America's Test Kitchen, No Knead Bread

Ok, first off, the recipe isn't no-knead.. they should call it minimal knead. Unfortunately the crust of their recipe doesn't live up to the original, however handling their dough is much easier.

Their exact recipe:

15 oz flour
1.5 tsp salt
1 tsp yeast
7 oz water
3 oz beer (lager/light beer)
1 Tbl white vinegar

Mix dry, mix wet. Pour wet onto dry. Mix and cover, let sit 8-18 hours.

Spread out some bench flour, knead 10-15 turns, and form into a round loaf.

Place the loaf on a piece of Pam'd parchment paper in a skillet, spray top of bread with Pam and cover loosely with plastic wrap. Let rise for 60 minutes or so.

During the last 30 minutes of the rise, heat a dutchoven in a 500 degree oven.

Remove the plastic wrap, slice roughly 1/2" deep "X" or square into the top and use the parchment paper sling to transfer bread into dutch oven.

Bake at 425 for 30 mins with lid on, then 20-30 mins without lid

Let cool for at least 1 hr on rack before cutting.


The bread had a great texture and good taste. The crust was a little lacking. I think next time I'll spray it with a bit of water as well as spraying down the sides of the dutch oven. This bread would be wonderful with some rye or buckwheat flour--or maybe even some cooked whole grains. Next time I think I'm going to try sprinkling some large salt flakes on top before baking.