If and when I ever find some yeast in the supermarket, I’m wondering about no knead bread. I have a huge 7 quart Le Cruset Dutch oven. I vaguely remember years ago that my loaf was dwarfed by the big pot.
I do have a smaller stainless steel pot with a lid. Does anyone have any experience with using stainless steel instead of cast iron?
Usually I make popover batter the night before but the urge struck and I Looked in a few books… an old James beard cookbook had a recipe that not only didn’t rest the batter but put them into a cold oven turned on to 425. Not as puffy and dramatic but still very tasty and worth repeating.
Type no knead in her search bar. I’ve made sweet and savory breads using her rec’s. She teaches and answers question by email too.
I like the Almost no knead bread by American test kitchen 3.0, the one I made was close to a bakery version.
Stroll down for the recipe.
https://www.reddit.com/r/AskCulinary/comments/16kp4d/trouble_with_the_jim_lahey_noknead_bread_recipe/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x
My test on chocolate croissant, pain au chocolat. Puff pastry was store bought.
Since the dough is mainly for tart or pie, it was more condensed than I’ve imagined, less airy than anticipated. The one on the right was simply too small. Tested different way to fold as well.
Next time will try to make the puff pastry, which is quite time consuming. On the whole, these were ok, but need more butter and more puffy to taste good.
The chocolate bars used in the croissants.
Agree with @naf on the ATK Almost No-Knead recipe. Better and more consistent results than the Lahey for almost no extra work, although the Lahey recipe works well too.
Speaking of bread, I made a four-day focaccia today - 80% hydration with 5% olive oil added to the dough, plus a copious amount for oiling the pan and dumpling the dough. I used natural yeast and just did a few slap and folds before putting it into the fridge for a four day bulk ferment. Shaped it today in a deep pan, topped with caramelized onions, ground rosemary and Maldon sea salt. It needed about 3 hours rising to get nice and pillowy, then into a 450 oven for 23 mins. Irresistible. Texture and flavor both excellent. Large, irregular holes, tender and chewy at the same time with a thin, crackly crust.
Here’s a printable copy of ATK since they are not free on their own site.
AKitchen link is the author of a bread book and she’s been very helpful to my bread baking. I like how she adapts one solid recipe into multi uses with meal suggestions. I used her pizza dough to make the sticky buns…with her rec alterations.
Close enough for quarantine!
Since puff pastry doesn’t have the yeast that croissants have, maybe it would work to wrap the filling much more loosely so the dough has more room to puff?
Great weave but your crimp is spectacular!
Thank you for the no-knead recipe suggestions! I went with a multi-grain recipe found through the reddit link @naf shared, and I’ll use the rise and bake method in the CI #3 recipe. Fingers crossed.
Ricotta donuts. Used some fresh lemon buttermilk ricotta and lemon zest. It was the second time I’ve made donuts and these came out perfect. Light, fluffy, not too sweet. Perfect with a big latte.
Great! Let us know how yours will turn out. With different cereal flour, usually the water need to be adjusted slightly when compared with the normal flour, even the yeast too.
I see! Thanks for pointing that out.
I’ve always made the assumption that puff pastry and croissant pastry are the same dough. LOL!
I just checked the recipes to make puff and croissant pastry, both request a dry butter of 84% fat. In supermarket, one can only find a butter with 82% fat, one needs to go to a specialist shop to get that extra 2%. Can one use the 82% fat butter, Grand Fermage from Poitou-Charentes (82 g fat and 57 g saturated fat in 100 g *) for example ? Does one need to adjust the recipe when using a higher water content butter? Thanks a lot.
*I don’t know if you use metric system in American pro pastry making or not. I have a few bread books from US, and I see “grams” and “ml” are included. So let me know, I can try to convert to US system.
Croissant and puff are similar, both being ‘laminated’ doughs with layers of dough and butter rolled and folded multiple times to create the layers. But croissants have yeast to make them rise, milk for tenderness, and often a bit of sugar.
At this point I wouldn’t worry about +/- 2% butterfat, use what you have and focus on technique. To be honest, croissants from scratch are something I’ve only tried a few times and not been very successful, I think I was impatient about chilling the dough between turns to keep the butter firm.
I weigh everything in grams now, switched 12 years ago when I worked in Asia and realized how much easier the math is when multiplying or dividing recipes.
Thanks for the no-knead tips. I went with a wholegrain recipe that linked off of one of the Reddit links that @naf shared: https://pixelsandcrumbs.com/blog/2016/2/4/wheat-bread
But I followed the ATK 3.0 instructions to put the risen dough in a cold enameled cast iron, and put it in the oven while it preheats. Next time I’ll make the same recipe but add a sour beer in place of some of the water.
That’s one good looking loaf. Congratulations. Time to break out the butter!
Looks good! Do you like the taste?
It was pretty good but could have been more flavorful. I can see how beer and vinegar would help with that. The texture was very good. I might let it rise a tiny bit longer next time. With the appearance I was expecting a sourdough tang, but of course, it wasn’t.
One thing you could try (if you are interested in experimenting a bit) is the same recipe but a long proof in the fridge (overnight +). I have found a bit of sourdough flavor with a long proof. I’ve tried real sourdough many times over the years, but I get annoyed and end up tossing it. I also have realized, I don’t LOVE sourdough enough to warrant the trouble. 
I agree. The best tasting bread I’ve made included a 2.5 rise under a kitchen towel in an oven w the light on/oven off, followed by an overnight in the frig in an oiled bowl, followed by 1.5 hr rise on the counter prior to baking.
If you have the time…
