Bread-baking became a U.S. preoccupation during the pandemic. In some regions you couldn’t buy flour or yeast, not even for ready money*.
That wasn’t an issue for us, as we’d stocked up on both at Costco before the lockdown began. In fact, DF had been buying flour by the 50-pound bag for some time now. After all, he’d spent some of his formative years living in the Alaska Bush, with groceries delivered once a year. Having 50 pounds of ground grain just made sense.
In early summer we finally got around to trying a recipe I’d been meaning to check out for years: no-knead rustic bread. After we took our first bites, we understood exactly what the Internet has been bleating about since back in the oughties.
Damn, is it good. And damn, is it simple: four** ingredients, a bit of stirring, an overnight nap, a quick shaping and into a superheated oven.
The result is the best bread I’ve ever had. And we’ve become happily addicted to the stuff. “Daily bread” isn’t that far off: DF has been known to bake six times a week, depending on whether his grandkids have visited. Those two girls can eat more than a quarter of a loaf between them, with a slight gloss of butter (the preschooler) or with olive oil, salt and pepper (the sophisticated 8-year-old).
They stop eating only because we stop offering it. Yep, it’s really that good.
Variations of this recipe have been floating around online for quite a while. Some call it “overnight bread,” because it takes at least 12 hours to proof the dough. Then again, you could start it at 6 a.m. and have it for supper.
We just call it rustic bread. The recipe we jumped off with was from a blog called One Good Thing By Jillee, and I’m including the link as a token of my thanks.
Bread, our way
I say “jumped off with” because we fiddled Jillee’s recipe a bit. For starters, we use half water and half whey, which is drained off my homemade yogurt. The yeast seems to like it, and we like the added nutrition. We’re always looking for ways to use the stuff up, because each batch of yogurt I make generates about two quarts of whey.
We don’t use kosher salt; regular table salt works just fine. However, sometimes we sprinkle kosher salt atop a saucer of olive oil as a dip for the warm bread. How can such a humble pairing taste so divine? (Pro tip: Dollar stores sell kosher salt. I get several pounds of it when visiting my daughter in Phoenix. Some people buy postcards. I buy salt.)
Finally, we don’t mist the bread dough with water, as Jillee does. Maybe she was going for a firm crust, but we like it our way: tender, yet still chewy.
Mostly we use a cast-iron Dutch oven. You put it in the 450-degree oven for half an hour to create a bread oven within an oven. (As an Amazon affiliate, I may receive a small fee for items purchased through the links in this article.)
Some of that half-hour will be spent dumping the dough out of the bowl and shaping it into a big round loaf. (Or a round-ish one: See the illustration, above.) Then you flop the loaf onto a piece of parchment paper and wait for the 30-minute timer to ring so you can put it into the Dutch oven.
(On the subject of parchment paper, two simple tips make it last a lot longer. I wrote this up for a Money Talks News article. Bonus: You get to see a photo of our well-loved Dutch oven and DF’s well-loved hands lifting the bread out of it.)
Again: No kneading, just a bit of shaping with well-floured hands. You could mess this recipe up only through some private perversity not to enjoy delicious rustic bread.
Don’t have a Dutch oven? We’ve also baked it in a clay pot, creating a torpedo-like loaf similar to the “Italian bread” we sometimes bought when I was a kid. Since it works in a clay pot, it might also work in a lidded Pyrex baking dish, assuming you had one deep enough for a loaf.
The Italian bread of my youth could turn a pot of chili or beef stew into a feast. And that’s what we like most about this bread: It’s so good that you don’t care whether or not you eat anything with it. The texture is delightful, despite the fact that only a half-teaspoon of yeast is needed.
You read that correctly: a half-teaspoon. It’s the 12- to 18-hour resting time that gives the yeast a chance to grow to its full potential.
A frugal indulgence
Because we buy flour in bulk, we estimate it takes about 40 cents’ worth per loaf. (You could probably get the same price, or cheaper, by buying flour on sale and freezing it.) The rustic bread on sale at local bakeries, and even in the supermarket, starts at about $6 a loaf.
The cost of the yeast is negligible, since we buy it in bulk at Costco as well. We’re talking a penny at the most. And we won’t be buying that for a while anyway, because a few months after this article ran, someone in our Buy Nothing Facebook group gifted us a couple of large plastic totes full of baking products. Among them were a giant box of parchment paper, a product called “dough enhancer” (aka “dough improver“ or “dough conditioner“) and probably five years’ worth of yeast. Most of it is in our cool basement, waiting to be needed. Later, another Buy Nothing member gave us most of a 40-pound bag of bread flour; she was about to have a baby and wanted to clear the decks. I hope that all of you have the same kind of luck with your own Buy Nothing groups.
