When was the last time you baked fresh yeasted bread at home? I have not been baking bread very frequently, and I miss it! That irresistible fragrance of crusty bread in the oven, and the hot, steaming slices with pats of butter — so delicious! I fully intend to bake a loaf of bread this week, so to inspire you and myself, here's a look back at some yeast breads we've featured on The Kitchn — starting, of course, with that delicious and convenient No-Knead Bread!
No-Knead Bread was such a hit in my household. I do think the name of No-Knead Bread is a little misleading, though. It's not the no-knead part of the recipe that makes this bread so good. I don't mind kneading bread at all — it's therapeutic, in fact. No, this bread is wonderful because of its very wet dough (which makes kneading almost impossible) and therefore its rustic, artisan-quality crumb. It's also spectacularly easy and, with its flexible overnight raise time, very convenient.
I think, personally, that No-Knead Bread introduced a huge group of cooks to wet, slow-rise breads, and they realized for the first time that bread could be both convenient and easy. This may be old hat to many of you, but lots of cooks simply didn't realize bread could be so accessible and easy to slip into their busy schedules. No-Knead Bread changed that, and so I do think its moniker is slightly besides the point.
I would like to call it Mix-and-Forget-About-It-Then-Bake-to-Great-Applause-Bread. But it doesn't have quite the same ring, eh?
Anyway, whatever you to choose to call it, here's a look at No-Knead Bread, No-Time Bread, No-Knead Bread in a sandwich loaf, and much, much more.
TOP ROW
• 1 No-Time Bread - Yeast bread in less than 75 minutes. For real!
• 2 No-Knead Bread in a Hurry - The classic recipe.
• 3 No-Knead Bread Hack: Making a Sandwich Loaf Instead - Great flavor and easy bread, but for sandwiches.
• 4 Recipe: No-Knead Challah - Rich and eggy.
• 5 Recipe Review: Daniel Leader's Ricotta Bread - Moist and spongy.
MIDDLE ROW
• 6 Recipe: Beginner Sourdough Loaf - Step-by-step instructions on getting that sourdough flavor.
• 7 Recipe Review: Oatmeal Toasting Bread - Nutty and crunchy.
• 8 Recipe: Easy Homemade Pita Bread - Make your own pita pockets.
• 9 Recipe Review: Authentic Ciabatta from Cook's Illustrated - Chewy ciabatta!
• 10 Recipe Review: Yeast-raised Cornbread - Cornbread, with yeast.
BOTTOM ROW
• 11 Recipe: Potato Dough Rolls - Chewy, moist, and addictive.
• 12 Pan co'Santi: Walnut Bread from Jim Lahey - A special treat!
• 13 No-Knead Recipe: Cheddar and Chiles Bread - Cheesy bread! How can you go wrong?
And a few more...
• Recipe: Mom's Rosemary Focaccia
• Recipe: Houska (Czech Easter Bread)
• How To Bake No-Knead Bread On the Grill
Have you tried any particularly good yeast breads lately? I am definitely looking for some new recipes to try!
Related: Reader Survey: Do You Still Bake No-Knead Bread?
(Images: See linked posts for full image credits.)
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I bake bread almost every day! The Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day book has won me over. I use the dough for small loaves, focaccia, pizza and pitas. Mix it up once every week or so, bake for 30 minutes while dinner is cooking, fresh bread every day! Yummmmmmm!!
I haven't baked bread in over a week, and I'm loving it (for now). I just finished up my year of breadmaking! The last one I made, though, was extremely good: Pretzel Knots</a href>. I've been craving those daily since I made them.
These are making my mouth water. Combine them with some of the delicious homemade soups i have seen posted and everyone will be happy come dinner time! I'll just have to time my last loaf of bread to come out of the oven just as dinner ends, as a warm fresh slice with honey would be the perfect dessert.
Faith, do you have any good resources for bread machine recipes? I don't always use the bread machine, but it is nice to just throw the ingredients in and let the machine do the work. Also, I tried the artisan bread in 5 minutes a day book and found the bread to be way too salty! Has anyone else experienced this? Thanks :)
I make our bread every week! I usually try different recipes, but for while now, I've been making the most delicious buttermilk seed bread. It's up on my blog if you're interested - it's definitely worth a try!
