Cook’s Illustrated Almost No Knead
A Clever Variation of an “Old” Theme
My hat is off to CooksIllustrated.com for formulating a worthy variation to the now famous New York Times no knead recipe. They call it their “Almost No Knead” bread since it involves a bit of light kneading, but another key step in the process is streamlined so overall their recipe is still a cinch to make.
If you’re already familiar with the “traditional” no knead recipe, I think you will find the final results of this one significantly different in almost all respects. This crust has a nice crunch to it but is much thinner and easier to chew and the interior crumb is tighter (smaller holes) and softer. I wouldn’t classify this bread as “rustic” like I would the NYT version.
But what really sets this recipe apart is its flavor. The addition of a few ounces of beer and a tablespoon of white vinegar creates a unique and pleasing flavor all its own.
In these videos I cover the Cooks Illustrated plain white flour and whole wheat flour versions.
This recipe also converts extremely well to sandwich loaf bread. In the third video below, I do just that.
I’m looking forward to hearing what you think of this bread – please leave your comments below.
Update: See Virginia’s comment post of 8/22/08. She made a few changes to get great results with a rye version (click link) of this recipe.
White Flour Recipe:
3 cups (15 ounces) all purpose or bread flour
1/4 tsp. instant or rapid-rise yeast
1 1/2 tsp. salt
3/4 cup plus 2 Tbs. (7 ounces) water at room temp
1/4 cup plus 2 Tbs. (3 ounces) mild flavored lager
1 Tbs. white vinegar
Whole Wheat Recipe:
2 cups (10 ounces) all purpose or bread flour
1 cup (5 ounces) whole wheat flour
1/4 tsp. instant or rapid-rise yeast
1 1/2 tsp. salt
2 Tbs. honey (I used 2 Tbs. raw sugar)
3/4 cup plus 2 Tbs. (7 ounces) water at room temp
1/4 cup plus 2 Tbs. (3 ounces) mild flavored lager
1 Tbs. white vinegar
Note: The beer can be non-alcoholic.
Also, regarding the use of sugar and the ratio of white to whole wheat flour in the ‘Whole Wheat’ recipe, see the post from Beatrix below. She used 2 cups of whole wheat flour and 1 of white and it still came out light.
Baking Instructions: For both these recipes, preheat your oven with Dutch oven or Cloche inside to 500 degrees. Reduce temperature to 425 when the bread dough goes in and bake covered for 30 minutes. Then remove cover and bake an additional 15 minutes or until the internal bread temperature reaches about 200 degrees.
Almost No Knead Sandwich Loaf Recipe
The thinner crust and softer, tighter crumb of the Almost No Knead recipe, combined with its subtle flavors, makes it a nice candidate for a sandwich loaf. Here’s a video of the process with the the adjusted ingredient quantities.
18 ounces (~3 2/3 cups) flour. Use all white or a combination of white and up to 6 ounces whole wheat.
1 3/4 tsp salt
3/8 tsp. instant yeast
1 cup (8 ounces) water
1/2 cup (4 ounces) beer
1 1/4 Tbs white vinegar
2 1/2 Tbs honey (I use raw sugar instead). The honey is suggested only when baking the whole wheat version of this recipe.
Baking Instructions: Preheat oven to 425. Place bread pan with risen dough in oven and reduce temperature to 350. Bake for 55 minutes or until internal bread temperature is about 200 degrees. Note that in the video I’m using a Pyrex bread pan. A metal bread pan would probably bake a few minutes faster.
Note: some have reported an issue with the loaf sticking to the bread pan. After buttering/oiling the baking pans, cornmeal can be sprinkled liberally on the insides and bottom of the pans. This eliminates the bread sticking to the sides while baking. Thanks to Tom & Melody DeGraziano for this tip.
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Here is a pic of a slice from the white sourdough “almost no knead” recipe.
These videos are EXCELLENT. I just made two loaves and got food ovenspring on a stone. I want to get a bit more sour taste however. I added some sourdough starter to the recipe and I’m thinking of either adding more of it or, more vinegar this time around, just don’t want to mess up the ratios.
If you’re using a sour-dough starter, one way of getting more sour taste is to extend the rise time by putting the bread in the refrigerator for several hours or overnight. This slows the action of the natural yeast while allowing the bacteria that impart the sourness to continue acting. Obviously, you need to extend the timing of the whole operation. By how much depends on the temperature of the room once the bread is removed from the refrigerator.
I am new to bread making, have made a few loaves, this last one’s crust was as hard as a rock, only good for putting into soup! I don’t know what made the difference. Can you give me an idea as to what might have caused this?I did handle it a bit more this time as I was putting roasted garlic and red pepper bits into it. I’ll keep experimenting and learning. Also, I am curious as to what brand scale you use and where is the best place to buy one? I live Northern California.
Thank you, your videos are most informative.
Anna
The scale I have is a Taylor that I bought at Bed Bath & Beyond and I think it was about $20. It measures in both ounces and grams and from what I can tell, it’s very accurate.
