No Knead Bread

This recipe takes about 15 hours to make, but with very little labour, and you can sleep through 12 hours of it!  I have made No Knead Bread before check out Michael Smith's version), but was inspired to try baguette by youtube channel Food Wishes baguette recipe.  My measurements are different because I found that his just didn't work for me, likely because I live the dry climate of Saskatchewan.

Ingredients:
1/4 tsp active dry yeast
2 cups room temperature water
4 cups all purpose flour, plus a little for dusting the board and your hands
1.5 tsp salt

Step 1

The ingredients listed above are approximate.  You have to pay close attention when stirring them together and look for a few indications.  Stir together the yeast and water, then add 1 cups of the flour.  Begin to stir together.  Once the first cup of flour is beginning to incorporate, add the salt and 2 more cups of flour. What you want is a very sticky dough, but one that still comes away from the sides of the bowl you are using once it all comes together.  Add the rest of the flour as necessary and keep stirring until you have a dough as described above.  This takes some elbow grease, but once its done, there is no more muscle needed.  Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and place in a warm location overnight, or for 12-14 hours, until the dough has risen to double.

dough before rising

Step 2

In the morning, scrape the dough from your bowl onto a well floured surface.  Flour your hands and pat the dough to get rid of all the air.  At this point you can shape the dough however you like.  I have used this dough to make a regular loaf of bread, but it is quite heavy and moist.  Today I made baguette, and it was delicious, but I still found the crust didn't get as hard and crunchy as I wanted it to be.  My favourite way has been to make a round loaf inside of my cast iron dutch oven. You can also use a stainless steel pot for this. The instructions for each way are as follows.

Round crusty loaf

Form a shape as round and smooth as you are able.  Place a peice of parchement paper on your countertop and cover with a thin layer of flour.  Place the round on the floured paper and cover with floured plastic wrap and a kitchen towel.  Allow to rise for 2 hours.  Meanwhile, place a large, heavy pot with a lid inside your oven and preheat it to 450 F (pot and all).  Once the dough is risen to double, carefully slide it into the preheated pot.  Cover it and bake it 20 minutes, then uncover and bake a further 10 minutes.  Remove it from the oven and pop it out of the pot to cool on a rack.  Allow it to cool to room temperature before slicing.  

Baguette

Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper.  Use a bench scraper to divide the dough in four, then shape and roll each into long, snake-like shapes the length of your cookie sheet.  Place the rolls onto the sheets, cover with floured plastic wrap and a towel and let rise 2 hours, or until doubled in size.
Meanwhile, prepare a spray bottle filled with water and preheat your oven to 550 F with a tray of water in the bottom (I use a cake pan). Once the loaves have risen place them in the oven and spray them with water.  Set the timer for 5 minutes.  After five minutes, spray them again.  Set the timer again for five minutes.  Spray the loaves again and then bake for another 3-5 minutes, until they are evenly browned.  Remove from the oven, place on a cooling rack and allow to cool to room temperature before slicing.