No need to knead, that's the overriding message of My Bread: The Revolutionary No-Work, No-Knead Method, which came out in 2009. Now, Jim Lahey, who owns Sullivan St. Bakery (which has two locations in New York City and one in Miami), returns with a 15th anniversary edition of the book.
In 2006, Jim Lahey's no-knead bread recipe went viral and changed the trajectory of his life. Photo by Squire Fox.
"The conventions, the normal way of making bread was you bought a mixer or you kneaded dough by hand and through the physical handling of the dough, mechanically moving it around, you would make the dough smooth and elastic," Lahey says. "But lo and behold, you can make bread through allowing the dough to form the gluten as opposed to having to work it. And that's always existed."
To make this rye bread, you don't need to spend time working the dough with your hands. Photo by Squire Fox.
Lahey's life changed in 2006, when Mark Bittman published his recipe for no-knead bread. "It was really cool. It was very flattering. I felt a lot of love from home bakers. It's everybody's recipe, it's not my recipe anymore. Almost every bread book coming out, everyone's kind of abandoned kneading for the most part, even online. And I look at it all, and I'm just like, wow," he says.
"My Bread: The Revolutionary No-Work, No-Knead Method" helps home bakers create bakery-worthy loaves with less effort. Photo courtesy of W.W. Norton & Company, Inc.
The new edition of My Bread includes new recipes, like Barley and Miso Bread, one of Lahey's favorites. Miso replaces the salt you would normally use and, as Lahey notes, "Miso acts as a catalyst and speeds up the fermentation in the dough."
Barley and Miso Bread
Makes One 10-inch round loaf; 1½ pounds
This bread derives its saltiness from miso paste, which provides a complex and nutty multifermented flavor. The miso acts as a catalyst for fermentation by adding enzymes and nutrients to the fermenting dough, reducing total fermentation time and enhancing the bread’s properties. The bread can be stored well for up to 5 days without special treatment, and it is perfect for making sandwiches. You can use any combination of flours for this, like all-purpose, bread flour, and/or patent flour, but the miso is crucial. Any miso paste will work; I prefer red.
Ingredients
- 2¾ cups all-purpose or bread flour
- ¼ cup whole barley ground into flour or barley meal
- ½ teaspoon instant or other active dry yeast
- 1¼ to 1⅓ cups (depending on the flour used) cool (55 to 65 degrees F) water
- 1½ tablespoons miso paste
- additional flour for dusting
Instructions
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In a medium bowl, stir together the flour, barley flour or meal, and yeast. In another bowl, whisk together the water and miso paste until well combined. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, using a spoon to combine them into a dough. Allow the dough to sit for 1 hour.
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Generously dust a work surface with flour. Use a bowl scraper or rubber spatula to scrape the dough out of the bowl in one piece. Perform a set of turns on the dough by picking it up and folding it in on itself several times, depending on the dough’s elasticity and pliability; make sure it doesn’t become too sticky. Let the dough sit until it has doubled in volume, 3 to 5 hours.
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Perform one more set of folds. You’ll notice that the dough’s texture has significantly improved. Place a clean cotton or linen tea towel on your work surface and generously dust it with flour. Use your hands or a bowl scraper or wooden spatula to gently lift the dough out onto the towel, seam side down. Fold the ends of the towel loosely over the dough to cover it and place it in a warm, draft-free spot to rise for 1 to 2 hours. The dough is ready when it has almost doubled. If you gently poke it with your finger, it should hold the impression; if it springs back, let it rest for another 15 minutes.
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Half an hour before the end of the second rise, preheat the oven to 440 degrees F, with a rack in the lower third, and place a covered 41/2- to 51/2-quart heavy pot in the center of the rack.
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Using pot holders, carefully remove the preheated pot from the oven and uncover it. Unfold the tea towel and quickly but gently invert the dough into the pot, seam side up. (Use caution—the pot will be very hot; see photos, page 55.) Cover the pot and bake for 25 minutes.
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Remove the lid and continue baking until the bread is a deep chestnut color but not burnt, 15 to 20 minutes more. Use a heatproof spatula or pot holders to carefully lift the bread out of the pot and place it on a rack to cool thoroughly.