NO-KNEAD BREAD.......REALLY!!!

We love bread....only problem is they just don't know how to make good bread in the South. Me and the husband in the past have tried our hand at baking our own and it just seemed like more work then we were willing to do. We're not into work.....So I was curious when a Williams Sonoma catalog came with a recipe for no-knead bread. It looked wonderful and sounded very easy. While in Jersey I picked up a LeCreuset dutch oven, compliments of the Princeton Merchants Association where I won a $100.00 gift card. The recipe calls for a 2 3/4 qt. size oven and everyone I talked to said this would be too small to successfully bake the bread. Even the wacky store manager at our local W&S agreed that I needed atleast a 5 qt. to get the job done. And she should know because, as you have to hear every single time your in the store, that her husband is not only a lawyer but he's also a "master baker".....I listened to no one....I got the 2 3/4 qt. size and it worked perfectly. I made it this morning and I must say it looks like it came straight from some fancy French Boulangerie......Yesterday about 4:00 I cheated and used the dough hook on my Kitchen Aid to mix the dough. It took all of about 3 minutes from start to finish. Covered in saran wrap and a towel it just sat on the counter until I got up this morning. It seemed to have tripled in size....I was very happy! After forming it into a ball I covered it again and let it sit for 2 additional hours. A half hour before baking I put the dutch oven in a 450 degree oven to pre- heat. After the 2 hours was up in went the bread. Covered for 30 minutes and un-covered for the final 15:00 to 20:00 minutes. All I can say is amazing....The recipe calls for rosemary and lemon and the smell of lemon is intoxicating...But forget the smell..the taste is to die for..crusty on the outside, super soft on the inside. It must be eaten a bit on the warm side slathered in Plugra butter....Tomorrow I'm sure it will work wonders when I make Panini's...I'm very excited and I must thank the Sullivan Street Bakery in NYC who came up with this recipe. I recommend you try this because it cannot be easier...here is the recipe...Happy Baking

Rosemary-Lemon no-knead bread

3 cups of all purpose flour (I used bread flour)

1/4 tsp. yeast

1 3/4 tsp. salt (I used Kosher salt)

2 tsp. chopped fresh Rosemary

2 tsp. chopped lemon zest

cornmeal as needed

In large bowl, combine flour, yeast, salt, rosemary and zest.Add 1 5/8 cup of warm tap water. Stir until blended (dough with be sticky) Cover with plastic wrap. Let dough rest at room temperature, 70f until surface is dotted with bubbles...12-18 hours. place dough on lightly floured surface. Sprinkle dough with flour. Fold dough over onto itself once or twice. Cover loosely with plastic wrap, let rest for 15 minutes.

Using very little flour, gently and quickly shape dough into a ball. Generously coat a smooth cotton towel with cornmeal. Put dough, seam side down on the towel. dust with more flour or cornmeal. Cover with another towel, let rise until dough is more then double in size, about 2 hours.

Atleast 30 minutes before dough is ready, put a 2 3/4 qt. cast iron dutch oven in a 450 degree oven. Remove pot after 30 minutes and turn dough over, seam side up, into the pot. It might look messy, that's okay. Cover with the lid and bake 30 minutes. Uncover, bake until the loaf is browned...another 15-30 minutes (my oven took 20 minutes for it to be done) Set pot on wire rack for 10 minutes to cool. Turn pot on side using oven mitts. Bread will release easily...Makes 1 1/2 pound loaf....If using a new unseasoned pan you can put a piece of parchment paper in the bottom right before putting in the dough.