no-knead bread

My Mom shared with me the whole no-knead bread phenomenon. I'm a little late getting around to trying it, especially since it seems to have taken the blogosphere by storm. The pictures are gorgeous, the method stunningly simple and so I had to try it.

I knew that my attempt was going to come out a little different since I was using fresh ground. It worked but not as well as those who used aged flour. I ground up hard white figuring that would be the simplest to start with. I let it rise initially for 18 hours and it did rise. The two biggest things I noticed right off the bat was that the dough was not a wet and shaggy as everyone kept remarking on and that mine didn't bubble as much as I thought it should based on what I read. But I continued. The end result was a respectable loaf, especially considering that I used only 1/4 t. of yeast, but the crumb was much denser. Given the time required to make this it won't be a regular event but I am going to try again. I think next time I will add more water than the 1 1/2 C. called for since I think the fresh ground probably absorbed too much and that may have contributed to the texture. I'm also thinking of upping the yeast just a little to help with the fresh ground.

The general concensus was that it was tasty and in this house that's all that really counts.