Posted a picture of some bread I baked on my Instagram and shared it with some friends on Facebook, got some inquiries about the flavors and recipe, so I figured I’d share! This recipe was originally published on the Wordpress blog I created when I was 22 and thinking I was going to be a food blogger (hah), when in actuality, I couldn’t cook then and really still can’t cook. C’est la vie, if you don’t put in the work, you don’t walk away with so much as a crumb. But! This year, I’m going to make more of an effort to kick my cooking skills up a notch. And no, I’m not sharing my 5-post-only blog, but you can take this recipe and any future cooking advice I give with a little grain of salt.
NO-KNEAD CRUSTY BREAD
RECIPE COURTESY OF JANET BARTON
Prep time: 10 minutes (Plus 12-18 hours to sit)
Cook time: 45 minutes
If there’s something I love, it’s great bread. Put a basket of bread down on a table and I’m all over that like butter on– nevermind, you understand. So for starters, I’d like to share my go-to bread recipe; originally shared on Janet Barton’s blog Simply So Good. It’s easy, doesn’t take much effort and tastes fantastic. Plus, it tastes great plain or with add-ins like herbs, nuts or lemon zest.
Ingredients:
3 cups unbleached all purpose flour
1 3/4 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon instant or rapid-rise yeast
1 1/2 cups water
cast iron pot
If you don’t have unbleached flour, that’s alright. I’ve baked this bread with bleached flour too. The color of the bread is lighter and not as rich, but it’s just as edible.
Directions:
Combine the flour, salt and yeast together in a large mixing bowl. If you’d like to add in other ingredients to flavor your bread, do so now. (My favorite flavors are lemon rosemary and cranberry lemon with pumpkin seeds. I also recently tried citrus almond, which was fantastic. I’ll leave some recommended measurements below the rest of the directions.)
After making sure it’s fully whisked, add water and mix.
Cover the mixture with plastic wrap and let it sit at room temperature for approximately 12-18 hours. (Over the years of baking this since I first did 4 years ago, I learned that it’s better to let it sit longer than the minimum 12 hours recommended, especially if you add in other ingredients.
Set the oven to 450 degrees. Place your cast iron pot in the oven and let it heat up as well. Pour the dough onto a heavily floured surface– it will be sticky, so flouring your hands before you touch it will help. Shape the dough into a ball as best you can, cover it with plastic wrap and let it sit for 30 minutes. When time’s up, remove the plastic wrap, take off the lid of the pot and place your dough inside. Put the lid back on. Let it bake for 30 minutes. When time’s up, remove the pot’s lid and let the bread continue to bake for another 15 minutes. After that’s done, remove the pot from the oven and place it somewhere where it can cool.
Flavors:
Rosemary Lemon
Zest from 1 large lemon
2-3 sprigs of rosemary
(If you love cheese, this is a great opportunity to swap out the lemon and add in shredded parmesan)
Lemon Cranberry with Pumpkin Seeds
Zest from 1 large lemon
1 cup dried cranberries
½ cup pumpkin seeds
Citrus Almond
Zest from 1 large lemon
Zest from 1 orange
1 cup almond slivers