No knead artisan bread.....Less is more!!

[AlchemyAcres]

I really love good bread...I didn't realize how crappy some American 'artisan' bread is until I started traveling to Spain several years ago....I love good hearty old world style bread...well interestingly...Jim Lahey owner of the Sullivan Street Bakery in NYC as succesfully resurrected and old techinique that makes 'real' bread easy and cheap (pennies per loaf not $3-$4)...no knead bread via a biga....

The biga and the L O N G rise in lieu of kneading are nothing new...but combining the two with the container baking technique makes this bread very unique....the method yields a 'crackling' crust...something that's very difficult for home bakers, and even some artisan bakeries, to effectively achieve....

I've experimented with this for a long time....I've made several variations...rye, wheat, etc.....it's pretty much fool proof...I bake mine in a cast iron dutch oven.....

Rose Levy Beranbaum sums up the technique well....

http://www.realbakingwithrose.com/2006/11/holy_bread.html#more

What could be easier?

Less is more!!!!


~Martin :)

[MNMOM]

Looks great, I love artisian breads, I'm going to try this and see how it works for me.

AA, how long have you been making bread like this? I've never tried making the artisian breads, but if this works for me it would be great.

Thanks for printing this.

[AlchemyAcres]

Hey MNMOM,

I've been bakin' bread for a long time....'artisan' style bread seriously for about 15 years...part love of good bread...part fascination with earthen/clay wood fired ovens...

~Martin :)

[MNMOM]

I love good bread also, it's terrible what they are putting out in the stores and they dare call it bread.

I know that you are quite the baker along with Heshrugged, I always enjoyed your posts on food.