Rustic No-Knead Bread

Huge thank you to my brother for introducing me to this bread making method and where it has taken me. It yields a thick crusted bread with a firm open crumb. The options for add-ins such as rosemary-thyme are endless. Big thank you to Flavors of Spain in the Southwest for their Rustic Bread video which is invaluable for learning the techniques to make this bread. One last nod to Ken Forkish for his book on bread baking. I've linked to an Amazon list for equipment below.

The directions below are the best I could do to describe the process. The video is probably a better way to convey the steps. Here's the link to the video.
Also, here is a link to an Amazon List that contains items I use (roughly) when baking bread. For tons of easier and less equipment intensive no-knead recipes, I highly recommend Artisan Bread With Steve. His no nonsense approach is awesome.


Ingredients for two loaves
1 kg flour (King Arthur AP 11.7% gluten)
20 g salt (table not kosher/ 1.1 tablespoons)
1 g  (1/4 teaspoon) yeast
780 ml water at about 85°F (+/- 5° degrees)

1. Combine the dry ingredients in a large container (12 qt cambro) and add water. Mix by hand until all the flour is combined. Set timer for 20 minutes. Cover and set aside. 
2. Fold dough over four times at 20 minute intervals for a total of four foldings. 
3. Set the timer for 12 hours. 
4. After 12 hours, turn out dough onto a floured work surface. Divide in half and form each half into a ball as shown in the video. 
5. Place balls into floured proofing baskets or glass bowl with floured towel. Place baskets with dough into large plastic bags and twist opening to hold air and moisture. Start preheating oven with baking vessel(s) inside to 475°F. Set timer to 1 hour. 
6. Remove vessel from oven.  Turn out dough of one basket onto floured surface and transfer this to the baking vessel. Cover and return it to the oven. Set timer for 30 minutes. Place the 2nd proofing basked with dough into refrigerator to retard the proofing. If you have two vessels, put it in the 2nd one and bake alongside the first.
7. After 30 minutes, uncover the baking vessel(s) and bake for 10-15 more minutes. You can take loaf out of vessel(s) and place directly on oven rack if you want crisper crust and drier crumb. Loaf should make hollow sound when the bottom is "thumped".
8. Turn out baked loaf onto cooling rack. Cool for about 2 hours. 

Once you've made a basic white you can start adding other ingredients to enhance your loaves. Here are some I've done with success. 

Rosemary-Thyme: add one tablespoon Rosemary and about one teaspoon thyme to the just before adding the water to make the dough. 

Cheddar-jalapeño: 10 ounces of grated sharp cheddar and about 1/2 cup sliced jalapeños seeds and membranes removed. 

Savory Seeds: Add 1 teaspoon each caraway, fennel and anise seed. Toast in advance if you like. 

Olives: add a mix of coarsely sliced or chopped Kalamata and black olives. Include some rosemary if that suits your taste. 

Sourdough Bread 1

Tried a new approach to making my sourdough this weekend. Thanks to my bro for pointing me in this direction. Thanks to Jack (Bake with Jack) for excellent instruction. Still working on my final shaping before going into banneton. Otherwise this is just time and technique.

Links
Bread Recipe for Beginners Sourdough Loaf
Bread Scoring Techniques
Yeasted rustic bread that got me started baking

I followed the directions and amounts closely with a few alterations at the end to suit my equipment and preferences. The results were great. These have a very crisp crust right out of the oven, and the crumb is excellent. The crust develops terrific flavor.
In my experience, I get little to know expansion while dough is in refrigerator overnight.

What I did differently...

• Shaped one loaf for oblong baker and one for cast-iron dutch oven using oblong and round bannetons. 
• Baked one loaf in a 4.5 qt dutch oven and the other in an oblong baker. Both in oven while it pre-heated to temp then 15 more minutes.
• First baked at 450° F. Covered 15 minutes, uncovered 30 min or until brown.
• Second baked at 475° F. Covered 15 minutes, uncovered 25 min.  Starter was better prepared for second bake and yielded better oven spring. 

450°F 15 min/30 min

457°F 15 min/25 min