Most regular packaged breads are considered to be ultraprocessed foods since they are usually made with added emulsifiers and gluten to extend their shelf life.
Don’t panic.
There are other foods that are worse than bread.
But, if you’d like to go back to basic bread - the kind that actually goes stale and hard after a few days - it can be done.
There is a very popular recipe that has been around for a few years.
It’s easy and will give your budget a boost.
Jim Lahey of Sullivan Street Bakery in New York City has become famous for his no-knead artisan bread recipe.
Lahey's bread is made from flour, yeast, salt, and water.
That’s it.
It was one of the THE breads to make when everyone was baking during Covid.
Hints:
About the Jim Lahey’s No-Knead Bread…
Instant or ‘rapid rise’ yeast is yeast that has been crushed into finer granules that enable it to dissolve more quickly.
Since it doesn’t need to be dissolved in warm water, you don’t have to proof it.
If you cannot find instant yeast, substitute active dry yeast proof and continue.
If the room is cool the dough will rise more slowly. As long as 24 hours may be necessary.
The cornmeal helps to prevent the dough from sticking and adds a little texture to the bread. You can use wheat bran or more flour instead of the cornmeal.
The bread must cool on a rack for at least an hour to allow the crust to set and the interior to finish baking.
Leftovers can be stored in a plastic bag at room temperature for up to 3 days.
About the Scored No-Knead Bread with Variations…
Bread flour will give a chewier texture, while whole wheat flour will give a nuttier flavour. You may need to adjust the water slightly.
Before the first rise you can fold in herbs, garlic, olives, or seeds for variety.
Store in a paper bag or wrapped in a clean kitchen towel to maintain its crust.
Plastic bags can make the crust soft.
Serve with soups or stews or for sandwiches.
Or garnish with a drizzle of olive oil and balsamic vinegar for a simple appetizer.
About the Quicker No Knead Bread…
Shaping the dough into a round loaf on a piece of parchment paper makes it easier to load and unload the bread from the oven. Shape the loaf into a tight round to get a higher rise.
About the No Knead Artisan French Bread…
This loaf can also be baked uncovered on a preheated baking sheet. To have enough moisture while baking, place a metal baking pan with boiling water in a corner of the oven to produce a chewy crust outside with big holes and a soft texture inside.
Jim Lahey’s No-Knead Bread
Place in a large bowl
3 Cups bread flour or all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon instant yeast
1 1/4 teaspoons salt
Stir together.
Add
1 1/3 Cups lukewarm water
Mix with a spoon until you have a shaggy, sticky dough. This should take 30 seconds.
Cover the bowl set it aside to rest, about 72° F room temperature, for at least 12 hours; 18 hours is better.
Generously flour your work surface and lightly flour your hands.
Use a rubber spatula to turn the dough onto the surface.
Gently and quickly lift the edges of the dough in toward the centre, folding the dough over onto itself. Nudge and tuck in the edges of the dough to make it round.
Generously coat a cotton towel with cornmeal, wheat bran or flour.
Place the dough, seam side down, on the towel and dust the surface with a little more cornmeal, wheat bran or flour.
Cover the dough with another cotton towel and let it rise for about 2 hours.
The dough will be double in size and will hold the impression of your fingertip when you poke it lightly.
If the dough readily springs back, let it rise for another 15 minutes.
A half hour before the dough is done with its second rise, place the oven rack to the lower third position.
Preheat the oven to 450° F
Place a 6- to 8-quart heavy pot and its lid (whether cast iron, enamel, Pyrex or ceramic) in the oven.
When the dough is done with its second rise, carefully take the pot from the oven and remove the lid.
Uncover the dough, lift it up and quickly but gently turn it over into the pot, seam side up, being very careful not to touch the pot.
Cover pot with its lid and bake for 30 minutes.
Remove the lid and bake 15 to 30 minutes more, until the loaf is beautifully browned.
Using heatproof spatula or pot holders, lift bread out of the pot and place it on a rack.
Don’t slice it until it has cooled at least 60 minutes.
No-Knead Bread with Variations
Place in a large bowl
1 1/4 Cups lukewarm water, about 70° F
1/4 teaspoon active dry yeast
Gently stir together with wooden spoon, then add
2 Cups flour
Mix with a wooden spoon until just combined.
Add
1 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 Cup flour
Stir together until all flour is combined and it forms a shaggy ball of dough.
Cover bowl with plastic wrap and let stand at room temperature for 18 to 24 hours.
