my no knead super quick loaf experiment
Greetings
I'm relatively new in baking. But doing things the fast and easy way always fascinates me. So I decided to try something new to me.
I've made 3 loaves of bread, using 1kg AP white flour, 2 cups wheat bran, and 1kg water (is that 100% hydration? or do I take the bran into account?).
I thought I try a super quick no knead method, and see how that turns to. I let it rise only once, 4 teaspoons took it 40min. to double in volume. I then poured the sticky dough into 3 loaf tins (oiled and dusted with wheat bran), covered the tins all over with foil, then put them in oven for 1h at 425f (no pre-heating). No second rise, no keading and no resting. The result was a nice bread, open crumb, soft and tender all around. I used to do second and third rises, before and after shaping, plus resting periods. But, trying this super lazy method, I think I found no difference in taste and feel, if not better, due to the softening effect of steam captured by the foil, plus the high hydration ratio which gave open crumbs. The use of foil under and at top of the tins seemed to have spared me the harsh rims that my kids hate and always dispose of, and gave us the soft and tender texture that we were hoping for. My kids loved it so much, they like to eat it with a molass and tahini dip. My wife also liked it, but hinted that its a little bit moist. Do you think I should increase the baking time an extra 10min or so? or should I bake in higher temp.? I would love to hear your comments and advices.. which I learn from a lot.
Recipe:
1kg AP white flour
2cups wheat bran
4T sugar
4t instant dry yeast
3t salt
mix all the dry ingredients, then add:
1kg semi hot water
mix well, then cover in a warm spot (2min preheated oven) for 40min, or until double in size. spoon the dough into 3 loaf tins, coated with a few oil and dusted all over with wheat bran. Cover tins all over with foil, and bake in oven for 1h at 425f. No pre-heating.
From what I've read about "no-knead" bread is that you mix the day before, forget the temperature of the water used in the recipe, and not so much yeast. The small amount of yeast, the long fermentation should develop the gluten and flavor of the bread more. Your bread looks good, but lacking the spring of good gluten development. It should be easy to find a recipe for "no-knead" bread...probably even on youtube....will be just as easy as your method....you will just mix the day before.....ta daaaa!
then again....you made something the kids like.....that's worth a dozen artisanal recipes!
Thanks Rainwater for your comments. I know about the NYT no knead method, but this one is different.. it resembles it only in the 100% hydration part, and the capturing of steam during baking, though I used foil not a dutch oven. Its also a time and energy saver to start baking from a cold oven (no pre-heating in my recipe). My idea was to accomplish something super fast. I tried 20h fermentation before with sourdough starter, but the kids disliked the sour taste and it made them uneasy, so I stoppped using starters and slow fermentation methods, and turned to the much easier instant yeast.
I've read today that dough that uses instant yeast should be allowed merely to rest for 10 minutes only, then shaped directly in pans where it makes its 1 and only rise, and when doubled, its ready for baking. I'll definitely modify my recipe above to that method, since its how instant yeast should be handled, and because it makes things even simpler.