I really want to try the no-knead sometime too - that challah looks lovely!
I love the Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day recipe; it's actually turned me into a baker. Bought the book but haven't made anything but the master recipe yet, but I keep making it.
Katie, by any chance are you using regular salt (instead of kosher or coarse?) If you are, that could be the problem -- more of it would fit in the tablespoon and a half you use and make the bread potentially saltier than you'd want. (Though, I made mine with 2 tablespoons one time recently and thought it was fine, so I might just not be very sensitive to it!)
I'm baking bread right now! I just punched it down and hope to be baking it by 7. Honey wheat loaf.
It's so nice inside, and so windy and cold outside!
I made english muffins yesterday, for the first time in a long time, and the apartment smelled so amazing as we were going to bed.
Thanks for the recap. This was one of my cooking resolutions: to move beyond the original no-knead recipe. This should get me started.
Seriously... there's nothing better than good, fresh-baked bread.
For a wonderful selection of yeast bread recipe ideas, check out Yeastspotting, a collection of multigrain breads and speciality loaves. Each week the site compiles the pictures and recipes of yeast breads submitting by wonderful bakers. Oh so many ideas for yeast.
http://www.wildyeastblog.com/category/yeastspotting/
I have resolved to bake more bread this year, and have been having good results--with everything BUT the Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day? I wonder why mine is not working. My first batch was just heavy. My second batch produced a very good first loaf, but I just chucked a loaf made from dough that had been in the fridge a week. It was heavy and thick and just completely unappetizing. Anyone had (and solved) this problem?
Another question for the bread bakers: how do you store your bread? Metal bread box? Wrapped in clingwrap in the freezer?
Cmcinnyc, I tried ABin5 a few years ago, never had much success and went the kneading route instead. But one thought that comes to mind is that the week-old dough was so overfermented that the gluten was destroyed. That would explain the heaviness and density in the last loaf, but not the first. If you want to keep the dough around for that long, you might need to use less yeast to slow down fermentation.
I find that my sourdoughs store up to 5 days just fine wrapped in a tea towel. Yeast breads, however, stale much quicker. Wrapping them in foil helps with that, but then the crust goes soft. So now I freeze all the loaves that won't get eaten in 3 days and just throw them in the oven to defrost and recrisp the crust when it's time to eat them.
my husband has been feeding a liquid starter and we had our first french boule last night. so awesome! i agree that actually the kneading is a cathartic process...i know people who make bread when they are frustrated or angry.
RE: ABin5
I was only so/so on the method until I started subbing 1/2 c. gluten for flour in the 13 c. (doubled) recipe. The additional gluten really improved the texture. Other things: bake at 475 instead of 450, and preheat the pan. I use a cast iron skillet that I keep on the bottom rack of my oven.
For a beautiful loaf of bread I preheat the oven, grab a handful of dough, flour it and stretch it until it looks like a lobster roll. Slap it on a piece of parchment, sprinkle some more flour over the top, and slash it. Once the oven's up to temperature, slide the whole thing (parchment and dough) into the oven. After 20 minutes or so I take the parchment out so the bottom can get nice and crisp.
It's seriously the most beautiful bread I've ever made or eaten!
Great rundown!
But please remember to let loaves cool properly BEFORE you break/slice/cut into it!! Otherwise the texture/structure and moisture of the loaf is screwed up. Chewy, crispy and hot? It'll be more like chewy, crispy, and gummy.
It might be difficult to wait but it is similar to letting cooked meats rest before it's ready for eating. It's better to reheat the bread after cooling than it is to break into a hot loaf right out of the oven.
@ seldomyes: I just made a step by step presentation on bread making for the beginners on my blog. You really don't need to be terrified of yeast, lol, it's such a simple and wonderful process - you only need patience to let it do the work! Take a look:
http://lovelivesurvivehome.blogspot.com/2010/01/homemade-bread-step-by-step.html
Let me know how it works out for you!
@katielousoup -- I thought the ABin5 bread was too salty, too. I just use less salt and it turns out fine (and, I think, tastes better).
For people who have trouble with the ABin5, make sure you're measuring flour using the books "scoop and sweep" method instead of measuring flour like normal. A friend of mine hated the recipe until I asked if she was measuring that way and then she loved it.
@e_lud -- I use 1/3 bread flour and I agree that it helps.