Ahh, freshly baked bread . . . is there any smell better than that? I loved the concept of no-knead bread, especially for those times when I’m feeling particularly lazy but still want some fresh bread from the oven. While this bread is in fact “no-knead”, it does require a time commitment on your part, although the dough does most of the work. I felt a little tied to my apartment during the process, but for a carb-friendly person such as myself, it was absolutely worth it.
Rosemary-Lemon No-Knead Bread
Adapted from Williams-Sonoma
3 cups all-purpose flour
¼ teaspoon active yeast
1 ¾ teaspoon salt (I used kosher salt, but fine sea salt would be good, too)
2 teaspoons finely chopped fresh rosemary
2 teaspoons lemon zest
Cornmeal as needed
In a large bowl, combine flour, yeast, salt, rosemary and zest. Add 1 5/8 cups water; stir until blended (dough will be shaggy and very sticky). Cover with plastic wrap. Let dough rest at warm room temperature, 70°F, until the surface is dotted with bubbles, 12-18 hours.
Place dough on lightly floured surface, and sprinkle dough with flour. Fold dough over onto itself once or twice. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and allow to rest for 15 minutes.
Using very little flour, gently and quickly shape dough into a ball (this can be challenging since it’s so sticky, but do your best – damp hands help). Generously coat smooth cotton towel with cornmeal (just a nice layer, not too much). Put dough, seam side down on towel and dust with a little flour. Cover with another smooth towel; let rise until dough is more than double in size and does not readily spring back when poked with a damp finger, about 2 hours.
At least 30 minutes before dough is ready (about the 1.5 hour mark), put 2 ¾-quart cast-iron pot in oven; preheat oven to 450°F. Remove pot from oven. Slide hand under towel and if you have an excess of cornmeal, gently shake extra cornmeal into sink so that when you flip bread oven into the pot, the cornmeal doesn’t go everywhere (yep, from personal experience). With hand under towel, turn dough over, seam side up, into pot; it’s OK if it looks messy. Cover with lid, bake for 30 minutes.
Uncover; bake until load is browned, 15-30 minutes.
Set pot on wire rack; cool 10 minutes. Using oven mitts, turn pot on side; gently turn out bread — it will release easily. Makes one 1 ½ pound loaf.
