No-knead bread is all the rage – but saying it’s all the rage “lately” is somewhat of an overstatement.

Contrary to what many of us might think, no-knead bread wasn’t invented by Mark Bittman, Jim Lahey, and the New York Times back in 2006.

Absolutely, it was popularized by that landmark Times recipe. And no knead gained a ton of fans thanks to the Jeff Hertzberg and Zoë François “Five Minutes a Day” books.

But “invented”? You have to go back a lot farther than 2006 to find the first mention of no-knead.

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Un baguette integrale?

Mais non – c’est incroyable!

Such might be the reaction of any self-respecting Parisian, who’d no doubt scoff at a whole-wheat version of France’s beloved baguette.

But as a new year dawns, and you vow – AGAIN – to eat healthier, get a little sauvage et fou: try this baguette.

I mean, if Panera can pull it off, why not you?

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You know those really dense, chewy rounds of bread you can buy at artisan bread bakeries?

Breads with a satiny, dark-brown crust, packed with fruit and nuts and, most of all, with incredible flavor from their long, slow rise?

Believe it or not, you – yes, YOU – can make a loaf like this at home. With no particular talent, and no special equipment.

Truth.

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King Arthur Flour.

Water.

SAF yeast.

Salt.

That’s all it takes to make the crackly-crusted, chewy, light-textured, DELICIOUS bread pictured above. read the rest of this entry »

Remember last September, when you and I got hooked on sourdough and made sourdough bread, and sourdough waffles, and sourdough chocolate cake?

Have you become a regular sourdough baker since then? Or, like me, did you stash your starter in the back of the fridge and just… forget about it?

I didn’t totally neglect my starter. I did, in fact, feed it—once, in the past 6 months. So when I decided to make sourdough bread again recently, I feared what might greet me when I pried the lid off my sourdough crock and looked inside. read the rest of this entry »