It’s snowing like crazy right now, which for some reason instantly put me in the mood to bake some great fresh bread. I love the aroma of fresh bread and biting through a crispy crust when it’s fresh out of the oven. Mmmmm. But alas, I’m still working on access to my old pictures (…click here if you must know…), and I’m at work on lunch break. So instead, I’ve been searching for an excellent bread-making video to post on The Cooking Dish (and to break this non-recipe dry spell). I came across this YouTube video posted by the New York Times featuring the Sullivan Street Bakery’s head baker, Jim Lahey, who apparently can make a mean loaf of bread. I’d love to spend a day in his bakery learning to bake.
Jim uses 5 basic ingredients to whip up a simple loaf of bread with amazing taste. He says, “[It's] a truly minimalist breadmaking technique that allows people to make excellent bread at home with very little effort. The method is surprisingly simple — I think a 4-year-old could master it — and the results are fantastic.”
After watching the video though, I think you’d want to think twice before letting your 4-year-old kiddo make bread for you, unless of course you’re willing to nurse a lot of burned fingers.
This bread takes 14+ hours to make, but 93% of the time is spent rising, so honestly, it’s super simple. For good bread, allowing the dough to rise is the key. Unfortunately, I always make my breads as an afterthought: “Oh! I’d like bread for dinner!” which gives it 1 hour to rise. Time to slow down and do it right, Chris.
Enjoy the video.
The recipe can be found here: Jim Lahey’s No-Knead Bread.
And as always, my current iTunes music track:
Hey there! I just wanted to write an update to this post. I’ve made this bread three or so times since I’ve posted this article and it is way good. I’ll be creating yet another post about it once I take some pictures.