NO-KNEAD WHOLE WHEAT BREAD
■ 2 1/4 cups (560 ml) bread flour, plus more for the work surface
■ 3/4 cup (180 ml) whole-wheat flour
■ 1 1/4 tsp (6 ml) table salt
■ 1/2 tsp (2.5 ml) dried instant yeast
■ 1 1/3 cups (330 ml) cool water (55-65 F/13-18 C)
■ Wheat bran or cornmeal, for dusting (may use additional flour)
1. Stir together the flours, salt and yeast in a medium bowl. Add water; use a wooden spoon or your hands to mix until you have a wet, sticky dough, about 30 seconds.
2. Cover the bowl and let sit at room temperature until its surface is dotted with bubbles and the dough has more than doubled in size, 12-18 hours.
3. Generously dust a work surface with flour. Use a rubber spatula or lightly floured hands to scrape the dough onto the surface in one piece. Use your lightly floured hands to lift the edges of the dough up and in toward the centre.
4. Gently pinch the pulled-up dough together, cupping the edges in your hands to nudge it into a round (don’t worry about making a perfect circle).
5. Place a clean dish towel on your work surface; generously dust towel with wheat bran, cornmeal or flour. Gently place the dough on the towel, seam side down. If the dough feels sticky, dust the top lightly with more wheat bran, cornmeal or flour.
6. Fold the ends of the towel loosely over the dough to cover. Place the dough in a warm, draftfree spot to rise for 1-2 hours. The dough is ready when it has almost doubled.
7. When you gently poke the dough with your finger, it should hold the impression. If it springs back, let it rise for an additional 15 minutes.
8. About half an hour before you think the second rise is complete, position a rack in the lower third of the oven and place a 4 1/2- to 5 1/2-quart (5-6.5 L) heavy Dutch oven or pot with a lid in the centre of the rack. Preheat to
475 F (245 C).
9. Use pot holders to carefully remove the pot from the oven. Lift off the lid.
10. Quickly but gently invert the dough off the towel and into the pot, seam side up. (Use caution — the pot and lid will be very hot.) Cover with the lid; bake (lower rack) for 30 minutes.
11. Remove lid; continue baking until the loaf is a deep chestnut colour but not burned, 15-30 minutes more. (If you like more precision, the bread is done when an instant-read thermometer inserted into the centre registers 200-210 F/93-99 C.)
12. Use a heatproof spatula or pot holders to carefully lift the bread out of the pot and place it on a rack to cool thoroughly before serving or storing.
Adapted from My Bread: The Revolutionary No-work, No-knead Method, by Jim Lahey (W.W. Norton, 2009).