October 06, 2020
Baking Pots Make Beautiful Bread
Baking Pots Are The Home Bread Baker's Secret Weapon
Mark Bittman’s justly-famous no-knead bread recipe is fast, fresh, simple & delicious. You’ll need a baking pot, flour, yeast, water and salt. That’s it. You’ll also want to let your bread dough rise overnight (24h is better).
Here’s Our Shorter Technique.
Mark’s full & extraordinary recipe follows.
- Flour: 4 cups (unbleached white or 2 cups wheat flour, 2 cups white flour)
- Yeast: ½ tsp
- Salt: 2 tsp
- Water: 2 cups
- Baking pot (we love our enameled cast iron)
- Optional: parchment paper to line it
Baking Pot No-Knead Bread Instructions
The Night Before:
- Combine flour, yeast, & salt (whisk dry ingredients together)
- Add water & stir to make a rough lumpy sloppy dough
- Cover with a damp cloth & let rise overnight in a warm room, at least 8 h. 18 hours is ideal, 8 works fine.
The Next Morning:
The Fastest Oven Bread
- Preheat your oven with your baking pot in it to 450
- Lightly flour a work surface & fold your dough over a few times; let rest 15-20 minutes
- Put your dough (on a sheet of parchment paper & put ) in your oven in your baking pot
- Bake at 450 with the lid on for 30 minutes
- Remove the lid and bake another 20-30 minutes until golden & ‘thunks’ when tapped
The Classic Mark Bittman Technique
- Lightly flour a work surface & fold your dough over a few times; let rest 15-20 minutes
- Lightly coat a kitchen baking mat with semolina, cornmeal, oatmeal, and toss in some caraway, rye, or herbs;
- Roll your bread dough (“boule”) across it
- Lightly oil your dough, & cover wth a moist kitchen towel.
- Let rise at least 2 h, it will more than double in size.
- At least a half-hour before you’re ready to bake, preheat your oven and baking pot to 450
- Put your dough (on a sheet of parchment paper & put ) in your oven in your baking pot
- Bake at 450 with the lid on your baking pot for 30 minutes
- Remove the lid from your baking pot and bake another 20-30 minutes until golden & ‘thunks’ when tapped