I've been successfully making NK bread for 6 months.  Lots of types and flavors. Have it down to pat. It's really, really good. Friends say "you should open a bakery..." Hah!

I've made SD starter using the Gelzer method. It's stiff, smells great. I feed it, keep it fresh and I think strong.

I've had terrible luck using it to make NK bread. The dough after a (no matter) 9, 12 or 15 hour intial rise the dough looks good in the Cambro container, lots of bubbles, a good/normal rise, lots of volume.  It scrapes out pretty well (doesn't pour in some runny fashion).

But when it's time to stretch it out or ready for my normal French fold, it's like a pile of glop.  There's no real structure.  While folding it often "falls apart." If I'm lucky I can form a ball of sorts and get it to rise again for a shot at the oven. More often than not though the finished loaf has no spring and ends up an ovoid, dense saucer (though pretty sour!).

I've found that a pinch of yeast added to the initial mix/stir helps make a pretty fool proof loaf. Good rise, great chewy crust.

My problem- how to avoid the commercial yeast and make it with SD starter only.

Any ideas?

Thanks!

I started baking bread recently mainly because my husband bought a dutch oven for another purpose, and I wanted to use it.   So I tried the basic Bittman no knead recipe and fell in love.   Since then I have made semolina bread, rye bread, sourdough bread, etc. etc.  using this method.   Then I found this site, and realized that perhaps there were breads I could make using other methods.   But I admit to some confusion.   People seem to go to great lengths to get effects that one can get easily using a dutch oven.   I am thinking in particular of stones and steam.   So my question is why not just cook in a pot even when you are not doing no knead?  At least one reason comes to mind which is shape - all my dutch oven breads are round, and sometimes I long for a longer loaf.   But are there others, or are people just used to their methods and not anxious to switch over to another simpler one?   Even though I don't know the answer to this question I tried cooking today with a stone  (a 1 ft square, 1 inch thick block of raw granite from home depot) and with a steam pan.   I made a whole wheat flax seed batard (hurray) and the crust came out great, etc. but it was a bit more of a production than just throwing it in a dutch oven.   Any thoughts on this?   Thanks!

Sorry for the delay. I thought I would have a chance to post day two right away. I am now in day three of the creation of the starter. So let's catch up!

Day 2

This is how my starter looked at 30 hours from the initial mix of 300g flour 300g water. I stirred it 5 times over the 30 hours. In the first 12 hours i had left the bowl, covered, on my pellet stove. It got up to 90 F, this was initially thought of as a mistake by me. So I moved the bowl to somewhere at room temp. Then over the next 28 hours it was alive with activity so awesome. So hopefully over the 30 hours you've seen activity similar to what is shown above. If it takes more time than 30 its ok, this is what you want it to look similar too before going on to the next step.

Feeding

You should have 600g of starter mix. Take 300g of this mix, add 150g of flour, and 150g water. I had just poured a glass of a nice weizen-bock and mixed the water with the yeast sediment in the bottle. I figured the more the merrier, yeast wise. Then mixed it up until well combined (No chunks of dry flour). To look like this.

Day 3

Here is how it looked at around 12pm today before I mixed it up again (not adding anything). Updates to come

Introduction to bread baking

Bread has been baked since 4000 BCE. Keep this in mind while reading this and other bread books or information. So really all you need is some simple tools, flour (in this intro flour quality won't be a huge issue), salt, water, an oven, and most importantly time.

Tools

Hands- These are your greatest tools. Their most important attribute is what they can tell you. They can tell you how strong, moist, warm, cool, and proofed your dough is. You will develop how to interperet these tactile sensations through practice.

The Bowl- While not entirely necessary, it was one of the earliest and best development in baking. When choosing one look for durability (I use a steel bowl) and size (big but not too big to hold under your arm while mixing, but big enough to have a lot of space for mixing).

A Mixing Implement- I use a wooden short handed flat spoon thing I found somewhere (pictured).

Oven- In this introduction I use an electric oven.

Flour- We could go on and on about flour, but for the sake of brevity I'll keep it short. At home when I don't always have good bread flour I use King Arthur All-Purpose or Gold Medal All-Purpose flours. I am not above using store brand all-purpose if money and the availability of these flours are an issue.

Salt- A nice unrefined sea salt containing calcium and magnesium is best. If this isn't available then I would go with Diamond Crystal Kosher salt. In a pince non-iodized table salt will do fine (iodine is no good for yeast or other microbes that we might like in our bread).

Water- I am lucky enough to live in a house where I get really nice water from a well. I don't know the chemistry of my water but it works well. In general acidic water weakens gluten and alkali strengthens it. Hard water helps create stronger gluten networks because of the presence of calcium and magnesium. Less water makes denser easier to work with loaves and more water lighter more difficult to handle dough.

