That’s better. As discussed in the original post, I struggled a little with the no-knead recipe printed in Jim Lahey’s book. But following the updated version on his site, which specifies covering the bowl with plastic wrap and greasing it first, eliminated most of the problems. I omitted the corners I cut last time, using bread flour and a heavy cast iron pot this time, all of which resulted in a perfect second rise and a beautiful, browned, healthy-looking loaf of bread.
Real, totally awesome bread, that I actually made. I won’t be over this for a while.
I do have one recommendation that will save you some stress. Don’t let the bread rise on the towel for the second round. I floured the hell out of the towel and the dough still stuck. Yours will stick. Perhaps cover it with a well-floured towel, but let it rise on a floured plate, cutting board or better yet, in that oiled bowl again.
And, as this is follow-up “class“, please leave your results, experience and hopefully, your links to your own trials on your blog in the comments on the original post, so we can all benefit from your learning too. For instance, Monica at sweetspot.ca is not a huge fan of this recipe, she prefers Cook’s Illustrated’s no-knead method, and Tonya has a tip about how to handle that potentially-messy second rise and a very savoury spin on this bread too.
The baking academy is open tomorrow with a brand new lesson. Come back to check it out. If you’re not scared of a little butter…
