Learning to Cook - Stove top and oven

[BigO-in-Ohio]

How has the bread been like for you? I’ve never come across a form of no-knead bread that didn’t turn out like dense, cooked dough - rather than actual bread. Then there are the chucklefucks that call their recipes ‘no-knead’, but they instead do ten minutes of folding - which is kneading, you utter muppets.

I’ve been having difficulties with proofing lately, due to how cold the house is, so I’ve been wanting to try a cold fermented bread in the fridge.

I have had a few loaves that weren’t so good, but I found that chef John’s recipe is reliable. The complaint I see most in the comments is that the dough is a sticky mess. It is wet dough - which, when done with good technique, yields a chewy moist inside and a crisp crust reminiscent of a good baguette. So I found that a light touch is best, not being stingy with the flour after the second rise when you transfer it to your silpat liner. You don’t so much knead it as shape it, moving it around with plenty of flour on your hands, gradually working in enough flour so that it holds its shape- round or oval as you choose. You could call it folding but it’s really easy compared to kneading. Some people like a dough scraper to deal with wet dough, I have experimented with milk bread and regular white loaves but this one is my go to bread because it’s so easy.

No-Knead Country Bread

For a family-friendly project that takes little effort, try Chef John's no-knead country loaf recipe that produces a perfect texture every time.

www.allrecipes.com

Good luck!

 

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How has the bread been like for you? I’ve never come across a form of no-knead bread that didn’t turn out like dense, cooked dough - rather than actual bread. Then there are the chucklefucks that call their recipes ‘no-knead’, but they instead do ten minutes of folding - which is kneading, you utter muppets.

I’ve been having difficulties with proofing lately, due to how cold the house is, so I’ve been wanting to try a cold fermented bread in the fridge.

If you were trying no-knead recipes while it was cold in your house then that's likely the problem. You're basically relying on autolysis to rearrange the gluten for you instead of doing it by hand, but that slows down massively when the dough is cold. If you do it in the fridge it usually takes like 3-5 days, so if it's fridge temperature in your house...things will go wrong.

 

[Tarka Dhal]

I have had a few loaves that weren’t so good, but I found that chef John’s recipe is reliable. The complaint I see most in the comments is that the dough is a sticky mess. It is wet dough - which, when done with good technique, yields a chewy moist inside and a crisp crust reminiscent of a good baguette. So I found that a light touch is best, not being stingy with the flour after the second rise when you transfer it to your silpat liner. You don’t so much knead it as shape it, moving it around with plenty of flour on your hands, gradually working in enough flour so that it holds its shape- round or oval as you choose. You could call it folding but it’s really easy compared to kneading. Some people like a dough scraper to deal with wet dough, I have experimented with milk bread and regular white loaves but this one is my go to bread because it’s so easy.

No-Knead Country Bread

For a family-friendly project that takes little effort, try Chef John's no-knead country loaf recipe that produces a perfect texture every time.

www.allrecipes.com

Good luck!

Thanks, I’ll give the recipe a try. Making a true French baguette with a sharp crust and fluffy crumb is my end goal. 65% hydration is as wet as I can comfortably go, so this should be fine. Although I have wanted to try making pain de cristal, which is over 100%, just to learn how you even work such a wet dough.

If you were trying no-knead recipes while it was cold in your house then that's likely the problem. You're basically relying on autolysis to rearrange the gluten for you instead of doing it by hand, but that slows down massively when the dough is cold. If you do it in the fridge it usually takes like 3-5 days, so if it's fridge temperature in your house...things will go wrong.

At the time of writing I hadn’t yet made my own no-knead bread, but the cold fermented loaf I did over the weekend was also no-knead. It turned out pretty well, although still a little underproofed - even after I had to give it a warm water bath to finish off the final rise.
I didn’t know that temperature affected autolyse time, though, which does explain why I’ve had such a hard time with my ciabattas, which have usually been my most successful loaves.

 

[ubunr9kpkk69c4ex]

I make bread using this guy's technique.

This is my favourite cooking book. It concentrates on technique instead of recipes, although it also has recipes.