We are currently in the process of relocating to the Raleigh, North Carolina region. Which means I am not in my kitchen, and I don’t have all my standard kitchen appliances and utensils. My husband was visiting this past weekend from the burgh, and I wanted to make him a home cooked meal. 

What goes better with a home cooked meal then fresh homemade bread? I realized after I bought all the ingredients, I didn’t have my stand mixer. Oh geez, no worries, I’ll make a No Knead bread. 

This recipe turned out really well without having my stand mixer. After all, that is how our great-grandmothers used to make it. 

Ingredients:

3 cups all-purpose Unbleached flour, plus more for dusting

 1/4 teaspoon yeast (active dry or instant)

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1 1/2 cups warm water, not boiling (like bath water)

1 1/2 teaspoon Honey 

Directions: 

1. Combine flour, and salt in a large bowl and wisk together. Set aside. In a small bowl place water, yeast, & honey, allow to rest for 5 minutes or until yeast proofs. After water-yeast liquid proofs (aka bubbles), using a wooden spoon stir in the water mixture into the flour blend until it is well combined.

2. In same bowl, cover the dough with clean towel and let rise at room temperature for at least 3 hours.

3. After 3 hours, the dough will appear as to doubled in size, wet with air bubbles. Transfer the dough to a heavily floured surface and sprinkle dough with 1-2 additional Tablespoons of flour. Fold the dough over about 10 times and shape into ball. 

4. At this time, Preheat the oven to 450 degrees with the Dutch-oven & lid in center of the rack.  In the same bowl, where the dough rised initially, line with parchment paper up the sides (there maybe some residual dough in the bowl, but don’t bother dirtying another pan. Place the dough on the parchment paper-lined bowl. Cut a line or two on top of the dough with a sharp knife to give a stream escape vent for the bread. Cover the dough again with towel to allow the dough to rise for a second time. Place the bowl on top of the preheating oven for about 35 minutes (the warmth from the oven will help the dough rise faster). 

5. After the 35 minutes has elapsed for the dough to rise and giving at least 35-60 minutes for the Dutch-oven to warm up in the oven. Wearing oven-gloves, carefully remove the lid from the dutch-oven and take the parchment paper on both sides of the dough and lift to place the dough and parchment paper in the hot Dutch-oven.  With oven-gloves remaining on, cover the dough with the hot lid. Decrease temperature of oven to 400 degrees and bake for 45 minutes. No peeking! 

6. Remove the Dutch-oven from the oven (always wearing oven-gloves). Remove the lid and place the dough on a wire rack to cool. Allow the bread to cool for 15-20 minutes, even though tempting to cut right away. 

Enjoy with dinner! I made a crockpot beef roast! There will be plenty of juicy beef sauce left for dipping your bread into to soak up the remaining goods.