No-Knead Crusty Boule
You are four simple ingredients (and some time) away from a crusty, yet tender, loaf of bread. With just bread flour, salt, yeast, and water you can make a bakery-style loaf right in your own kitchen. Didn’t plan ahead, and want to get started right away? All-purpose flour will work, but the beauty of bread flour (we love King Arthur Unbleached Bread Flour) is that its high gluten content will give the loaf extra structure. When measuring out the ingredients, a digital scale is the most accurate, but if that’s not an option just make sure to use dry measuring cups for the flour and a liquid measuring cup for the water. (Bread is easy; the hardest part is being diligent while measuring the ingredients.) Once you’ve got a well-combined mixture, be patient with the time it needs to rest. A nice, long rise in a warm spot is how the dough develops deep flavor. The second rise is much shorter—only 2 hours max. Then, it’s time to dust off the trusty Dutch oven, preheat it in a hot oven, and get that bread baking. “The pot acts as an oven within the oven, trapping the steam created by the dough,” says Jim Lahey, the founder of Sullivan Street Bakery in New York City, who helped popularize the no-knead method. How do you know when it’s ready? Tap the top of the loaf to test for doneness. According to Apollonia Poilâne, CEO and owner of the famed Poilâne bakery in Paris, it “should sound like knocking on a wooden door.” Do stick to that 1 hour of cooling time after it comes out of the oven for the loaf to complete its magic. You won’t regret it.