No Knead Bread

Have you seen MY Universal Mixer?

Cute, no?

Well, as you can see it's not a Bosch. All my subtle hints about wanting a Bosch Universal Mixer have not worked. When my other hand mixer started showing signs of failing I spotted this at the local thrift shop.  Vintage when?  60's? 70? It still works although it too has trouble mixing much more than egg whites. A bread kneader this cute little appliance is not.

While at the library one day I read an article about "no knead" breads in Mother Earth News. That sounded like something I'd ought to try. My kneaded breads fail miserably.  Too crumbly, too dry, too doughy or just plain, too awful. Often times I'd think of Ellie May's cooking in the old television show, The Beverly Hillbillies. And although I had never heard of such a thing as NOT kneading bread, what did I have to lose?

You've heard that saying, "Go big or go home."  Because the recipe says you can refrigerate it up to 2 weeks and because we eat a lot of bread,  my initial experimentation into this type of bread making was with the BIG batch of the boule, 6-3-3-13:

6 cups water

3 T salt

3 T yeast

13 cups flour

Like I said, "go big or go home."

After I mixed all the ingredients I thought what container can I use that 1) has a cover and 2) will fit in the frig.

Introducing... the bread bucket.

Initial rise.

The bread bucket is a repurposed icing container I can purchase from the bakery department at a grocery store for $.50. It works like a charm. The first batch I used all white flour like the instructions say.  For subsequent batches I have used half white and half wheat and like that combination.

So what have I made?  Bread, of course.

 

Pizza dough.

Uncooked crust.  I added strips of cheese in the edges and folded them over.

Topping

Where's Arnie?

Finished product

Carmel rolls using the boule recipe for one batch and the whole wheat recipe for another batch.

Bottom of pan

Filling. 

I didn't let the butter soften enough so it was too hard to spread without making holes in the dough. That shortcoming did not present any problems with the consumption of the end product.

Ready for slicing

Ready for the oven.

Ready for consuming.

This recipe is a definite keeper. I've made the boule so often I don't need to refer to the instructions.  It is easy on the wrists also.  When I want to make bread I just cut a piece out of the bucket.  I hold the piece I just cut out up with two hands and let it stretch, put it down on a floured surface and stretch another section.  Then I roll it up and put it on the pizza stone until it reaches room temperature.  Stick it in the oven with a pan of water underneath.  I just add water to the steam pan when I turn on the oven to preheat. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

Enjoy!

P.S. I haven't bought bread since first trying this recipe.