Man cannot live by bread alone, because he can't afford to in these hard economic times when a loaf of wholewheat bread has skyrocketed to $14.50. A person earning minimum wage has to work two hours to buy a wholewheat loaf. Life is becoming harder than stale bread for the bread winner of the family to literally put bread on the table if he doesn't have enough dough. Let them eat cake is now a luxury. Consumers are complaining they are getting stiffed for the staff of life by several baking companies. Some of them are calling for a divine intercession in the form of the Lord's Prayer, "Give us this day our daily bread and to deliver the kiss of death to baking companies" high prices.
Consumer price advocates advise if the price of bread is too high, decline to buy, do comparison shopping, bake your own bread, use alternative ingredients like cassava and potato, or invest in a bread maker. Now there is another alternative; no knead bread. It was first popularised by New York baker Jim Lahey in 2006. The no knead bread phenomenon became an Internet sensation and quickly spread around the world by amateur and professional bakers alike posting on their blogs. As the name implies it consists of no kneading. Only four basic ingredients are used, requires no equipment or formal training and very little effort. On the Internet there are several sites showing it's so easy a four year-old can make it.
The process lets time do the work instead of kneading to form the gluten strands that give the bread its texture. Very little yeast is used in the wet sticky dough. The dough is so sticky that you couldn't knead it if you wanted to. Flour, water, salt and yeast are mixed in a bowl until it forms a gooey mass in less than a minute, covered, and set and forgotten it in the refrigerator for about 18 hours. It is then poured out into a receptacle, allowed to rise for two hours, then baked in the oven. This variation combines the long rising time of Jim Lahey's method with Jeff Hertzberg and Zoe Francois' 'Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day' and the King Arthur Flour company's faster and easier no knead bread versions.
Mix five cups flour, two teaspoons salt, with two and a half cups warm water in a bowl for about a minute to produce a wet, sticky dough. Cover bowl loosely with lid or use plastic wrap and poke some holes in it. Let the dough sit on the counter at room temperature for two hours then place in the refrigerator for 12 to 18 hours until doubled in size and covered with bubbles. After, pour into a buttered dish, bread pan or pot or lined with grease-proof paper to prevent sticking, fold the dough over a couple times, cover and let it rise for two hours. When it has risen, place in preheated oven at 350ºF for 30 minutes.
Leave it for another 15 minutes, check for doneness or until the crust is a deep brown, then remove from the oven and allow to cool. Now you can't use the excuse of no time to bake, no baking skills or no breadmaker. No chemicals are needed to extend the life of your fresh, home-made bread, just store it in the freezer. You can get adventurous and start experimenting with different, healthy ingredients to put in your bread recipes such as whole wheat, grains, oats, wheat germ, honey and flaxseed. Enjoy.
