I love simplicity.”Keep it simple”, I say to myself constantly. (I try remembering that phrase in everything I do.) I’ve realized that when something becomes too complicated akin to putting together a piece of furniture from Ikea, I believe it’s either not meant to be or you need to stop, look at the process and leave it alone for a period of time.
I truly wish I knew what “keeping it simple” meant in my early twenties. My relationships were complicated and living in New York City felt just as complex. However, looking back I had no one to blame but myself and life always feels complicated in your youth.
I was invited to a pot luck dinner party at a friend’s house in the West Village. I offered to bring something and my darling friend Penny said, “Bring an appetizer like a dip and chips!”. Of course, I interpreted this as why don’t you make something complicated like Parmesan Puff Pastry Straws.
Opening up the “Mastering the Art of French Cooking” more than 20 years ago, I started the process thinking it really couldn’t be that hard. On the third day of rolling out that iced dough, I was through. I wanted to throw it against the wall or in the trash. I saw the pieces of butter throughout the rolling…and no, I did not find the act of rolling it out for three days engaging. It was a difficult process, plus I had to shave in a “good quality” parmesan which added another process of folding. This was in the late 80’s, long before the internet and the magic of industrialized cooking. Now,you can buy Pepperidge Farm Puff Pastry, then, it was the Stone Age and DIY.
At the end of four days, it was tasty just not worth the hassle and I never tried making bread again. Pie crusts and Apple Brown Bettys were all I was going to muster.
Then, 25 years later, and now in Los Angeles, I’m perusing the world wide web and came across an article on Mark Bittman’s site, fleshing out the simplicity of “No Knead Bread”. I thought I would try my hand at it making dough again. It’s not puff pastry but hey, it’s a beginning. The recipe is essentially five ingredients and the stunning bread lasts about a week. What is more beautiful than that? Five items purchased at any grocery store! Once it gets a little stale, you can turn it into croutons or into homemade breadcrumbs with a food processor.
How to make it….(or you can look up “No Knead” Bread”). 🙂
3 cups of all purpose or bread flour
1/4 teaspoon of yeast
1/4 teaspoon of salt
2 cups water.
1. Place the flour, yeast and salt in large bowl and stir together.
2. Pour in 1 3/4 cups of water and mix. The dough should be a sticky mess. Cover with plastic wrap and but in an area that will stay about 70 degrees. Let this rise for about 12 hours. It will be very bubbly on top.
3. Next Day: Flour surface and turn out the dough. Place the floured and sticky mess into a clean, cotton dishtowel and let rise another 2 hours.
4. Here’s the real trick. It needs to go into a very hot oven at about 450 degrees. Place the dough into a dutch oven that’s been heated (do this while pre-heating the oven) and bake covered for about 20 minutes. Remove the lid and bake for another 20 to get the crust brown and crackling. You should get a beautiful artisan loaf.
Couple of tips: Once you remove the bread from the oven. Let it rest for about 15 minutes. Once you cut into, store in a paper bag, cut side down. It helps to keep it from get to hard. And…never cut more than you are going to use.
I have made about 6 of these loaves now. I will never go back to buying bread again. 🙂