This might be a lame question, but I didn’t realize measuring liquids by weight was the equivilent of measuring them by volume. When the recipe calls for, say 7 oz of water, I would have thought in terms of a liquid measuring cup. It does look really slick measuring onto the scale (and the results are obvious), but I’m just a bit confused. I am definitely going to try this though!
Measuring by volume and weight are not the same and do not produce the same results. An 8 oz cup of moulten lead would weigh a lot more than 8 oz. by weight. If you use a recipe that gives quantities in volumes stick with volumes. If it gives weights, stick with weighing the ingredients. 8 liquid oz are not the same as 8 oz. by weight.
It works for water, but not necessarily other liquids, as bstnh1 points out.
I’m trying the sandwich version of this loaf. I found that I had to add quite a bit more liquid to make everything come together. I live in a very dry climate at high altitude, though, so I’m hoping that is a factor! We’ll se how the loaf turns out!
This didn’t rise very much at all for the second rise. I split it into two smaller loaves (did the sandwich variety) and I was so diappointed! I have two little bricks of bread. I might give it one more shot.
Hi Jay, I always recap the beer and refrigerate it for my next loaves, particularly if I’m baking several times a week. It’s perfectly fine. Of course, you could always drink the rest!
Hi gang…….
Being quite familiar with most of the techniques and recipes, here at Breadtopia, I figured it was time to give this cook’s ANK recipe a go around. Well, it creates a smaller, slightly denser loaf than the NKM I’ve been used to, but quite delicious, to be honest. In fact, I’m going to make another loaf again tonight!
The only pain in the rear end, about this recipe, is having to open a perfectly good bottle of beer, for only 3 oz. , but the flavor of the finished loaf is really quite nice. I wouldn’t say that it gives the bread a sourdough taste, just a different very appealing taste/flavor.
If you haven’t tried this recipe yet, do so, you’ll like it.
Hi Eric!
I am so thrilled with this bread that I just had to write and share a photo of my results and thank you for the videos. Just today I successfully baked both the wheat version and the white version. Strangely and opposite of your video, my wheat version rose better/more during proofing than my white version although the end results were great. I deviated from the instructions in only one way which might be helpful to other readers:
After shaping the wheat version I was concerned about it keeping its shape and since I do not have an oval basket I placed the loaf on parchment paper and then placed the whole thing in the bottom of my oblong cloche to rise, covered with plastic. Obviously, this only left me with the top of my oblong cloche to preheat. When the oven was ready I just placed the preheated top on the cloche bottom and baked as normal. It worked wonderfully.
Texturally, the white version reminds me a lot of San Francisco sourdough, but not as sour which I prefer. The flavor of the beer came through more on the wheat version. This will remain a keeper in my repertoire as it is super easy with really foolproof results. Thank you again!
-Natalie
Gorgeous bread, Natalie. With those results, I’d be happy too.
Great tip on your cloche preheating method too. Thanks!
Has anyone tried freezing this dough? If so, when in the process do you freeze it? Thanks!
After trying all sorts of tools for scoring, I’ve come back to the good old scissors…knives, lames, serrated, non-serrated, et al. I cut my crosses about 1/2″ or a bit more deeply and simply walk across the top of the loaf with the scissors. When the loaf is baked you cannot tell how it has been scored and the result looks exactly like a straight edge was used. Very simple, easy, and no frustration level..try it you’ll like it!!!
I’ve never tried scissors before. Will give it a go next time I bake something that can be scored. I often bake very wet doughs, like Ciabatta, which rise higher, but can’t really tolerate scoring – if I score them, they tend to collapse. The extreme hydration makes scoring unnecessary. But I’ll try the scissors on one wet loaf, to see what happens. It will still taste good.
Jeffery,
Haven’t used the scissors on a very wet dough yet. My loaf of choice is the almost no knead bread which doesn’t tend to be very wet. Would be interested to read about how it works for you. By the way, I have developed my own doubled version of
the above bread. 6 cups AP, 4 tsp salt, 20 oz liquid, 1/2 tsp instant yeast, sometimes vinegar sometimes not. Larger loaf is much better for toasting and for sandwiches, in my opinion.
Thought I’d share…sharing is good!
Thanks for the sharing. I don’t know when I’ll get to trying it. We moved recently, things are still not where they’re supposed to be. Also, flour is considerably more expensive here on the east coast (NC) than in either Kansas or Texas, where we moved from.
for some reason I had trouble scoring my loaf, I found that it was just easier to score them with the razor while they are still covered with the saran wrap…we will soon see if it workes out, I have 2 loaves in the oven as we speak
I’ve found that bread scoring works better with a serrated knife dipped in water, rather than with a razor blade, using a very light and quick touch, sometimes going back over the score in some places. I use a steak-knife with a serrated tip. The water-dipping is important, to keep the dough from dragging at the knife.
Scoring also depends on the amount of pre-bake rise and the hydration of the bread: really light loaves or those with lots of water in them don’t take to much scoring very well, if at all. It also depends on the gluten content – less gluten means less supportive structure to the bread, so that scoring will cause the bread to flatten, rather than help it bloom in the oven. Rye bread with very little wheat flour in it is a good example of something I’m reluctant to score.
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