Making Jim Lahey's No Knead Bread with Milk?
Hi, all! I just registered, and this is my first post. I have always been a weekly home bread maker (bread aisle bread isn't food!), but recently I have been raising a toddler and so have been a bit out of the loop.
Anyway, I stumbled across this site today because I had just gotten around to making a loaf of Lahey's No-Knead Bread (a bit late, I know), and after scanning the recipe a bit too quickly, I guess I was under the impression that it needed to rise in the refrigerator for 18 hours or so. Given the small amount of yeast I know that wouldn't make sense, but I wasn't thinking. So, since I like a slightly sweeter, softer loaf than I believed the ingredients would provide, I replaced about a cup of the water in the recipe with milk and mixed it in. Then, just as I was stirring, I saw that the dough was in fact supposed to rise on the countertop for that long span of time, and not in the refrigerator.
So basically I am just wondering about the wisdom of leaving the milk-containing dough at room temperature for all that time. The milk is very fresh, but I live in Florida, and I just don't know if it is a good idea. Has anyone else done it this way? I am just trying to decide if I should give it a try or just add more yeast and make it into a trtaditional kneaded loaf.