I have been experimenting with no-knead bread, and in the photo are two of my latest creations. The one on the left is white with a very soft interior and a substantial and crunchy-tough sesame crust, which I love. The one on the right is a cinnamon raisin version with brown sugar and cinnamon veins and an earth balance (butter substitute) washed crust. Yum to both!
When I first saw the NYT recipe, I was intrigued and decided to give it a shot one day. Months later, I pulled together the necessary ingredients and went for it. Somehow, the words “no-knead” made me feel like it wouldn’t be much work. And it wasn’t. The bread was one of my favorite styles: a round loaf with a hard crust and a soft, tasty interior—a big reward for not much effort.
No surprise, between myself and my family, we polished off the first loaf on the first day. I love feeding my family, so I immediately made another, and it was gone in 24 hours. Then, I started playing with the recipe. It took me two tries, but I made a pumpernickel that I was super pleased with. Then I started working with a rectangular loaf (inside a Dutch Oven – see aforementioned recipe). I experimented with using different seeds, garlic, onions, and salt. All turned out worthy and tasty loaves. Most recently, it’s the two above.
My life is super busy with multiple clients, the usual jobs required to help my wife with our household, occasional visits with close friends, and camping trips whenever I can squeeze them in. Yet, it brings me great joy to have a spurt of cooking amid everything that pretty much everyone in the house loves to eat.
Where can you turn to squeeze some joy out of life this week?
“Let there be work, bread, water and salt for all.”
– Nelson Mandela
