No Knead Artisan Bread

I know it seems too good to be true, but I promise, this is the best bread recipe I’ve ever made.

6 cups bread flour (recommended) or all-purpose flour, plus more for work surface

1/2 t. instant or active-dry yeast
2 1/2 t. salt
2 2/3 c. cool water

1. In a large bowl, combine the flour, yeast, and salt. Add the water and stir until all the ingredients are well incorporated; the dough should be wet and sticky. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap. Let the dough rest 12-18 hours on the counter at room temperature. When surface of the risen dough has darkened slightly, smells yeasty, and is dotted with bubbles, it is ready.
2. Lightly flour your hands and a work surface. Place dough on work surface and sprinkle with more flour. Fold the dough over on itself once or twice and, using floured fingers, tuck the dough underneath to form a rough ball.
3. Place a full sheet/large rectangle of parchment paper on a cotton towel and dust it with enough flour, cornmeal, or wheat bran to prevent the dough from sticking to the parchment paper as it rises; place dough seam side down on the parchment paper and dust with more flour, cornmeal, or wheat bran. Pull the corners of parchment paper around the loaf, wrapping it completely. Do the same with the towel. Let rise for about 2 hours, until it has doubled in size.
4. After about 1 1/2 hours, preheat oven to 425 degrees. Place a 6-8 quart heavy covered pot, such as a cast-iron Dutch oven, in the oven as it heats. When the dough has fully risen, carefully remove pot from oven. Unwrap the towel and parchment paper from around the dough and slide your hand under the bottom of the dough ball; flip the dough over into pot, seam side up. Pull the parchment paper off, scraping any stuck dough into the pan. Shake pan once or twice if dough looks unevenly distributed; it will straighten out as it bakes.
5. Cover and bake for 40 minutes. Uncover and continue baking for 10-15 more minutes, until the crust is a deep chestnut brown. The internal temperature of the bread should be around 200 degrees. You can check this with a meat thermometer, if desired.
6. Remove the bread from the pot and let it cool completely on a wire rack before slicing.

French Country Bread (with a whole grain variation)

My mother told me that her mother always made her bread using a "sponge".  It does seem to make the bread better, somehow...

(This recipe is from the King Arthur Flour website)

Sponge Starter (Begin 2 to 16 hours ahead)
1 cup (8 ounces) cool to lukewarm water, preferably spring water (90 to 100°F)
1/2 teaspoon active dry or instant yeast
1 1/4 cups (5 1/4 ounces) King Arthur Unbleached Bread Flour
1/4 cup (1 ounce) King Arthur White Whole Wheat or Traditional Whole Wheat Flour

Dough
All of the sponge starter (above)
1 cup (8 ounces) lukewarm water, preferably spring water (l00 to 115°F)
3/4 teaspoon active dry or 1/2 teaspoon instant yeast
1 tablespoon sugar
3 3/4 to 4 cups (1 pound to 1 pound 1 ounce) King Arthur Unbleached Bread Flour
1 to 1 1/2 teaspoons salt

To Make The Sponge: Stir all of the sponge ingredients together to make a thick, pudding-like mixture. Cover with plastic wrap and leave on a counter overnight or for at least 2 to 4 hours. If you're making this in a bread machine, place the sponge ingredients inside, and turn the machine on for just a few seconds to mix the ingredients together. Turn the machine off and close the cover. Let the sponge rest for 4 hours or overnight (anywhere between 2 and 16 hours is fine, the longer the better).

To Make The Dough: Stir down the sponge with a spoon and add the water, yeast, sugar, most of the flour (hold back about 1/2 cup to use if required), and salt. Knead the dough, adding more flour as necessary, to make a soft dough, 10 to 12 minutes. 


Big Tip: Mix ingredients together using up to 80% of the flour called for: it will be a loose, messy mass. Let the dough rest for 12 minutes, and you'll see it change in texture, to be come much smoother. Continue, kneading and adding additional flour as required. Overall, the dough handles better once its had time for the flour to absorb the water while resting and relaxing. By using this method, you'll tend to add less flour, and have much bigger holes in your finished bread.