Yeast- In this introduction we're going to be catching some wild yeast. But store bought yeast will work if you want bread ASAP (this goes against my bread philosophy, but I understand when you want bread and you want it now). Dry yeast has a longer shelf life than cake yeast. So if you are unsure of the freshness of the yeast in your local store go for the packaged dry yeast. Check the expiration date.

Digital Scale- I am also lucky enough to have a scale in my home kitchen. I suggest anyone serious enough to be on a baking forum get one. Grams are what I use when writing my recipes. I like the exactness making rounding a rare occurence. If you don't have one on hand this website has good conversions http://www.veg-world.com/articles/cups.htm

Time- The more the better.

Lets Begin

First get your bowl and mixing implement ready and clean.

Next get some flour and water (I use 80 F at this step). Weigh out 300g of flour and 300g of 80 F water. Now you can also get creative and add some ripe fruit or some bottle conditioned beer if you want a little help in cultivating the yeast.

Mix the water and flour until combined (Picture).

Keep the mixture covered in a clean warm spot in your house. Stir every few hours for the next 24 hours. Four or five times should do it. Don't worry if the mixings aren't equally spaced apart just so long as there is about 5-6 hours between mixings. We are mixing it this many times not so much to develop more strength in the dough but because we want to expose more of the mixture to the air containing ambient yeast as well as spreading out yeast that has begun colonizing the mixture.

Tommorow I will update.

Here are two no knead loaves baked in an oblong cloche. Both were made using the same reipe, using 1/4 Cup of sourdough starter in lieu of 1/4 t of instant yeast. The difference is in the fermentation time (12 hours for the first and 16 hours for the second), and the resultant "explosion" of the crust with the second loaf. Has anyone else seen this type of reaction when Iusing sourdough starter? I do not get this reaction when using commercial yeast and varying the fermentation time as earlier described. The flavor is magnificent, by the way.

Yesterday's loaf with 12 hour fermentation.

Here is today's loaf with 16 hour fermentation. It's too hot to cut into, but I'm sure the crumb is very open.

Check out the shine inside of the split. Is this the sugars carmelizing when the lid was removed? The crumb in yesterday's loaf had a sheen to it in the air holes.

Using the “no-knead” method, popularized by Jim Lahey of Sullivan Street Bakery, I went for a ciabatta this weekend.  There were a few adjustments I made to the recipe:

1. I used 2/3 bread flour and 1/3 whole wheat flour, instead of 100% bread Flour.
2. To develop the strength of the dough a bit, I used the “stretch-and-fold” technique several times throughout the 19-hour fermentation period.

Overall, I was pleased with the results.  The crumb had a nice open structure, with uneven holes throughout.  The crust was a bit thinner than I expected, and was hoping for a bit more oven spring. :)

Hi all,

For the last few months I've ventured into the land of no-knead bread as per the NY Times article and recipe.  I had tried the bread in the past and thought it was easy and delicious!  Now that I've been making it regularly for the last 2 months or so, I still haven not figured out why it turns out so spongy.  It has great flavor and the crust is great, but it's a bit soft in my opinion.  What can I do to make it a bit more hardy?  I have modified the recipe but haven't found the cause (added flour, used less water, added butter, added/removed sugar & salt, changed baking time and temp).  I think it may have to do with the fact that it's just sitting around so long.  Does that make sense?

I've been making no knead breads and started using that method for ciabatta. I do however like adding non fat dry milk powder to my ciabatta dough. Can I add this when mixing, and keep it out 18 hours? Some recipes for ciabatta are 2 steps, adding other ingredients on day 2 and mixing. I want to avoid the second stage of using a mixer.

Rob

I decided to try no knead bread and found the perfect covered pot at Goodwill - heavy, fired clay with a gorgeous cobalt blue glaze outside and creamy white inside, for $8.50.  I noticed and bought a new product at the supermarket - Crisco non-stick spray with flour.  I sprayed the inside of the pot and pre-heated to 500 degrees.  When I opened the oven and took off the lid, black smoke poured out of the pot, and left a glaze-like brown residue on that beautiful white surface.  So I called thir toll-free customer service number and complained.  They finally agreed that the can said "for all types of baking", and that their own research showed that 400 degrees was the uppeer limit.  They are sending me a check for $20.00

I just bought the most beautiful covered pot and am about to make no knead bread.  Possible problem:  the diameter of the pot at the lip is 3/4 in. less than down below.  How will I get the bread out?  Can I succesfully let it cool in the pot, and will the bread shrink when cool?  If letting it cool in the pot is o.k. but it won't shrink,  how about cutting it into pieces while still in the pot?  All ideas will be much appreciated.