Sprinkle onto bottom of an oven-safe pot or Dutch oven
3 Tablespoons cornmeal
Lightly flour a work surface and place dough on it.
Carefully scrape dough out of bowl onto work surface.
Grab edges of dough, pull them up, fold into centre, then push them down.
The dough should form a ball with a little seam on top.
Set ball seam side down into prepared pot and cover.
Allow dough to rise while oven preheats to 450º F
When oven is hot, brush top of dough with
1 Tablespoon olive oil
Score the dough a few times with a sharp knife.
Sprinkle top with
Flaky sea salt or kosher salt
Cover pot and bake 35 minutes.
Remove lid and bake 25 minutes, until golden brown.
Remove loaf from pot and let cool on a wire rack for at least 30 minutes (1 to 2 hours is better) before slicing.
Easy No-Knead Bread
Place in a large bowl
3 1/4 Cups flour
2 teaspoons kosher salt
3/4 teaspoon instant yeast
Stir to combine, then make a well in the centre.
Add
1 1/2 Cups warm water
Using a wooden spoon, stir until a wet, sticky dough forms, about 1 to 2 minutes.
Cover bowl tightly with plastic wrap and let stand in a warm place until doubled in size and surface is dotted with bubbles, about 6 to 8 hours.
Lightly flour a work surface and place dough on it.
Fold dough over itself 3 to 4 times, turning after each fold.
Gently shape dough into a round.
Cover the dough with a dishtowel and allow it to rest at room temperature until it has doubled in size, about 1 hour.
About 15 minutes after covering the dough, preheat the oven to 450° F
Place a 4-qt Dutch oven, covered, in the oven for 30 minutes.
Remove pot from the oven, remove lid, and place dough into the Dutch oven.
Using a sharp knife, make a few shallow cuts on the top.
Cover and place in the oven and bake 30 minutes.
Remove cover and continue baking about 15 minutes until golden brown.
Let cool 60 minutes on a wire rack.
Quicker No-Knead Bread
Place in a large bowl
3 Cups flour
2 teaspoons salt
3/4 teaspoon active dry yeast
Stir to combine and make a well in the centre.
Add
1 1/2 Cups lukewarm water
Stir until it forms a shaggy dough.
Cover the bowl with a kitchen towel.
Set in a warm place to rise until doubled in size and bubbly, 6 to 8 hours.
Lightly flour a piece of parchment paper.
Turn the dough out onto it, folding it over on itself at least once.
Quickly shape the dough into a round ball.
Cover with a kitchen towel and let rise for 1 hour or more, until doubled in size.
About 15 minutes after covering the dough, preheat the oven to 450° F
Place a 4-qt Dutch oven, covered, in the oven for 30 minutes.
Remove pot from the oven and remove lid.
Using the parchment paper, carefully transfer the loaf, still on the paper, to the Dutch oven.
Make a slash on the top of the dough with a sharp knife so that the bread can expand while baking.
Place the lid on the pot and put it in the oven.
Bake covered for 30 minutes.
Remove the lid and bake for 15 minutes more.
Remove pot from the oven and transfer the bread to a wire rack.
Let cool at least 15 minutes before slicing the bread.
No-Knead French Bread
Place in a large bowl
2 1/4 teaspoons yeast granulated yeast
2 1/2 Cup lukewarm water
Add
3 1/2 Cups flour
1 Tablespoon salt
Cover and let sit for 8 to 24 hours.
Flour a work surface with
1 Cup flour
Scrape the dough out and toss gently in the flour for no more than 3 to 4 minutes, keeping any air bubbles that have formed.
Wrap dough in a very well floured towel and let sit for 1 to 2 hours.
About 30 minutes before baking, put a covered cast iron pot in the oven and heat at 450º F
After 30 minutes remove from the oven, dump the bread in, cover and bake for 30 minutes.
Remove the lid, lower the heat to 400º F, and bake for 20 minutes, until golden brown.
Cool on a rack at least 30 minutes.
No-Knead Bread Recipe from Yeast Packet
Place in a large bowl
1 1/2 Cups warm milk or water
2 Tablespoons sugar
2 1/4 teaspoon instant yeast
Let it sit for 5 to 10 minutes until foamy.
Add
3 1/2 Cups flour
1 1/4 teaspoon salt
3 Tablespoons oil
Stir until combined.
Cover and let rise for about 1 hour, or until doubled in size.
