So today I made cheater No-Knead Bread. I have two bowls of dough sitting on top the radiator in the entry room right now for 'real' No-Knead Bread tomorrow, but I just bit into the first piece of the Cheater No-Knead Bread, and wow!Why is it "Cheater No-Knead Bread"? Because I halved the time it took to rise, etc. I'm also not all that fond of the floured towel piece, either, but I did it. I probably won't this next time, though.
Anyway, so my initial impression is very good. Very easy, too, although I don't really find bread all that difficult.
My cheater bread didn't rise as much as I think the real recipe should have risen, but it doesn't lack in taste or texture. In fact, I think it turned out quite well, with a crispy crust and a chewy inside. Mmm. Very good.
(The highest point is about 2 1/4 inches. However, as you can see, it's definitely bread; albeit a bit flat.) But who cares about that anyway? If I had put it in a smaller pot, it would have been thicker.I used my smaller WagnerWare dutch oven, which worked beautifully, even though it's not quite seasoned right. I had intended to use my smallest dutch oven, but I think that would have been too small anyway, and so I switched mid-warm up. I also didn't let the dutch oven warm up very long in the oven, but it didn't seem to matter.
So my current question is: If you put say, twice the amount of yeast in the bread and then put the concoction in a warm oven (as I did to help the initial rising process--evidently my oven is about 78 degrees without being turned on, which is good to know) then whose to say you couldn't have 3-hour No Knead Bread? I may try that tomorrow, since I'll be baking anyway.
The candy, however, did not work, even with decreasing the water content. Ah well. Maybe next year for the craft show.
(By the way, the links all lead to different places, including the original recipe. There's quite a bit, also, if you google it.)
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