19-Hour No-Knead Bread

This is my normal no-knead bread that I bake.

I tried a new bread recipe, sort of. It is the same 3-ingredient no-knead bread that uses less yeast, but it takes a total of 20 hours or so from start to finish and it bakes for a longer amount of time. The oven also preheats for an additional 30 minutes. So, the oven is on for a total of two hours. 

Was it worth it? Well, yes and no. I learned that the one-hour bake time is about 5 minutes too long in my oven, the oven does not need to preheat for an additional 30 minutes, and I don't mind the extra-long proofing time because it makes a nice open crumb loaf with a great crust. I will definitely bake this bread again. I will tweak the preheating and baking times.   

This is the baked bread loaf from the new recipe. It was just a little too dark for my taste, but it is a great loaf of bread.

Ingredients: 

3 1/2 Cups Bread flour

1 1/2 Cups + 2 tbs Water

2 tsp Salt

1/4 Tsp Yeast 

Instructions:

Mix all the ingredients together until all the flour is mixed in. Do not over mix the dough. Cover with a damp towel or plastic wrap. Let dough rise at room temperature for 12-18 hours. Wet your hands and stretch and fold in all the sides of the dough in the bowl. Move the dough onto parchment paper, seam side down. Place a bowl over the top of the dough and let rise for 2 hours. I used the same bowl that I mixed and proofed the dough in to cover it. After the first hour, preheat the oven to 450 F with your cast iron Dutch oven for 1 hour. Dust the of the loaf with a little flour and slit the top of the loaf. This allows the steam escape in a controlled manner. Transfer the loaf carefully into the Dutch oven. Bake Covered for 30 minutes. Take the lid off and bake uncovered for 25-30minutes more. Remove from the oven and let the baked loaf cool on a wire rack. The key to a crusty chewy crust is to bake it longer than you think. Check at the 25-minute mark. My oven cooks hotter than it should. 

Enjoy!

Mrs. Smith