Epicurean Eats: Fantastic Chewy Bread

A friend of mine shared this fantastic recipe with me a while ago, and we decided to try it out on the weekend. The recipe is Michael Smith's No knead Bread. It is chewy, light, and easy to make! It has a thick crust and is so flavorful! There is a hint of sourdough taste, but not too bad. As my friend said "The kind of artisan bread you can usually only make in professional bakeries with a steam oven."

You will need to plan ahead to make this bread, as it takes over 24 hours to prepare. You will need

4 cups all-purpose or bread flour
1/2 teaspoon of active dry yeast
11/2 teaspoons salt
21/4 cups warm water
4 sticks of room temperature butter (sixteen ounces)

Whisk the dry ingredients together thoroughly. Add the water and stir until a wet dough forms. Continue stirring until the dough incorporates all the loose flour in the bowl, about 60 seconds in total.

Cover the bowl with a towel and rest in a warm place for 12 to 18 hours. It will double in size, bubble and long gluten strands will form. Lightly flour your hands and the work surface then remove the dough from the bowl. Quickly form it into a ball. Thoroughly flour a cotton towel and rest the dough on it. Cover it with another floured cotton towel.

You may also rest the dough on a non-stick ‘Silpat’ mat and cover it with just one towel. Rest the dough a second time. In 2 to 3 hours it will rise again and double in size once more. A half an hour or so before the dough is ready preheat your oven to 450 degrees. You may use cast-iron, steel, enamel or ceramic.

When the dough has fully risen slide your hand under the towel and quickly invert the delicate dough into the hot pot. Shake the pot a bit to settle it then place the lid on the pot and start baking.

Bake for 30 minutes with the lid then remove it and bake for 15 minutes more.