Incidentally, we initially thought this bread was so good it wouldn’t need any enhancing. But we gave the product a try and oh, my goodness, the enhancement was real. The crumb was more tender and the bread stayed fresh longer. Looking it up, I found that pro bakers use this stuff all the time. (We are nearing the end of the free dough enhancer, so I cashed in some Amazon gift cards from my Swagbucks account to buy more. You could also opt to look for recipes online to make your own dough enhancer, but I’m taking the easy way out.)
As for the superheated-oven part: We bake with natural gas, which is fairly inexpensive. DF hasn’t noticed much difference in the gas costs between last year and this year.
Even if it did kite the bill, I think we’d keep baking rustic bread. It’s a wonderful treat, hot from the oven. (Pro tip: An electric knife makes it much easier to slice.) It’s a terrific supplement to a meal that would otherwise be a bit spare – leftovers, say, or a pot of boiling bag soup. And the next morning it makes the most amazing toast ever, topped with a little of that homemade raspberry jam. No butter needed.
Best of all is the aroma, a glorious antidote to the cold, short and often overcast days of winter. As Thoreau might have written had he known of this recipe, the bread nourishes us twice: once in the baking and once in the eating. DF has often said that all he needs is simple food prepared and shared with love. This bread qualifies.
Readers: Have you ever baked rustic bread, or any other kind of bread?
*Oscar Wilde fans will see what I did there.
**Five, if you add the dough enhancer.
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Well, now I have to clean up and re-season Mama’s old cast iron Dutch oven, lol.
Making fresh bread is my husband’s hobby! Depending on the mood, he’ll add Asiago cheese, or walnuts, cinnamon and raisins. My favorite loaves involve bacon and cheddar.
I love to cook and bake, but my bread-baking has always been just “meh.” I look forward to trying this one. Thanks for the post, and the tips!
I’ve been baking this bread for at least ten years, using Jim Leahey’s recipe (I think that is his name). He originated it. It only calls for 1/4 tsp. of yeast. And yes, it’s amazingly good! My husband doesn’t like such a crispy crust, so he puts the bread in a plastic bag. Me, I prefer the rustic crust.
I’ve used a basic glass pan with a lid to bake it because I don’t have a Dutch oven and it’s turned out. When I take this bread to people or to a party (back in the day), they clamor for it!
I, too, have tweaked the recipe. Most recently I use one cup whole wheat flour that I have ground myself. It adds more texture but still rises. I’ve fiddled with adding orange and cranberry, herbs and nuts, and yes, it all turns out.
It’s miraculous!
I love to cook all kinds of things but hands down the thing I love to do most is bake bread. It’s a bit primal and earthy, then there’s that glorious smell when it’s baking, thrown in with childhood playdough memories – how can you go wrong? People think it’s difficult but it’s not and it’s very forgiving – unlike other baked goods. If you want a change of pace try challah. That is some fun dough to work with:) I have a recipe out of my Star Trek Cookbook (if you can believe that one!) I’ve been making since I was a kid. It maybe challah to the rest of the world, but it will always be Vulcan bread to me:)
I love baking challah and always make a round loaf for good luck for Rosh Hashana, the Jewish New Year. My cookbook (written by a Jewish grandma) actually says the dough is supposed to feel like a baby’s tushie, and that has never steered me wrong LOL.
I have terrible luck with yeast breads, even in the bread maker. This looks easy enough that I might be able to manage it. I think that I might try it this weekend. The raspberry jam looks great. Your garden really does well.
It does pretty well for being situated in Alaska, that’s for sure. Where I grew up we could grow just about anything; up here, not so much, or at least not without a lot of intervention.
Good luck with the bread-baking. I hope you’ll report back with your success.
My grandmother was known for her bread baking. I once stitched a cross stitch sampler that says,”Those who make bread seldom loaf” for her. I have it in my kitchen now. Now I bake bread, usually to go with soup and the like. Budget Bytes’ no-knead focaccia is a favorite. I think my favorite recipe is for buttermilk rye bread in the bread machine. Very nice with tuna salad.
I will be forever grateful to Budget Bytes for the red enchilada sauce recipe: criminally easy to make, incredibly cheap and you can control the sodium. It’s an essential ingredient for the black bean, quinoa and chicken enchilada casserole that we enjoy.
