The Fresh Loaf

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No Knead Bread Baked in a Skillet

booch221's picture
booch221

No Knead Bread Baked in a Skillet

No-Knead Bread

Makes two small loaves*

This bread gets its great flavor from a long, slow overnight rise, using only a scant 1/4 teaspoon of yeast. If you use more yeast the dough will rise too quickly. Refrigerating the dough further improves the flavor and texture of the bread.

Volume

Weight in Ounces

Metric Measure

1 cup all-purpose flour

4.5 ounces

128 grams

1-3/4 cups bread flour

7 ounces

198 grams

1/4 cup semolina flour

2 ounces

57 grams

10 ounces warm water

 

296 ml

1/4 teaspoon instant yeast

 

 

1-1/4 teaspoon salt

 

 

Steps:

  1. Mix the flours yeast and salt in large bowl, add the water and mix just until all the flour is wet and incorporated. It shouldn't take more than a minute, you don't want to overwork it. A silicone bowl scraper is very handy for bringing up the dry flour from the bottom of the bowl.

  2. Smear a little olive oil on a piece of plastic wrap. Lay it directly on the dough.

  3. Let rise for overnight. You can bake the dough now if you wish, see note below.*

  4. Deflate dough by folding it over on itself with the bowl scraper. Divide into two equal portions and place in zip lock bags and refrigerate for at least two hours or up to several days. Dough will rise slightly again in the zip lock bag.

  5. On baking day, remove the dough from the refrigerator and allow to warm in the zip lock bag on the counter for 30 minutes.

  6. After the dough has warmed for 30 minutes, place a baking stone in the oven, and preheat at 450º F for 30 minutes. The dough will have warmed for an hour by now.

  7. Remove the dough from the zip lock bag and place it on a piece of parchment paper. Handle it gently so you don't deflate it too much.

  8. Gently flatten it into an oval about ¾ of an inch thick (you can dust the top with flour if you want the artisan bread look).

  9. Put the dough and parchment paper in a cold 12-inch cast iron skillet. Place a lid on it. Let the paper stick out from under the lid.

  10. Place the skillet on the stone and bake covered for 30 minutes.

  11. Remove the lid and bake another 10 minutes until golden brown. The internal temperature should be 205-210° F. 

*Notes: If baking immediately, place dough on parchment paper and then proceed to step 8. There is no need to warm the dough as it already is at room temperature. You may have to reduce the baking time a little. You can also bake one big loaf instead of two small ones. Adjust the baking time accordingly.

 

 

AnnaInNC's picture
AnnaInNC

I just did a pineapple upside down cake in the skillet, came out perfectly.

 

booch221's picture
booch221

I love cooking in cast iron!

PlicketyCat's picture
PlicketyCat

I have to say, I was slightly disappointed this wasn't a miracle stovetop bread solution but I'm sure I'll try it out once we get our earth oven built.

booch221's picture
booch221

There is a Jacques Pepin stovetop quick bread recipe:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4wiOtjrvXgk

I made it once, but I like a real yeast bread much better.

There is a discussion of the recipe here:

http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/596846

PlicketyCat's picture
PlicketyCat

I've tried a few quick and fry breads in our skillets and dutch ovens on the woodstove, and they come out pretty nice most of the time (or scorched messes, but we don't talk about those LOL).  I've been trying to find a good yeast bread that might stand up to actual stovetop "baking", or maybe steaming, rather than frying. Have experimented with inverted bowls DO inside other DO's, even tried to cram my small DO into my woodstove :)

I can't wait until I have an actual oven again!

booch221's picture
booch221

Have you ever tried Indian naan bread recipes? They contain yeast and most call for baking in the oven, but I get better results cooking them on the stove in a non-stick skillet.

PlicketyCat's picture
PlicketyCat

I've had some success with naan, tortilla, pita (although it doesn't pocket) and such in my cast iron skillet on the woodstove top, just have to really watch the temps to avoid scorching. Muffins, biscuits and cornbread all work if I lift the gem pan off the surface and invert my large metal mixing bowl over it.

AnnaInNC's picture
AnnaInNC

decrees "We are not interested in nutrition but want great taste" !!   lol  I love her.

Anna

 

Wheat'n'Rye's picture
Wheat'n'Rye

What a beautiful appetizing bread! Thanks for the lovely pictures! 

KNEADLESS's picture
KNEADLESS

This is sort of a cross between NY No-Knead and Jeff Hertzberg's "Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day." but it uses considerably less water.  It shoud be formable into a free standing loaf which could be baked without support.  It could be baked uncovered or under a tall pot or ceramic bell. 

Something else to put on my list!

booch221's picture
booch221

I started out with the NY Times recipe but cut back on the water because it was too wet. The NY Times recipe calls for 3 cups of flour (13.23 ounces) and 13 oz of water. That's about a 98% hydration level. I don't see how you could ever form it into a loaf. My bread was too wet and even tasted watery.

So I cut back the water to 10 oz (sometimes I'll go up to 11oz) That brings it down to about a 75% hydration. Still, I can't form it into a loaf, but that's alright.

The NY Times has you mix it up all the ingredients and let it sit on the counter 12-15 hours. I get better flavor using a poolish and then retarding the dough in the refrigerator over night.

The NY Times recipe calls for baking it all in a preheated Dutch Oven, but I bake only half the dough on parchment paper, starting with a cold cast iron skillet.

I've been experimenting with several kinds of flour lately. I use all-purpose for the poolish and then 7 oz of bread flour and two oz of semolina for the final dough. It came out great! If you want to make it all out of all-purpose flour, that's fine.

