little feet, big sky

I’ve been making a lot more no-knead bread lately and have cut the steps down to the following.

• 4 cups flour
• 1 tsp active dry yeast
• pinch of salt
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 2 cups warm water
• 2 tablespoons olive oil

Mix the flour, salt, yeast & sugar in a large bowl. Add the water & stir until you have a sticky/shaggy dough. Drizzle the oil on top and cover with a damp towel or plastic wrap. Leave in a warm place 16-20 hours. “Punch down” by gently gathering the sides in and turning it over a few times in the bowl, then cover again and leave to rise another 2 hours. Preheat oven to 450 deg with a 3- or 4-quart cast-iron dutch oven with lid inside for at least 30 minutes. (Our oven helps heat our house, so I do this while the bread rises a second time.) Carefully remove the hot dutch oven from the oven, remove the lid and quickly turn the dough into the pot, using a rubber spatula or dough scraper to scrape the dough from the bowl as needed. Cover the dutch oven and place in oven. Bake at 450 for 20-30 minutes, then remove the lid and bake for an additional 30 minutes. Remove from oven and let stand for 5 minutes, then turn bread out onto a cooling rack for 30 minutes.

I usually start the dough the night before just before I go to bed, or while making dinner and take it upstairs to camp out next to the spouse-unit’s computers, since it’s a pretty even warmth there. :-) If I start heating the oven and punch down the dough by 5pm the next day, we have a fresh loaf of bread in time for dinner. I’m experimenting with other flavors and add-ins. I tried substituting a cup of rye flour for 1 cup of white flour and the result was good, but quite denser. The spouse-unit enjoyed it, though, so I’ll be playing around more with that. Another idea I’m eager to try is some kind of garlic herb bread – would go great with winter soup.

crumble topping:
1/3 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup rolled oats
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp cinnamon

fruit base:
1/4 cup of water or milk (optional)
1/2 tsp vanilla extract (optional)
1-2 cups chopped fruits of your choice (apples, strawberries, etc.)

Preheat oven to 350 deg. If using milk/water and vanilla, add to fruit and mix well. Spread fruit in the bottom of a baking dish. Mix crumble topping ingredients together and scatter evenly on top of fruit. Bake for approx. 30 minutes.

This is a great way to use up slightly old or over-ripe fruit. I can clear through the many ancient apples in the fruit bowl by making this at least once a week. Since it’s so easy and fast, I can often ask the spouse if he’d like crumble for dessert while we’re serving dinner, and have it ready by the time dessert rolls around. He likes it with a little creme fraiche on top, but it’s equally good with vanilla ice cream.