No Knead Bread? Sure I do. No need burnt bread!

[stuart]

Wow! I made my first WFO bread last night and was it good! Flavor that is, the bake was less than stellar though. I made the No Knead Bread recipe in the eBook, following the directions to a T. Well until it came to bake it. My wife was handling the other part of the meal and all I had to do was bake. I got anxious, underestimated the heat in the oven and the result was some pretty dark bread.

My hearth is unusually deep and makes placing a Dutch Oven into the oven difficult unless it's just inside the oven. Let me clarify, the deep hearth makes retrieving the Dutch Oven very difficult if placed too far in! I waited for the floor just inside the oven to cool to the recommended 550. Too bad the rest of the floor was 650!

When I removed the lid after 30 minutes of baking I realized there was no way I could continue the remaining 15 bake, especially uncovered as detailed in the recipe.

I retreated to my house, ready to face my wife's disappointment. Fortunately for me she actually likes slightly burned food! We let it cool (some) and sliced it open! I was expecting it would not be fully baked but was surprised to see that was not the case. The taste was fantastic!

After this first attempt I see just how well we need to know the heating and cooling characteristics of our ovens. Syncing the proofing bread with cooling your oven from higher temps will take some experience!

[DrakeRemoray]

Looks good Stuart!

I think the no knead recipe is really not a WFO recipe, it is more for the regular oven. I don't know what you gain by baking that in a WFO...

Drake

[stuart]

Thanks Drake.

When you think about it that makes sense. My wife was puzzled when I put the bread in the Dutch Oven, asking "Is that how you are supposed to cook in the oven?"

Tonight after making pizza I'll be doing a batch of pretzels, sans Dutch oven of course!