By now, bread makers around the world have probably already heard about The Secret to Great Bread, reported by Mark Bittman in The New York Times a few years ago. In the article, Jim Lahey (the bread maker) says that the method is so simple a 4-year old could master it. Mark Bittman responded to that statement with "the method is complicated enough that you would need a very ambitious 8-year-old". So, I put my ambitious 8 year old daughter to the test.
The basic principle to this recipe is that very little kneading and a whole lot of time will result in great bread.
For the test Ally, my 8 1/2 year old, made the bread all on her own.
1. Combine flour, salt, yeast, and water. Cover and let rest for 12-18 hours.
2. 18 hours later: glop dough onto floured surface and fold once or twice. Ally opted to fold four to eight times. Cover and let rest for 15 minutes.
It was a little loose, so she added more flour....then a little more.
3. Using a little flour, shape dough into ball and wrap in floured towel. Ally opted to add more flour. Let rest for 2 hours.
4. Preheat oven, bake, then eat.
The result: My 8 year old was indeed able to make and bake a delicious round of bread based on the Simple No Knead Recipe. The only problem was that my kid really likes the kneading part and would prefer a more flour, more knead recipe.
3 comments:
I agree - such great bread, I made my first loaf this week and my second and third...
I've made this bread! It's our favorite! The kids are always asking for a loaf. I always add more flour after the overnight rising because it just doesn't seem "right" without it. I can't figure out how else to get it into a ball shape...anyway, it turns out great every time.
Doesn't it make it hard?
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