I'm delighted how forgiving this no-knead lark is. Subtitle: Why I kneaded my no-knead bread.
Last night I realised that I was almost out of bread and although I was tired, I decided to knock out a loaf's worth of dough, let it have its initial rise, then stick it in the fridge.
However, in my tiredness, I managed to get almost everything wrong. The recipe I am using asks me to add instant yeast and salt to warm water, then gradually mix in the flour. I prepared the hot water, put it in my mixing bowl then dumped all the flour in in one go (500g) and mixed away. I was just finished when I noticed the carefully measured yeast and salt still sitting on my kitchen scales. "Drat, double drat!" is an approximation of what I said to myself.
I them tried to mix the yeast and salt into the dough as best I could, then left it to rest and rise. After about two hours (double the usual time) it had risen a bit and smelled yeast, but looked somewhat odd. I threw it in the fridge anyway and went to bed.
This morning, I dug it out and decided the only thing to do was to lightly knead the no-knead bread to try to distribute the yeast/salt more evenly. I kneaded for only about a minute. My bruised shoulder is on the mend, but not up to strenuous kneadery yet.
Put it aside for a second rise. After 1½ hours it looked perfect. Into the oven and half an hour later I had this.
What I though was going to be a write-off turned out the tastiest loaf I have managed yet (although I've only done four).
I might make a habit of doing it wrong!
