No-Knead Peasant Bread

Why hello best BL(a)T bread!

I took this recipe straight from Genius Recipes, Food 52 and Alexandra Stafford. Food 52 is a fabulous place to cruise new genius recipes, and I have made many items from the list and loved them.  This one, though, holds a special place at our table because it is bread.  It is not the fabulous no knead artisanal loaf you will get from a Jim Lahey style bread.  No, this is softer, simpler, gentler.  It is what you would imagine a grandma making.  A grandma who can bake that is.  The bread is also a fan favorite of my kids, my youngest especially.  Her palate is not quite refined yet (come on baby, PLEASE get there) enough to appreciate a really sour and chewy sourdough say.  She loves her carbs, but she likes them squishy.  Experience tells me this is a great loaf to make for a family with little kids.  It is a shorter ferment/rise time, but there is extra yeast, so it is plenty yeasty for adults while it does not turn off littles.

See the genius recipe here. Note, I do make a 1.5 recipe so it makes two full loaves.  I didn’t want to mess around with finding two pyrex bowls close to the same size, etc.  Loaf pans seemed easier.  And we are making these to give away.  Or at least one, so the more the merrier.  The recipe below is already 1.5’d for you.  You are welcome.  Bread is better than math.

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No-Knead Peasant Bread

Yield: 2 full loaves of lovely peasant bread.  It makes wonderful sandwiches, toast, or just anytime bread. and is so easy to put together, it really is the work of minutes.

Ingredients

  • 6 Cups all purpose flour
  • 1 Tablespoon of kosher salt I use Morton because that is what we have around here
  • 1 Tablespoon of sugar
  • 1 Tablespoon and a rounded 1/4 teaspoon of yeast
  • 3 Cups warm water

Instructions

  1. Mix all of the dry ingredients together: flour, salt, sugar and yeast.  Pour in your warm water. Stir until all the flour is incorporated and behold the shaggy mess. Don’t stress. Cover it and let it sit someplace warm until it is double in size.  It should definitely look wet and full of bubbles at this point.

  2. Preheat your oven to 425 F.  Generously butter two standard size loaf pans all the way to the top and make sure you hit the rim too--this bread rises dramatically. Then take two forks, and separate and deflate your dough. Spill/lift a half of the dough into each loaf pan. The dough has a very high water content, so it will be quite sticky. I find it easiest to lift the dough and plop it into the pans. Don’t worry that it looks lumpy.  Let it sit in the pans for about 20 minutes, till it rises about even with the top/slightly over.  Put your dough into the oven for about 15 minutes, then turn down the oven to 375 F, and bake for about 15-20 minutes more.

  3. You want a golden brown top, and a crazy good aroma coming from your oven. If you take the loaf out and tilt the pan on its side till the bread falls out, you can thump lightly on the bottom and it sounds hollowish. There, it is done. You can put the bread to cool on a rack, out of the pan. BUT, don’t you dare eat it yet! Nope. You can’t. Sorry. This baby needs to rest for about 30 minutes at least. Warm bread is amazing. Hot bread is a mess. Trust me on this one.