The Fresh Loaf

A Community of Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.

No knead bread too dense--any suggestions?

icantbakeatall's picture
icantbakeatall

No knead bread too dense--any suggestions?

Hello! I've tried the mark bittman no knead bread twice and find that it is quite a bit more dense than the pictures I see online. Do you have tips on how to make it a little more airy? Thanks!

BobBoule's picture
BobBoule

and found that I had these problems:

1) Oven temperature was too low. I raised it 25 degrees

2) Not enough time preheating the oven. I replaced the oven thermometer I was using for a better one to get a more accurate reading and found that my oven took a long time to preheat. Make sure that your dutch oven in inside the oven the entire time its preheating.

3) Not enough water. I increased the hydration and it came out much better

4) Not enough time in the oven. Ultimately I added 15 minutes to my bake time and the bread is now very nicely cooked. I purchased a decent quick reading thermometer and don't pull the bread out unless its approximately 205 degree F in the center (don't pull it out if its below 200, just put it back in, if it goes over 211 degrees its already burned).

The type of flour you use makes a lot of difference, the hydration level and bad time can vary dramatically so you will have to experiment to find out what works best for you.

icantbakeatall's picture
icantbakeatall

Wow, thank you so much for the suggestions! I'm considering going up to 475F from 450F and/or baking it for a little longer. I currently do it at 450F, 30 minutes with the Dutch oven cover on, 20 minutes with it off. I did bump up the water a bit too. It's fun figuring all this stuff out but it's leading to a baking addiction!

Arjon's picture
Arjon

if you haven't done so already, with an oven thermometer since oven settings are notoriously unreliable. 

BGM's picture
BGM

I found that I was losing a lot when I flopped the bread in the preheated pot.  I now give the dough a few folds about 20 minutes apart before I shape it to give it a little more strength.  I then form it and let it rise on parchment in a fry pan about the same diameter as my dutch oven.  When it has risen to my satisfaction ( don't go by time!) I take the hot dutch oven out and GENTLY lift the risen loaf into the dutch oven on the parchment. Leave the parchment in the dutch oven, cover and bake.

icantbakeatall's picture
icantbakeatall

Here's a picture of my most recent one. Not great. I'm considering adding more yeast.

BGM's picture
BGM

Looks pretty good to me.  Maybe a little under done.  Hard to tell.  I use a thermometer and make sure my bread is 200+ F. I also take it out of the Dutch Oven to finish browning.  The parchment helps here too.  More yeast will make it rise faster not higher,