No Knead Bread

There is nothing more comforting than the smell of freshly baked bread. It just makes you feel at home, cozy, like you can hunker down and stay for awhile. Then, to cut into a slab of warm bread from the oven, slather it in butter and jam... Oh my, my mouth is watering already!

Lately, I have been really into making no knead bread. It's super easy - you just have to be aware of timing since this bread takes 18 hours to rise! All you need is four ingredients, a dutch oven (or casserole dish is fine, too), parchment paper, and time. Here's the recipe I use:

Ingredients:

3 cups all purpose flour

1/4 tsp instant or bread machine yeast

1/2 Tbsp salt

1.5 to 1.75 cup water

Instructions:

1. The day before you would like to bake your bread, combine flour, yeast, and salt in a bowl. Add 1.5 cups of lukewarm water (test with your pinky - it's the most sensitive finger) to start and add more (if needed) until dough is shaggy and sticky and there is no flour mixture left on the bottom.

2. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and let rise on the counter for 12-18 hours.

3. When it's time to bake, coat your hands in flour, sprinkle some flour on top of the dough and scrape it out of the bowl. The dough should be bubbly and light by this point. Form the dough into a ball and place onto a piece of parchment paper. Let it rise for an additional 30-60 minutes.

4. Preheat oven to 425F. While oven is preheating, put your dutch oven or casserole dish in to warm up as the oven heats. The dish needs to sit in the oven for an additional 15 minutes after preheating.

5. When the bread has finished rising, remove dish from oven, lift the parchment paper with the dough into the dish and cover it with the lid.

6. Return baking dish to the oven and bake for 30 minutes. Remove the lid and bake for an additional 15-20 minutes, or until the crust is a deep golden brown colour. Remove bread from the dish by lifting the parchment paper and allow to cool on a cooling rack before cutting and serving.

Enjoy!