Now I feel I must try the no-knead focaccia. Thanks for the tip!
The first time I made the focaccia, I gave the leftovers to my daughter’s boyfriend. His response was, “Oh, thank God! I thought you’d never ask!” 😊 He really loved it.(He’s 18.)
I do bake no knead bread but use the peasant bread recipe of Alexandra from Alexandra’s kitchen– I also make my own everything bagel spice and coat it with that. I agree– it’s one of the best things. It makes the apartment smell good and it’s a very tasty reward (with pasta, with mussels, for breakfast, with jam for dessert). I freeze the loaf after I slice it and then break off as needed and toast. Your recipe sounds good and I will likely try that before the end of this year. Thank you!
I’ve made bagels a few times in my youth, but not lately. Now you’ve got me thinking….
Nice to hear from you, Sharon.
Oh I love that recipe from Alexandra’s Kitchen! I let the grand kids make it in small flowerpots. They ask to do it a lot
Bread-baking is addicting, at least for me! And after having tasted good bread that I made myself, I never buy bread anymore. I have some bread dough that I made with sourdough discard rising as I write this. My intention is to make it the Italian bread you mentioned above, hollow it out once baked and cooled, and then fill it with a meatloaf mixture to be baked again. I also bake bread into round loaves to hollow out and fill with soup. Enjoy your new adventure!
Ooohhhh….I’d thought about making smaller loaves and filling them with chili, but never thought of baking a meatloaf. I suppose at the lower temperature it wouldn’t burn the outside?
Yes, I bake it on a half-sheet pan (in case there’s a leak) at around 350 – 375 F. Brush the outer part of the loaf with melted butter before baking, top with the piece you cut off to fill the bread, and tent with foil as needed so it doesn’t burn.
Tell us more about how to bake the meatloaf in the loaf of bread, please! Would love to make that for my meatloaf loving husband.
That sounds SO good! And so easy….I’m going to try it. Thanks!! Ann
I’ve got a bread machine recipe I found online from “Granny Miller” (Katherine Grossman)..blog has since been shut down. I just use the dough cycle and then form and do the final rise in a sandwich loaf pan. Makes nice “regular” size slices.
The Kneady Homesteader did one the other day that called for sweetened condensed milk. I’m going to give that a go this weekend.
Love handling dough!
An update….the sweetened condensed milk bread was a meh. And I did not like the glaze on it at all. Meh.
Its funny when things went south last year, the first thing I did was head to a restaurant type supply place and by 25# of bread flour…Bouncer brand. I mentioned it at work…and the office manager said…”What? are you hoarding? Why would you need that much flour?!?!?” I dunno…Maybe my neighbors would trade something for a fresh loaf of bread. Just seems prudent lol.
I’m going to perfect this rustic loaf….looks like a cabin thing.
The rustic bread uses a pound of flour. We bake it at least twice a week, and sometimes three or four times (depending on who’s been over to help us eat it). Then we use flour for other things, from cookies to gravy to piecrust. Thus a 50-pound bag of flour doesn’t last nearly as long as I think it will, and a 25-pound bag could be used up in two months.
Currently we have a three-quarters-full bag in the kitchen and another 50-pound bag in the pantry. As you say, it’s prudent.
I have another hack for this amazing recipe to turn it into pizza dough. Add 2 tablespoons of olive oil when mixing up the dough. Then after the rise, stretch and shape half the dough flat and round. You can even throw the dough if you’re feeling daring. Bake at 500 degrees for 4-6 minutes, then remove add sauce and toppings and bake until the cheese is bubbly and brown.
Ooohhhhh….Thanks!
Try subbing beer for half the water. It will give the bread a stronger “yeast” taste with. Cheap beer works fine.
I’ve heard of beer bread. But we use some yogurt whey in place of some of the water and like the flavor just fine. Slightly sourdough but not really.
I’m not a bread baker so I don’t know how much of anything to put in. The recipe (I double checked) doesn’t give the amount of flour, yeast, water and salt. No one else mentioned this so perhaps they are more savvy with breadmaking than me. If I know these amounts, I will definitely make it.
Thanks,
Amy
Keep scrolling down. It’s waaaaay at the bottom, a boxed item that says “No-Knead Overnight Bread” in green letters.
Hope you have the same success we’ve had. Partner has a bowl of dough ready to go into the oven right now, in fact.