That Easy

As I mentioned in a previous post, I've been dying to try Jim Lahey's no-knead bread recipe ever since I started seeing it mentioned on some foodie blogs (the article originally appeared in the New York Times, but I don't read the Times). Everyone was raving about how well the bread turned out and how little effort was involved. I had to try it.

Now don't get me wrong -- I love cooking and I've always loved making bread. I've read many bread cookbooks and tried many bread recipes. I've had spray bottles of water dedicated to bread making and razor blades that were only used to score bread dough before baking. I actually own french bread pans. Most of the recipes were ok, but usually the crust isn't quite right (too soft or too hard) and often the bread just tastes too yeasty. I was looking for a loaf that would rival the ones you get at a good bakery, but never quite managed to create one. Until now.

The recipe really does yield a loaf of bread that is as good as everyone says. The fact that it is painfully easy to make is just bonus. I decided that I was going to try making the bread for Valetine's Day dinner. King crab legs, garlic-roasted potatoes, and a salad of mixed baby greens was already on the menu and I had a chocolate truffle tart recipe that I was planning to make for dessert. A crusty loaf of bread sounded like just the thing to round out the meal. Since the recipe requires a very long first rise (12-18 hours), I needed to make the dough Tuesday night. Of course, I had forgotten that Tuesday evening was the final night of the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show, which I religiously watch every year. Even though I was already dog tired (hehe) Tuesday morning, I figured I could muster up enough energy after the show to start the bread dough.

I spent the latter half of the show trying not to fall asleep. Molly was fussy and ended up on my lap while I watched TV and we both zonked out during the judging for the Herding Group (which is one of my favorites *sniff*). Luckily, I managed to wake up enough to watch the Best in Show judging. When the show ended at 11 p.m., the ONLY thing I wanted to do was to go crawl into bed. I started thinking, "Hmmm, we don't really need bread with dinner ... maybe I'll make it another time." But I started feeling kind of lame for wanting to wimp out on my bread plans and decided to suck it up and go make the dough. Even in my zombified, headachy state, it literally took me no more than ten minutes to get out the ingredients, mix up the dough, and clean up the kitchen. I really started to think something must be wrong with the recipe, because that was too darn easy.

Since I would be at work when the dough finished its first rise, I asked Dad if he could start the dough on its second rise for me. He ended up calling me at work to tell me that he didn't think my bread was going to turn out. He said the dough was a big, soggy mess and wouldn't hold any shape, but he'd followed the recipe and it was on its second rise. Since I had read similar reports on other blogs, I wasn't (too) worried.

When I got home from work (later than I meant to), I started preheating the oven and the cast-iron dutch oven. Dad was right, the dough did look an awful mess. I figured that I might as well see the recipe through to the bitter end, so when everything was nice and hot I pulled out the dutch oven, plopped the dough in, put on the cover, and put it back in the oven for half an hour. After the first 30 minutes, the recipe says to take off the dutch oven lid and let the bread cook another 15-30 minutes until it is nice and brown. I was almost scared to lift the lid, but when I did I was rewarded with a very respectable-looking loaf. When 15 minutes had elapsed and the bread was nice and brown, I removed it from the oven and put it on a rack to cool. It was a beautiful sight to behold -- it looked perfect. It made a happy crackling sound as it cooled. It smelled divine. I figured it must taste terrible.

It didn't -- it tasted great. The crust and texture reminded me of the paesano bread that my favorite deli bakes. It rounded out the dinner perfectly and I'm so glad that I decided not to be lazy and went ahead and made it. See, every once in a while it can be that easy!