Basic No-Knead Bread

Here’s my basic no-knead, long-fermented rustic bread, a round loaf, or boule. It’s an adaptation for the home kitchen of the much larger oval filone and the football-shaped pugliese sold at the Sullivan Street Bakery. Even if you’ve baked before, the process is probably nothing like what your experience would lead you to expect. For one thing, many people who bake this bread find the dough to be unusually wet. Remember that most of the water is meant to be released as steam in the covered pot, and you’ll be handling the dough very little anyway.

Don’t feel too uptight about any of this. For example, I specify that the dough should rise at room temperature, about 72°F / 22°C. (In many of the recipes, I say to put the dough in a warm, draft-free spot - same thing.) But if that’s not what you have at the moment, you’ll be okay anyway. Just pay attention to the visual cues: at the end of the first rise, the dough is properly fermented when it has developed a darkened appearance and bubbles, and long, thread-like strands cling to the bowl when it’s moved. After the second, briefer, rise, the loaf has risen sufficiently if it holds the impression of your fingertip when you poke it lightly, making an indentation about ¼ inch / ½ cm deep. It should hold that impression. If it springs back, let it rise for another 15 minutes.

Despite my own efforts to get this and all the other recipes in this book to reflect what I think is the optimal approach, conditions are going to vary from kitchen to kitchen. I hope you’ll ultimately have the confidence to experiment yourself, adjusting the ingredients and timing to your own taste and circumstances. As the journalists who’ve reported on my bread have written, even the loaves that aren’t what you’d regard as perfect are way better than fine.

On timing: this bread is incredibly simple and involves little labor, but you need to plan ahead. Although mixing takes almost no time, the first rise requires from 12 to 18 hours. Then you’ll need to shape the dough and let it rise for another 1 to 2 hours. The longer rise tends to result in a richer bread, but you need the patience and the schedule to do it. In any event, the shorter rise is acceptable too: Just pay attention to the signs of a good rise described in the recipes. A reminder: the visual cues - a bubbly surface with a darkened appearance - are key. Usually, 18 hours is optimal. (Very cold weather exception: in the dead of winter, when the dough will tend to rise more slowly, a longer period may be necessary, as much as 24 hours.)

After preheating the oven and the pot, you’ve got 30 minutes of covered baking, another 15 to 30 of uncovered baking, and about an hour of cooling. And, please, don’t gulp down that first slice. Think of the first bite as you would the first taste of a glass of wine: smell it (there should be that touch of maltiness), chew it slowly to appreciate its almost meaty texture, and sense where it came from in its hint of wheat. Enjoy it. You baked it, and you did a good job.

For UK metric measures, use the toggle at the top of the ingredients list.

Here’s my basic no-knead, long-fermented rustic bread, a round loaf, or boule. It’s an adaptation for the home kitchen of the much larger oval filone and the football-shaped pugliese sold at the Sullivan Street Bakery. Even if you’ve baked before, the process is probably nothing like what your experience would lead you to expect. For one thing, many people who bake this bread find the dough to be unusually wet. Remember that most of the water is meant to be released as steam in the covered pot, and you’ll be handling the dough very little anyway.

Don’t feel too uptight about any of this. For example, I specify that the dough should rise at room temperature, about 72°F / 22°C. (In many of the recipes, I say to put the dough in a warm, draft-free spot - same thing.) But if that’s not what you have at the moment, you’ll be okay anyway. Just pay attention to the visual cues: at the end of the first rise, the dough is properly fermented when it has developed a darkened appearance and bubbles, and long, thread-like strands cling to the bowl when it’s moved. After the second, briefer, rise, the loaf has risen sufficiently if it holds the impression of your fingertip when you poke it lightly, making an indentation about ¼ inch / ½ cm deep. It should hold that impression. If it springs back, let it rise for another 15 minutes.

Despite my own efforts to get this and all the other recipes in this book to reflect what I think is the optimal approach, conditions are going to vary from kitchen to kitchen. I hope you’ll ultimately have the confidence to experiment yourself, adjusting the ingredients and timing to your own taste and circumstances. As the journalists who’ve reported on my bread have written, even the loaves that aren’t what you’d regard as perfect are way better than fine.

On timing: this bread is incredibly simple and involves little labor, but you need to plan ahead. Although mixing takes almost no time, the first rise requires from 12 to 18 hours. Then you’ll need to shape the dough and let it rise for another 1 to 2 hours. The longer rise tends to result in a richer bread, but you need the patience and the schedule to do it. In any event, the shorter rise is acceptable too: Just pay attention to the signs of a good rise described in the recipes. A reminder: the visual cues - a bubbly surface with a darkened appearance - are key. Usually, 18 hours is optimal. (Very cold weather exception: in the dead of winter, when the dough will tend to rise more slowly, a longer period may be necessary, as much as 24 hours.)

After preheating the oven and the pot, you’ve got 30 minutes of covered baking, another 15 to 30 of uncovered baking, and about an hour of cooling. And, please, don’t gulp down that first slice. Think of the first bite as you would the first taste of a glass of wine: smell it (there should be that touch of maltiness), chew it slowly to appreciate its almost meaty texture, and sense where it came from in its hint of wheat. Enjoy it. You baked it, and you did a good job.

For UK metric measures, use the toggle at the top of the ingredients list.