bread and it stuck in my mind all these years until I finally looked on the internet the other day and found this recipe. Is it possible that this method has been around in Europe for a long time? I think she did it with whole wheat flour. In fact she even ground her own flour! But, that’s a whole other story. I’d like to know if anyone has tried this with whole wheat flour? I plan to do so and will let you know how it goes.
After reading all these rave reviews, I was eager to make this bread. I started yesterday afternoon and pulled my first loaf out of the oven this afternoon… followed the recipe to the letter.
The crust was excellent but the inside of the bread was exceptionally moist, and as the day progessed it became what I can only describe as rubbery. Has anyone else had this experience?
I didn’t find the bread particularly flavorful, but it wasn’t bad. I just expected a lot more from a bread that has been so touted all across the web. There was nothing not to like about it, but not too much to rave about, except for the ease of making it. I’m sorry to be so unimpressed–perhaps something went awry with my first effort. I find it to be almost too moist… to the point of being more like an untoasted english muffin–sort of limp and rubbery and without much flavour.
Have I done something wrong? If others have made this bread and not had these impressions, I’d love to know that I simply did something wrong.
Hello again. I guess I should describe how I made it.
I used the ingredients as specified in the amended recipe, meaning I adjusted the water to 1.5 cups. I’m in Australia, so I used the Australian self-rising flour and “instant” yeast, but I imagine (as a former American) they’re about the same.
It’s spring here and the weather’s warm, easily over 70 degrees, but that shouldn’t be an issue. It rained all day so the humidity was a bit high.
I used an LC pot–oval, 4-quart–and heated it for 30 mins at 500F in the oven before I put the bread in. Everything else as specified in the recipe. The only thing I noticed that didn’t seem right was that the dough didn’t double in volume during the second rising (after the folding). It seemed at pretty much the same volume it was at when I took it out of the bowl after the first 18 hours.
So that’s about it. What I have is a decent-looking loaf of bread that leaves a bit to be desired taste-wise. Supermarket bread tastes better than this. What a disappointment!
Any advice?
Jaden,
I have made this bread several times now with great success thanks to your great instructions. I however, have this intense urge to put more into it (ie, OLIVES). I am afraid the saltiness of the olives will affect the rising of the dough if i put them in from the start. Do you have any suggestions as to when i can add additional ingredients without messing with the integrity of the dough?
Noush- Olives! great idea. Stir the olives in the dough after its long overnight nap, right before you shape it into a ball.
Daily Optic- sorry for long delay in answering your comment – I’m in Shanghai at the moment and finally got Internet access after 4 days on the Yangtze River! There could be a number of things that went wrong with your bread…but I suspect that you had 2 problems – the yeast and the type of flour. If your bread did not rise during its second nap, you may not have good yeast. Yeast expires (those little buggers don’t live that long) Chk the expiration date on your package. The other problem is your flour. Usually, self rising flour is used for making biscuits. It has a lower protein content salt and baking powder mixed into it already. You might want to try the no knead bread with bread flour (high protein content = high gluten = good bread structure) next time!
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I have baked a loaf a day since the original NYT article came out. Became a proselytizer as I gifted all my friends and relatives with loaves and the recipe with encouragement to look at the video on the NYT website. YouTube has picked up the video-hopefully it stays for years and isn’t yanked because of copyright infringement.
So basic and rewarding. My family can’t wait to cut into the loaf while it cools. We’ll never go back to store or even bakery bread again.
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