An even simpler no-knead bread recipe

I had previously tried a no-knead bread recipe for the first time and it wasn’t long before I tried again. I begun this experiment because I was curious what different types of flour would do to the texture and flavour of the bread. When I prepared the dough and left it to rise, I noticed after 4 hours that it had risen a lot and looked even fluffier than when I had waited 12 hours as the previous recipe suggested.

4 hour fermentation instead of 12

I had planned to do a 12 hour fermentation to make a loaf using mostly plain white flour, but since I noticed it had already risen significantly after 4 hours I decided to start baking the bread in the oven early.

Shortening the fermentation time enabled the dough to reach it’s fluffiest before collapsing. This created an equally soft and chewy bread but, in the case of the plain flour loaf, with a more homogenous structure. There were more air pockets after the longer fermentation. This may be due to the gluten structure weakening and the matrix collapsing. This didn’t seem to happen with the Graham flour dough. It didn’t collapse like the white flour at the 12 hour fermentation time and the structure of the 12 and 4 hour bread weren’t very different to each other as were the breads made with white flour. Perhaps this is because Graham flour has more bran and germ to bulk it up or slow the fermentation.

Scroll to the end of the page for a visual comparison of the loaves made with 4 and 12 hour fermentations!

White flour dough rising

100% plain white flour dough before fermentation.

100% plain white flour dough after four hours of fermentation.

100% plain white flour dough after twelve hours of fermentation.

Graham flour dough rising

100% Graham flour dough before fermentation.

100% Graham flour dough after four hours of fermentation.

100% Graham flour dough after twelve hours of fermentation.

Using 4 hour fermentation, I baked with 100% plain white flour, 100% Graham flour and with a mixture of the two (2 ¹/₃ cups plain white wheat flour & ¹/₃ cup Graham whole wheat flour). All loaves of bread were a success, each having slightly different qualities due to the different flours. However, they all had noticeably less sour flavours, compared with the previous recipe with a 12 hour fermentation. The sour taste does add a pleasant dimension to the flavour, so one might prefer a longer fermentation time for this reason.

Ingredients

• 2 ²/₃ cups flour
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp fresh yeast
• 320mL warm water
• 1mL lemon juice

Method

1. Combine the flour and salt in a bowl.


2. Put the yeast into the warm water and mix until dissolved. You should notice some bubbles form as the yeast starts to produce small amounts of carbon dioxide.


3. Combine the flour with the water.


4. Finally add the lemon juice and mix all ingredients together. The dough will be sticky and “shaggy”.


5. Cover the bowl of dough with cling-wrap or something else that makes a tight seal. This is to ensure that moisture can’t escape and prevent the dough from drying out. The first time I made this bread I made the mistake of only covering my dough with a dry tea towel. Consequently, the dough formed a hard crust on the surface and did not rise very well.


The dough before fermentation (made of 100% Graham flour).

6. Leave the dough to ferment for 4 hours at room temperature.


The dough after 4 hours fermentation (made of 100% Graham flour).



The dough after 4 hours fermentation (made of mostly white flour with a bit of Graham).

7. Prepare a Dutch oven (or alternative like a pot and lid) and preheat the oven to 230ºC with the Dutch oven inside. Leaving enough time (~30 minutes) for it to preheat ensures the bread doesn‘t stick to the bottom of the dutch oven (or pot).


I used a pot and lid instead of a Dutch oven.

8. Shape the dough and cut some slashes into the top. One can also sprinkle some seeds and extra flour on top too. Bake it inside the Dutch oven for around 30 minutes. Try to put it in the Dutch oven as fast as possible.


9. Take the Dutch oven lid off and cook it for another 10-20 minutes to brown the top.


10. When the bread is done, it should sound hallow when you knock on it.

Bread using both mostly plain white flour with a little Graham flour.

Bread using 100% plain white flour.

Bread using 100% Graham flour.

A visual comparison of the 4 hour & 12 hour fermentation loaves

Comparison of the 100% Graham flour bread loaves. On the left is the 4 hour fermentation and on the right is the 12 hour fermentation.

The 100% plain white flour loaf using a four hour fermentation period.

The 100% plain white flour loaf using a twelve hour fermentation period.