Jim Lahey's Easy No-Knead Artisan Bread - The Clever Carrot (2024)

FAQs

How to score no knead bread? ›

Scoring and Baking

Immediately before baking, take a sharp knife or lame and slash the top of the loaf. You can even cut designs into your loaf if you want to. You do want at least one big, deep slash. Carefully lift the dough in the parchment paper sling and transfer it into the preheated Dutch oven.

If the dough isn't punched down, the carbon dioxide will continue to be released, which can cause big, uneven air pockets in your bread. Additionally, if you don't knock back the dough, it can lead to a weaker gluten structure, meaning your bread may not maintain the desired shape.

Sugar is added to give the yeast a boost and get fermentation happening quickly. If you want your bread in a rush this makes sense. However, I always recommend that you try to plan your bread in advance and give the dough as long a fermentation time as you can.

Bread is typically done when it has an internal temperature of 190°F. Testing your bread with a food thermometer a few minutes before the recipe suggests it will be done can help ensure that it is baked to your desired doneness and ready to be made into a delicious Pulled Pork Sandwich or dipped in a warm cup of soup.

No knead dough doesn't rise like standard yeast breads, it only puffs up and gets bubbly. It will be a little bigger after the resting time but don't look for a much larger volume.

Scoring bread is easiest with a sharp implement. You can use a sharp paring knife or kitchen scissors to snip lines into the top of the unbaked bread boule. Or you can use a tool that professional bakers use to score, called a bread lame. It's essentially a razor blade affixed to a handle for easy maneuvering.

The more protein in the flour, the more gluten develops, which leads to more strength, volume, and elasticity in the final baked product. For example, bread flour—the strongest type of flour—is made from hard wheat, resulting in the denser, chewy texture desirable in bread.

Punching down is a common technique used in bread baking and it is essential to almost every yeast bread you bake. Punching down deflates the dough and releases the air so that you can knead it and form it into loaves or other shapes. Luckily, it's very easy to do.

“If the dough has risen too long, it's going to feel fragile and might even collapse as you poke it,” says Maggie. If this is the case, there's a chance you can save your dough by giving it a quick re-shape. Learn more about this fix in our blog on saving overproofed dough.

Sugar is nutrition for yeast, it consumes it and produces CO2. Yeasts produces enzymes that react with sugar. The yeasts, like most fungi, respires oxygen (aerobic respiration), but in the absence of air they derive energy by fermenting sugars and carbohydrates to produce ethanol and carbon dioxide.

What happens when you add sugar to bread dough? ›

A dough that has a high percentage of sugar (10% or more) will need more yeast than a bread made without sugar and will take a longer time to rise. A dough with more than 5% sugar (to flour weight) will brown on the surface earlier in the baking time than a dough with no added sugar or with less than 5%.

This is due to the caramelization of the sugar as it reacts with heat, which can help create a desirable crust on the bread. Moisture: Sugar is hygroscopic, which means it attracts and retains moisture. This can help keep the bread moist and soft, even after it has cooled.

Let the dough rest for 18 hours at room temperature, preferably around 70*F.

Once thawed, place the bread in a preheated 350-degree oven for about 10-15 minutes, or until heated through. Don't Refrigerate: Avoid storing artisan bread in the refrigerator as it causes the bread to dry out and lose its flavor.

It's important to allow bread to cool all the way, or until it's just barely warm, to complete the cooking process before cutting. Rolls will take only about 20 minutes to cool. Bread baked in a loaf pan can take as long as 1 hour and a large free-form loaf can take as long as 1 1/2 hours to cool.

Lightly flour a sheet of parchment paper and place the dough on top. Fold dough in half and then fold it in half again. Shape the dough into a ball by tucking the sides underneath itself, and place onto the paper, seam side down.

It is difficult to score very soft dough or dough at room temperature. Make sure your blade is as sharp as possible and try one very quick stroke. Sometimes this is just not possible. Some bakers will put their loaves in the freezer for about 20 minutes before scoring to firm up the dough.

Why is my bread dense: Usually bread will be too dense when there is too much flour. Keep in mind this dough will be pretty sticky, do not add more flour than specified. Other factors that come into play are humidity and age of flour. Little yeast, long rise, sticky dough are keys to a good, light loaf.

If you don't score your bread, you might find that it will split open randomly and bulge instead of staying in the correct shape. Skipping the scoring step can also prevent oven spring and make it more difficult for your bread dough to rise!