Artisan bread at home: No need to knead

For physician Jeffrey Hertzberg and baker Zoe Francois, the journey to no-knead bread began innocently enough.
While their toddlers learned to play the xylophone in a Minneapolis music class, Hertzberg began telling Francois about his no-knead, 5-minute mix of flour, salt, yeast and water.

Made in large batches, the dough can be refrigerated for weeks and baked one loaf at a time by simply cutting off a piece, letting it rise, shaping and baking.

Trained in traditional methods, Francois was skeptical, but she saw promise in the chemistry Hertzberg was selling: a wetter-than-average dough that was easier to handle and simple to work with.

This month, the duo is releasing their second book on no-knead bread, joined by tomes from two fellow bread pioneers.

Bread has followed a rocky path in American culture of late. Demonized during the low-carb craze of the 1990s, bread resurfaced as the darling of the artisanal movement. The desire to have those fancy and healthy loaves at home spawned interest in low- and no-knead bread-making methods.

“I think there is a real interest lately in do-it-yourself projects and bread falls in that,” says Karen Bornarth, head of the bread department at The French Culinary Institute in New York. “Supermarket breads or commercial breads, if you read the labels they are filled with preservatives. There are not a lot of bakeries out there. Bakeries are dying. So if (people) want good bread, they have to make it themselves.”

Trained at the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, N.Y., Francois embraced Hertzberg’s method after checking it out herself.

“When I tried it, it really was revolutionary, and was mind boggling because it went against everything I had been taught,” she said. “Everybody had to know about this.”

The first book from the two, “Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day” (Thomas Dunne Books, 2007), was well received and has 200,000 copies in print. This month, they release “Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day.” Two other no- or low-knead bread bakers also put out books in October: Jim Lahey with “My Bread” (W.W. Norton & Co.) and Peter Reinhart (who pledges ease more than outright no-knead) with “Artisan Breads Everyday” (Ten Speed Press).

To those counting the minutes, no-knead bread doesn’t really take just five minutes. The reference refers to the time it takes to mix ingredients, not taking into account resting time and baking. But critics and proponents agree it’s a vast improvement over the laborious process of making artisan breads using classic methods — kneading and rising, with starters to consider for sourdough or rye.

“I am fine going on record saying this five-minute thing is silly,” says cookbook author Mark Bittman. “It’s just marketing, but it doesn’t detract from the fact that it is a good technique and a good idea. I think to the extent that you can take kneading out of bread making it’s great. Kneading is a mess.”

The books all preach the same basic principles: Make it simple.

“The books are accessible to people who have never baked bread,” Hertzberg says. “The key to our books is that if you don’t teach people how to store it, they are not going to do it often. It’s giving people the freedom to create a bread that fits in their diet or the way they eat.”

In their new book, Hertzberg and Francois have gone one step further, meeting the needs of people who have approached them about baking breads that use less sugar, healthy grains, fruits and vegetables, and are friendly to those with allergies or food sensitivities.

Figuring out how to simplify healthy breads is exactly how Hertzberg and Francois have spent most of their free time during the past year. They live in southwest Minneapolis, across from each other on Lake Harriet. Each spends a good part of their day baking several loaves. For both books, they have used the same trial-and-error method, simplifying without compromising quality.

For healthier breads, they agonized over how to incorporate spelt flour, which is lower in gluten. They struggled to figure out how to substitute for the fluffiness of eggs and the right amount of canola oil needed to replace butter.
The way the bread feels in the mouth was of primary importance.

“In this book, we wanted to have that same sensation, but have it be healthier,” Francois said.

To achieve taste and feel for gluten-free breads, for example, Francois turned to xanthan gum, which “mimics the gluten.”

“To try and get those flours to mimic what people want in a mouth feel was a challenge,” she says. “It was a lot of sleepless nights and frustration, and then we got it.”

CHEESE BREAD
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Yield: 1 (10-inch) round loaf

3 cups bread flour
2 1/2 cups cubed (1/2-inch cubes) pecorino cheese
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon instant or other active dry yeast
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 1/3 cups cool (55-65 degrees) water
Wheat bran, cornmeal or additional flour, for dusting

Procedure:
1. In medium bowl, stir together flour, cheese, salt, yeast and pepper. Add water and, using wooden spoon or your hand, mix until you have a wet, sticky dough, about 30 seconds. Cover bowl and let sit at room temperature until surface is dotted with bubbles and dough has more than doubled in size, 12-18 hours.
2. When first rise is complete, generously dust work surface with flour. Use bowl scraper or rubber spatula to scrape dough out of bowl in one piece. Using lightly floured hands, bowl scraper or spatula, lift edges of the dough in toward center. Nudge and tuck in edges of dough to make it round.
3. Place tea towel on work surface and generously dust it with wheat bran, cornmeal or flour. Gently place dough on towel, seam-side down. If dough is tacky, dust top lightly with wheat bran, cornmeal or flour. Fold ends of tea towel loosely over dough and place in warm, draft-free spot to rise 1-2 hours. Dough is ready when it is almost doubled. If you gently poke it with your finger, it should hold the impression. If it springs back, let it rise another 15 minutes.
4. Half an hour before end of second rise, preheat oven to 475 degrees; place rack in lower third of oven. Place covered 4 1/2- to 5 1/2-quart heavy ovenproof pot in center of rack.
5. Using pot holders, carefully remove heated pot from oven and uncover it. Unfold tea towel and quickly but gently invert dough into pot, seam-side up. Use caution; pot will be very hot. Cover pot and bake 30 minutes. Remove lid and continue baking until bread is a deep chestnut color, but not burnt, about 15-30 minutes more.
6. Use heatproof spatula or pot holders to gently lift bread out of pot and place it on rack to cool thoroughly.