Yes, it takes a lot of time to make it this way, but you can make a big batch and keep it in the refrigerator several days or freeze individual portions.

 

taurus430's picture
taurus430

for 3 yrs now and never had a problem with it. After sitting out on the counter for 18hrs, the next day I dump it on a floured board. Then I stretch and fold a few times. This helps in giving it structure. I let it rest 10 mins before shaping and final proof for 1-2 hrs. I bake my boules in a preheated cast iron dutch oven, my favorite. I have clay bakers also, but I find cast iron gives it a better crust/taste.

The other day I needed a loaf in the same day, so I increased the yeast to 1 tsp and it sat out for only 7 hrs. Guess what, it came out just as good.

I noticed your loaf is kind of flat. Maybe the fry pan is to shallow that you bake it in and you should try the stretch and fold technique. Just trying to help!

I have the ABin5 book (Artisan bread in 5 mins), but just started trying it. I'm not sure if I like it as it has drawbacks. Most doughs are unique to a bread, therefore making 8 lbs of a master dough may not work for me. The master dough is good for boules and baquettes but other doughs require fat, sugar etc so that's another batch to make up. Just a comment! 

Rob

booch221's picture
booch221

Even when I bake them in a dutch oven they come out flat. I think it's because the dough is so wet. The stretch and fold method might help, but I really don't mind the flat loaves.  It doesn't seem to affect the taste and texture.

KNEADLESS's picture
KNEADLESS

I decided to try your recipe and wanted to do it exactly has written with the exception of cutting the salt in half. doubling the recipe, and using bread flour.  The gods were not with me.  I was making another batch of bread at the same time and got confused.   Instead of leaving th poolish out overnight, I put it in the refrigerator.  When I discovered my error, I was forced to leave it in the refrigerator fo 3 days.  I took it out in the afternoon and let it sit till the next morning.  When I dumped it into the flour mix I found that most of the water had separated out but I decided to continue.  I let it rise 3 hrs. at RT and over night in the fridge.

 

I cut the dough in two pieces and as usual one was smaller than the other.  I gave the smaller a set of folds and then formed it into a 7" roll.  When I flattened the larger I felt a golf ball size piece of hard flour which apparrently hadn't wet.  I kneaded the whole mass, got rid of the hard spot and formed a roll about 10" long.  I covered both with saran and used reynolds foil boxes backed by 28 oz cans of tomatos to keep the rolls from spreading.

 

I let them rise for two hours and then baked the small roll under my cold bell on a hot stone at 450 for 20 min., uncover and drop the temperature to 350. for a total bake time of 1 hour.

 

I then baked the large roll, which had now been rising for 3 hrs., uncovered at 450 for twenty minutes and then dropped to 350 for an additionional 30 minutes.  I used water spritzes for the first 5 min.

 

I have been baking artisan breads from about the time WFP came on line and the small loaf was the best I've ever made.  The inside was light and airy.  The crust was very crispy and stayed that way.  I think this is due to the bell being cold.  The larger loaf was also very good, but the crust was thicker and the inside was a little heavier.

 

Thanks for some great ideas.

 

George

 

 

booch221's picture
booch221

Instead of leaving the poolish out overnight, I put it in the refrigerator.  When I discovered my error, I was forced to leave it in the refrigerator for 3 days.  I took it out in the afternoon and let it sit till the next morning.  When I dumped it into the flour mix I found that most of the water had separated out but I decided to continue.

One time as an experiment, I tried starting the poolish in the refrigerator. After 36 hours, nothing happened. So I took it out and let it sit at room temperature and within 12 hours it looked like a normal poolish. I've also had water separate out if I leave them sit too long in the fridge, but I just go ahead and use them anyway.

The great thing about bread baking is some your "mistakes" can lead to new discoveries.

Thanks for you feedback.

booch221's picture
booch221

I have since done away with the poolish completely (the recipe above is changed to reflect this). I now mix all the flour, water, salt, and yeast the recipe calls for, and let it stand overnight.  In effect, the recipe is one big poolish. You still get the same great flavor while eliminating a time consuming step.

There is a discussion of this here:

I stopped using a poolish and still get great flavor

http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/26120/i-stopped-using-poolish-and-still-get-great-flavor

taurus430's picture
taurus430

for over 3 yrs mostly using Lehey's no knead or ABin5 and did just fine with them. I do not want to use biga or poolish cause by mixing the whole batch and puting it over night in the fridge, I agree it's the same. Ciabattas call for a biga and I just use Foodwishes 4 cup Lehey recipe, comes out great! If I were to follow some of these long, drawn out recipes for bread baking, I probably wouldn't be interested in baking. The no knead or other simple recipes that are quicker helped me get into baking bread. For instance, I might make pizza dough by hand (knead), in the bread machine or use no knead dough.

booch221's picture
booch221

It still takes me 24 hours to make no knead without the poolish. I start at 6:00 pm  one night and bake it at 6:00 pm the next night. Since I bake half loaves, I only have to start dough every other day. The night you bake your last loaf, you start your next batch of dough, so there's always some in the pipeline. Of course, with the poolish, it took an additional 12 hours.

It takes about 10 minutes to measure the ingredients and mix it. It does the rest itself. IT'S A MIRACLE!

My motto is: Great bread takes time--but not your time.

This recipe makes great pizza dough too.

 

taurus430's picture
taurus430

With a poolish or biga, you're mixing twice, an extra step I don't need......lol. The original method, mixing once, anything to make life easier for bread baking. I admire people baking their own bread. For me, it was to keep busy after being out of work and now retired.