No-Knead Bread - World Bread Day

The No-knead bread caused such a stir when Mark Bittman, aka the Minimalist, shared this recipe on the New York Times. As soon as I started reading reviews and blogs with this recipe, I ran to the kitchen to make my own loaf and I lost count of how many times I have baked this magnificent bread! The secret to making this recipe work? Time and patience! The amount of yeast is minimal, and only four ingredients (flour, salt, yeast and water) make a delicious loaf, with an italian shape and flavor, somehow rustic, with crispy crust and yet chewy. The magic recipe has name and address widely known, and it belongs to a bakery in New York city, the Sullivan Street Bakery.

My recipe goes to the World Bread Day, an event created by UIB International Union of Bakers and Bakers-Confectioners to provide an opportunity to talk about bread and bakers, to find out about their history, their importance as well as their future.

How to participate:

• Bake or buy a bread, take pictures (if possible) and blog about it on Tuesday, 16th October 2007.
• Please link back to this announcement in your post, and eventually to the roundup.
• Send an email to worldbreadday(at)gmail(dot)com including
- your name
- your blog's name and your blog's URL
- the recipe name and the post's URL
- your location (region and country)
• Submissions can only be accepted until Wednesday, October 17.

To make things easier, before start making the bread, watch the Minimalist video here: New York Times (free registration may be required).

Ingredients
3 cups all-purpose or bread flour, no need to sift, more for dusting
¼ teaspoon instant yeast
1¼ teaspoons salt
1 1/2 cups water

Cornmeal or wheat bran as needed.

1. In a large bowl combine flour, yeast and salt. Add 1 1/2 cups water, and stir until blended; dough will be shaggy and sticky. Cover bowl with plastic wrap. Let dough rest at least 12 hours, preferably about 18, at warm room temperature, about 70°F/21°C.

2. Dough is ready when its surface is dotted with bubbles. Lightly flour a work surface and place dough on it; sprinkle it with a little more flour and fold it over on itself once or twice. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rest about 15 minutes.

3. Using just enough flour to keep dough from sticking to work surface or to your fingers, gently and quickly shape dough into a ball. Generously coat a cotton towel (not terry cloth) with flour, wheat bran or cornmeal; put dough seam side down on towel and dust with more flour, bran or cornmeal. Cover with another cotton towel and let rise for about 2 hours. When it is ready, dough will be more than double in size and will not readily spring back when poked with a finger.

4. At least a half-hour before dough is ready, heat oven to 450 degrees. Put a 6- to 8-quart heavy covered pot (cast iron, enamel, Pyrex or ceramic) in oven as it heats. When dough is ready, carefully remove pot from oven. Slide your hand under towel and turn dough over into pot, seam side up; it may look like a mess, but that is O.K. Shake pan once or twice if dough is unevenly distributed; it will straighten out as it bakes. Cover with lid and bake 30 minutes, then remove lid and bake another 15 to 30 minutes, until loaf is beautifully browned. Cool on a rack.

Update: The World Bread Day '07 round up is online! Please take some time to visit 183 posts from all over the world!

Panko Breadcrumbs

Panko breadcrumbs are a Japanese version of dry bread crumbs. The recipe, which is very easy, I found out recently and fell in love with it. The white panko is made from white bread with the crust removed, and the tan panko uses both the bread and the crust, sometimes I use wholewheat bread.

Ingredients
4 white bread slices (to make 1 cup of fresh panko)

Directions
1) Trimm off the crusts of the bread slices.

2) With a food processor, push chunks of bread through the shredding disk to make coarse crumbs.

3) Spread the crumbs on a baking sheet and bake at 300ºF/150ºC for 6 to 8 minutes.

The crumbs should be dry, not toasted and they should not be brown. Shake the sheet twice during baking.

You can flavor your dry or fresh bread crumbs with spices and herbs.

Panko can also be substituted for ordinary bread crumbs as coating food for frying, filling for meatloafs, meatballs and burgers, and as toppings for fish, salads, vegetables, and casserole dishes.

Waiter There's something in my... English Muffin Bread

I felt like so homesick for English muffins this week that I had to make some. As I did not have the time to make the muffins as they should be, that is, cooked on a griddle, as they are served mostly in the US and England, I baked it and served it with honey whipped butter on top and jelly. This bread is also great with scrambled eggs. I only tried a half recipe, but here I have the whole version. And this is the first time I participate in the event Waiter, there is something in my...


English Muffin Bread
From: Better Homes and Gardens

Cornmeal
6 cups all-purpose flour
2 packages active dry yeast
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
2 cups milk
1/2 cup water
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 recipe Honey whipped butter (optional)

Directions

1. Grease two 8x4x2-inch loaf pans. Lightly sprinkle pans with cornmeal to coat bottom and sides; set pans aside.

2. In a large mixing bowl combine 3 cups of the flour, the yeast, and baking soda; set aside. In a medium saucepan heat and stir milk, water, sugar, and salt just until warm (120 degree F to 130 degree F). Using a wooden spoon, stir milk mixture into flour mixture. Stir in remaining flour.

3. Divide dough in half. Place dough in prepared pans. Sprinkle tops with cornmeal. Cover and let rise in a warm place until double in size (about 45 minutes).

4. Bake in a 400ºF/200ºC oven about 25 minutes or until golden brown. Immediately remove bread from pans. Cool on wire racks. If desired, serve with Honey Butter. Makes 2 loaves (32 servings).

Honey Butter: In a small mixing bowl beat 1/2 cup softened butter and 1/4 cup honey with an electric mixer on low speed until combined. Cover and chill. Makes about 3/4 cup.