Source: Jim Lahey’s “My Bread: The Revolutionary No-work, No-knead Method,” by Jim Lahey

WILD RICE AND ONION BREAD
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Yield: 2 large loaves or many rolls

6 cups unbleached bread flour
2 1/4 teaspoons table salt, or 3 1/2 teaspoons coarse kosher salt
2 tablespoons instant yeast
1 cup cooked wild rice, or another cooked grain
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 1/2 cups lukewarm water (about 95 degrees)
1/2 cup lukewarm buttermilk or any other milk (about 95 degrees)
1/4 cup minced or chopped dried onions, or 2 cups diced fresh yellow onion (about 1 large onion)
1 egg white, for egg wash (optional)
1 tablespoon water, for egg wash (optional)

Procedure:
1. In large bowl, combine all ingredients except egg white and 1 tablespoon water for egg wash. If using mixer, use paddle attachment and mix 1 minute on lowest speed. If mixing by hand, use large spoon and stir 1 minute. Dough should be sticky, coarse and shaggy. Let dough rest 5 minutes.
2. Switch to dough hook and mix on medium-low speed, or continue mixing by hand, 4 minutes, adding flour or water as needed to keep dough ball together. Dough should be soft, supple and slightly sticky.
3. Transfer dough to lightly floured work surface. Knead 2- 3 minutes, adding more flour as needed to prevent sticking. Dough will still be soft and slightly sticky, but will hold together to form a soft, supple ball.
4. Place dough in clean, lightly oiled bowl, cover tightly with plastic wrap and immediately refrigerate overnight or for up to 4 days. If you plan to bake the dough in batches over different days, you can portion the dough and place it into two or more oiled bowls at this stage.)
5. When ready to bake, remove dough from refrigerator about 2 hours before you plan to bake.
6. Shape dough into one or more sandwich loaves or into freestanding loaves of any size, which you can shape as batards, baguettes or boules, or into rolls.
7. When shaping, use only as much flour as necessary to keep dough from sticking. For sandwich loaves, let dough rise in greased loaf pans. For freestanding loaves and rolls, line sheet pan with parchment paper or a silicone mat and let dough rise on pan.
8. Mist top of dough with spray oil and cover loosely with plastic wrap. Let dough rise at room temperature 1 1/2-2 hours, until increased to about 1 1/2 times its original size. In loaf pans, dough should dome at least 1 inch above rim.
9. For shinier rolls, whisk egg white and water together and use it to brush tops of rolls before baking.
10. About 15 minutes before baking, preheat oven to 350 degrees, or 300 degrees for a convection oven.
11. Bake loaves 10-15 minutes, then rotate pan; rotate rolls after 8 minutes. Total baking time is 45-55 minutes for loaves, and 20-25 minutes for rolls.
12. Bread is done when it has a rich golden color, the loaf sounds hollow when thumped on the bottom, and the internal temperature is above 185 degrees at the center. Cool on wire rack at least 20 minutes for rolls or 1 hour for loaves before slicing
.
Source: Recipe from “Peter Reinhart’s Artisan Breads Every Day”

WHOLE-GRAIN GARLIC KNOTS WITH PARSLEY AND OLIVE OIL
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Yield: 4 pounds dough/5 to 20 rolls

MASTER DOUGH
5 1/2 cups whole-wheat flour
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tablespoons granulated yeast
1 tablespoon kosher salt
1/4 cup vital wheat gluten
4 cups lukewarm water

ROLLS
1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 cup finely minced fresh parsley
4 cloves garlic, finely minced
2 tablespoons Parmesan cheese
1-2 tablespoons blended seeds (such as sesame, flax, caraway, raw sunflower, poppy and anise)

Procedure:
1. In 5-quart bowl or, preferably, a resealable, lidded plastic food container or food-grade bucket (not airtight), whisk together both flours, yeast, salt and vital wheat gluten.
2. Add water all at once and mix without kneading, using a spoon, a 14-cup food processor (with dough attachment), or a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. You might need to use wet hands to get the last bit of flour to incorporate if not using a machine.
3. Cover dough loosely with plastic wrap or a cover. Allow mixture to rise at room temperature until it begins to collapse (or at least flattens on the top), approximately 2 hours.
4. After rising, refrigerate in lidded (not airtight) container and use over the next 14 days. This recipe makes 4 pounds of dough. Each pound makes 5 rolls. To prepare the rolls, use 1 pound of dough, refrigerating the remaining dough until ready to use.
5. To prepare dough as garlic knots, add oil to large skillet over medium heat. Add parsley and garlic, then sauté 4 minutes, or until parsley is soft and mixture is aromatic. Add more olive oil if mixture looks too dry.
6. Break off 1 pound dough (returning the rest to the refrigerator). Dust surface of dough with flour, then divide it into 3-ounce pieces (about the size of small peaches).
7. Dust each piece with more flour and quickly shape into a ball. To do this, gently stretch the surface of the top of the ball down and under to the bottom on all four sides, rotating the ball a quarter-turn as you go.
8. Elongate each ball into a rope a little less than 1/2 inch in diameter, and tie a knot in the center of the rope. 9. Allow to rest 30 minutes on olive oil-coated baking sheet or baking sheet lined with a silicone mat or parchment paper.
10. Meanwhile, place baking stone on oven’s center rack. Place an empty broiler tray on bottom rack. Heat the oven to 450 degrees.
11. Drizzle olive oil, garlic and parsley mixture over knots. You may have some left over for another batch.
12. Place baking sheet on stone, pour 1 cup hot tap water into broiler tray, and quickly close oven door. Bake for about 20 minutes, until browned and firm. Serve slightly warm.

Source: Recipe adapted from “Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day,” byJeff Hertzberg and Zoe Francois