No-Knead 4 Ingredient Bread

I found this recipe on Chef Tess's blog.  I am not a huge fan of no-knead bread at all.  Never had much success with it, even with the Artisan Bread in Five Minutes Series.  You see I'm a kneader - I have the need to knead.  The bread looked good, so I decided to throw caution to the wind and give it a try (by the way, how to you REALLY throw caution to the wind???).

Anyway, here is the recipe and I will put my changes to it in parenthesis:

No Knead 4 Ingredient Overnight Bread


3 1/2 cups bread flour (measure exactly with a knife)
2 tsp salt (I omit the salt - salt will slow down the rising of the bread)
1/4 tsp instant yeast (or 1/2 tsp active dry yeast) - (I used instant yeast)
1 1/4 cup water (under 110 degrees)

Directions:

I started this at 11:00 p.m. the night before.  I know that is AWFUL late to be starting bread, but I decided at the last minute to make this bread.

Combine the ingredients in a 1 gallon food-grade bucket or a large 1 gallon bowl with a lid (I really don't think you need a gallon bucket - the bread didn't raise THAT much - just a large bowl or bucket would suffice), just until everything is mixed and smooth. You can do this with either a large spoon or use your hands to mix the dough (sort of like making mud pies when you were a kid).  Cover with a lid and keep covered 10-12 hours at room temperature until you're ready to bake bread.

Form into a loaf and place in an 8 inch loaf pan that has been greased.

Allow to raise in a warm room until doubled, about 2 hours. I covered the pan with a plastic bag and let it rise in my oven with the oven light on.

Bake at 375 degrees 35-40 minutes (a thermometer will register 165 degrees or more). Enjoy!

As an option, you can flatten the bread out a bit and sprinkle with cinnamon sugar.  Then roll it up jelly roll style - eureka!  you have cinnamon bread!!

OK . . . here is the final product . . .

I am not that impressed with the "oven spring" or how high the bread rose.  It does have a nice texture and tastes pretty good.  If I do make this again, I might try it with the cinnamon sugar.  It is certainly an easy bread to make.