Shape as needed, for bread, pizza, cinnamon rolls, or dinner rolls, then place in greased pans.
Let dough rise for 30 minutes.
Pre-heat oven to 375º F
Bake 30 to 60 minutes until item is golden brown.
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Back in 2002 I wrote an essay for the CKUW radio show ‘2000 & Counting' about getting Christmas gifts.
Goodness, that was twenty-three years ago, and a month before Christmas.
It was a meant as a light piece, filled with hints.
Many of our listeners were seniors or college students, folks known for having to stretch their dollars.
Christmas shopping hasn’t changed all that much. Darn!!
If you’re not finished with your shopping this is definitely crunch time!
Okay… listen up! There are four weeks left until Christmas. That means gifts. I know, I know, it's more blessed to give than to receive. But, unless you have ways of shopping that you'd like to keep secret, giving gifts means money.
It's a little late to start a Christmas gift account at your bank and the utility companies really lose that Ho Ho Ho spirit if you try to skip paying their bills.
If the charge cards are already maxed out - or you just want to keep your nearest and dearest on a cash and carry basis - gift getting is going to take a little effort.
Desperate times call for desperate measures. As we're all stuck with holidays - oh, lucky us - I'll tell you some of my desperate measures.
Live off your hump. You know what I mean. Things like the 18 cans of tuna you have left from the time you bought 20 cans so you could get 50 bonus airmiles. Now's the time to crack those babies open. I know the family hates tuna. That's why there are 18 little cans of fishies swimming around your pantry. Well, the family would hate a Giftless Christmas even more. Think about it. Lousy dinners happen to everybody. But the family Grinch who comes up giftless at Christmas gets blabbed about throughout the neighbourhood and the generations. You don't want to be remembered by your great great grandchildren as Granny Grinchie.
Try creative cooking. Pretend you're on the TV show Iron Chef. You've just been given a tube of ground beef, a bag of marshmallows, a jar of salsa, a bottle of raspberry vinegar, a carton of frozen spinach, a jar of maraschino cherries and a box of rice-a-roni. Think only a nut throws odd things together? How do you think raspberry vinegar was invented? If the family gets snarky, tell them you found the recipe in a magazine - Drop names. Martha is always good - and if they can't appreciate all the effort you put into making dinner interesting… Well! You know the speech. Remember, guilt, when the other person has it, is a good thing.
Go ethnic. Granny's recipes don't have to be saved for Folklorama. God bless ancestors. Go to an ethnic restaurant and get a load of the prices they charge for a plate of pasta fagioli (that's noodles and beans). Grandma would die laughing if she saw those prices. Starch and beans got millions of people through tough times. Go thou and eat likewise.
Beans aren't good enough? Go past the recognizable cuts and shop the mystery meats. Put enough spices on them and the family won't know what hit them. I once made spaghetti and meatballs using animal organs only a mother could love. Guess what? Hubby had invited a friend. Well, the buddy was getting a free meal, so I followed the Cook’s Golden Rule: Don't apologize and don't explain. The buddy said it was delicious, like the meatballs they serve at the Bay. Hmmm… I notice the Bay is still in business. There's more than one way to skin a cat.
Shop your house. No kidding. Grab a bag and stroll through your house. Look for things somebody foisted… uh… gave to you. Well, why should you be stuck with it until you're six feet under? Unless it was made by your preschooler - don't even think it, they DO remember - you're free to pass it on to someone else. Just don't give it to the person who gave it to you.
Pack your own. Ever notice the little overpriced goodies the stores stuff into baskets and bowls? One current gift item is a box of pasta, a tin of sauce, some cheese and some wooden spoons nestled within a large bowl. Are you too stupid to do the same thing? I didn’t think so. It's one way to get rid of some of those extra airmiles purchases. Let somebody else eat the tuna.
Still thinking about the folks in the flyers looking wildly happy over a toaster?
Toss the flyers. Those models were paid big bucks. Stores want you to buy. A stress free family holiday is not their goal. If they had their way you'd replace everything and pay 50% interest.
Remember how the best presents were things that showed that someone cared? Maybe somebody hunted down an out-of-print book by your favorite author.
The gadgets that looked amazing seem strange on December 26.
While you're shopping, get yourself some treats.
I have a friend who picks up a bag of pfeffernusse cookies every year. When she feels like all she's doing is giving, giving, giving, she pops a pfeffernusse and gives herself an old time Christmas. It doesn't take much.
God bless us, everyone.