Place the dough in a lightly greased bowl or plastic container, cover with lightly greased plastic wrap and a towel, and let it rise until almost doubled (depending on the weather, this could be l to 2 hours). If you're going out, or if you prefer, let the dough rise slowly in the fridge. If your dough has been refrigerated, allow it to come to room temperature; it'll warm up and rise at the same time. After its first rise, deflate the dough gently, but don't knock out all the air; this will create those "holes" so important to French bread. Form the dough into a round ball. Place two cookie sheets atop one another, and place a semolina- or cornmeal-dusted piece of parchment paper on top. Gently place the ball of dough on the cookie sheet, seam-side down. Cover it lightly with a tea towel, and let it rise the second time until it's puffy and about 40% to 50% larger, anywhere from 45 to 90 minutes (depending on the weather, luck, and magic). Slash or cross-hatch the bread with a sharp knife or lame. Dust it with a little flour.
Preheat the oven to 475°F. Slash the bread, and place the bread in the oven. Reduce the heat to 425°F.  Bake the bread for about 25 to 30 minutes, or until it tests done. Yield: 1 large round bread or two medium breads, 10 to 12 servings.

Cyndie's Whole Grain Variation:  I use 11 ounces of white bread flour, 4 ounces of whole wheat flour and 2 ounces of rye flour.  I also added about 2/3 cup of mixed nuts and seeds (chopped walnuts, sunflower seeds, poppy seeds, flax seeds) and close to 1/4 cup more of warm water to allow for those extra ingredients.  I also have a pizza stone that I bake the bread on in my oven.

Brown Bread A'la Cheesecake Factory

1 1/4 cups (10 ounces( warm water
2 tablespoons (1 ounce) unsalted butter or margarine, softened
1/2 cup (6 ounces) molasses
2 cups (8 1/2 ounces)  Unbleached Bread Flour
1 2/3 cups (6 3/4 ounces)  Whole Wheat Flour
1 tablespoon cocoa
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
2 teaspoons instant coffee
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast

Mix yeast with warm water.  Mix together all other dry ingredients, then add yeast mixture and begin mixing.  Add molasses and butter.  Contiinue to mmix until you have a thick, sticky dough.  Let sit for about 20 minutes and then turn dough onto floured board.  Kneed for about 5 minutes.  Place dough into oiled bowl, turning to coat dough with oil.  Cover with plastic wrap and then wrap bowl in a large bath towel.  Place in warm and non-drafty spot.  Once dough has doubled in size (It will take at least 2 hours because of the amount of sugars in the dough), punch down and move to floured board.  Cut into 8 separate pieces and form each piece into a roll shape.
Place on parchment lined cookie sheet that has been dusted with cornmeal.  Cover with towel and let raise again.  Before putting in oven, slash the tops of each roll 2 or 3 times and sprinkle with oat flakes. Bake in 350 degree oven for about 20 to 25 minutes.

Grandma's Slavic Nut Rolls

It just wouldn't be Christmas without them.  My grandma, Mary Yourek Walker, made them, my mother, Betty June Walker Bowen made them, and now I do.  Hopefully, the tradition will continue...

Makes 2 long rolls.

12 ounces lukewarm water
2 1/4 tsp. active dry yeast
1 3/4 tsp. salt
1 TBSP. honey
1 ounce melted butter
17 ounces bread flour
1 1/4 ounce dry milk powder

6 cups chopped fine walnuts (use a food processor to get them very fine but don't turn them into nut butter!)
1 stick butter, melted
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 cup brown sugar
Mix these last 4 ingredients together as a filling for the rolls.

This is just a basic white bread dough, so if you know how to make bread, you can skip this next bit!

