This recipe has become a staple in my household routine. First time I
made it, it was much too wet to leave its towel; a mess. After that,
I forgot the whole towel thing: leaving the dough in an oiled bowl
does no harm at all. Having made the bread successfully several
times, I've since departed from the original recipe and have made
sweet, savory and sourdough variations. Although all have been good,
I must say the one I like best is the original plain white-flour
version, no sugar, no fat, just that quarter-teaspoon yeast. Well, I
do use 2 tsp. salt instead of the 1 tsp. in the original recipe; from
reading posts on other forums, most people like more salt. Like with
other doughs, you get a feel for how it should be before setting it
to rise. It looks like a batter when first set to rise, but becomes
more solid after 15 hours or so - that's my experience, in my Israeli
kitchen with my Israeli flour. It's necessary to sprinkle more flour
over the mass in order to get it to fold; about 1/4 cup.
This recipe calls for flexibility in the mind of the baker, I think.
I don't measure how much flour it takes to get the dough to shape,
just sprinkle it under and over the mass, rather stingily, till it
can be folded. This is where I get my physical contact with the
dough, not as satisfactory as kneading, but you do feel you've had
your hands in it. As for baking - my oven has no back vent, it
contains all the steam. I preheat a seasoned clay saucer, gently dump
the folded dough onto it (having placed a circle of baking paper on
the saucer just before), and let it bake till done, about 45 minutes
at 230 C. I would probably have to find a Dutch oven if my oven had
the conventional back vent, or experiment with a wok that sits on a
ring or a flame tamer. Anyway, I did bake this dough the covered way,
using a Pyrex bowl over my clay saucer, and while it worked fine,
handling the hot equipment was a pain. The bread comes out lovely
without all that.
To me, it was worthwhile mastering this recipe. As I said, it's
become part of the routine. That doesn't mean I've given up other
breads, just that I've got another good recipe down. Friday mornings
I'm still kneading away at the sweet, eggy challah dough, because
that's what the family expects and what I want for Shabbat, too. I
must say though, that the no-knead recipe takes so little attention
that it's likely to remain the standard weekday loaf...till another
fascinating recipe comes along.
Miriam