Mix yeast with lukewarm water until well blended.  then add salt and honey.  Pour over bread flour mixed with the dry milk.  Add melted butter.  Mix well, then turn out onto a floured surface.  Let rest for a few minutes and then kneed dough until it becomes resilient and rubbery feeling.  You may need to dust dough with a bit more flour to get it to not stick.

Turn dough into a large, oiled bowl.  Cover with plastic wrap and then wrap bowl in a large bath towel.  Set in a warm corner away from drafts.  Within 1 to 2 hours, the dough should be doubled.  Punch down dough and divide into 2 equal portions.  On floured area, roll the dough into a large rectangle.  Dough should be no thicker than 1/4 inch.

Spread dough with 1/2 of the nut mixture keeping it even and to within about 1 inch from each side of the dough.  Begin to roll dough up from the long side to make a long, thinner, roll.  As you get to the end you will dampen your finders with warm water and pinch the ends together to keep the filling from escaping.

Do the same for the next bit of dough and nuts.  Place the rolls on a parchement paper covered cookie sheet and cover with the towel.  Put it back in your warm corner and let them raise until they are doubled in size.  Bake in 375 degree oven for about 30-40 minutes, until they sound hollow when tapped, the bottom of the roll is golden, and the top is nicely browned.  Brush tops with a little melted butter and let cool.

(The photo above is courtesy of my daughter-in-law, Kimberly Short.  She made them for the first time in 2016 and has a few modifications, below.  It feels so GREAT that this tradition will be carried on for another generation!)

Kimb's Modifications:
Be sure to not work the dough too much, you don't want it to get too gluteny.
Don't roll the dough. Instead, gently stretch it out very thin...without TEARING!  This will allow for more layers of nuts, as in the photos above.
Bake at 375 for 28 minutes.

Whole Wheat Bread - handmade

I used to make this bread every two weeks on "Bread Making Day"...I can still remember how wonderful the house smelled...


3 packages active dry yeast
3/4 cup lukewarm water
3/4 cup sugar
6 teaspoons salt
6 tablespoons oil
3 cups milk
3 cups boiling water
7 1/2 cups white flour
9 cups wheat flour

Dissolve yeast in lukewarm water. In very large bowl mix sugar, salt, oil, milk, and boiling water. When mixture is lukewarm add yeast and white flour. Slowly add whole wheat flour. When dough is stiff enough to handle turn onto floured board and knead until dough is smooth and elastic. Place in an oiled bowl, cover and let rise until doubled in size. Punch down and let rise again. Shape into 5 loaves. Put into greased loaf pans and let rise again. Bake at 400 degrees for 45 minutes or until golden brown and loaves sound hollow when tapped with fingers.

(You can make this same recipe using only white flour for basic white bread)

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Sweet Roll Dough

This dough can be used for cinnamon rolls, etc.

3/4 cup water
2 cups white flour
1 1/2 tablespoons dry milk
2 1/3 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons butter
2 teaspoons yeast


 Mix in bread machine, stand mixer, or even by hand ( the old-fashioned way) and then turn out to shape and let rise. bake in regular oven at 375 degrees for 15-20 minutes.

Indian Fry Bread

I bought this recipe for a dollar off of a lovely Navajo woman on her reservation.


4 cups flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup shortening
2 cups water, lukewarm

Mix dry ingredients together in large bowl. Cut shortning into dry ingredients. Mix well. Add water and mix with your hands until it forms a soft dough and does not stick to the bowl. Cover and let it stand. After thirty minutes kneed some more. If it's too sticky, use a little flour then form the dough into small balls about the size of a small peach.
Stretch and pat until dough is flat and round. Punch a little hole in the center of the dough piece. The shape should be a little smaller than the frying pan you are using for deep frying. If you cannot handle the dough with your hands, use a rolling pin to roll the dough out until round.

Heat 2 cups vegetable oil in a frying pan. This needs to be very hot. Oil should just start to smoke. Regulate at that temperature .

Place each piece of fry bread in the hot oil until brown on one side, then turn it over to fry the other side until golden brown. Drain on paper towels and serve hot.