Easier than Sliced Bread...

I love homemade bread...however I don't always love all the time and work it takes to make it.  
Last week I stumbled on some recipes that are part of a (new to me) bread movement called "No Knead Bread".  The more I looked at these recipes, the more I thought: I could totally do this... but it almost looks too good to be true... bread that is really no work?"  


This weekend I tried one recipe I thought looked promising.  I figured, well if it doesn't work then really the only thing I've lost is 4 cups of flour!  And after trying this recipe out, I am totally in hook, line and sinker.  While the entire process takes a long time, most of that time the dough is doing it's own thing and you only have to do about 5 minutes of work!  Here's my newest delish find:

Light Wheat Sandwich Loaf No-Knead Bread Recipe

Ingredients:

• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour or bread flour
• 1 1/2 cups wheat flour (preferably fresh ground for better taste)
• 1/2 teaspoon instant yeast
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1 1/2 tablespoons honey (optional)
• 1 3/4 cups water

Instructions:

1. Combine all the dry ingredients (white flour, wheat flour, yeast, salt) in the large bowl (3 quart or larger) and stir with a mixing spoon for about 15 seconds or more.
2. Combine water and honey in a separate bowl and stir till honey is dissolved into the water. (NOTE: I haven't used the honey, totally your option!)
3. Add water honey mix to the dry ingredients bowl and stir for about 3 minutes until the flour is mostly stuck to the dough (it won’t look that good but that doesn’t matter).
4. Cover the top of the bowl loosely with plastic wrap.
5. Let sit on counter top for about 12 to 18 hours (I ussually do this for about 13 hours), the dough will look all bubbly on the top.
6. Generously sprinkle flour (wheat or white flour) the top of your clean counter top or a cutting board (don’t worry about using too much flour, it won’t hurt it).
7. Slowly pour the dough from the bowl on to the floured surface, using the silicone spatula to help it peal off the sides of the bowl.
8. Sprinkle a little flour on top of the dough and rub your hands together with flour.
9. With you hands, gently stretch the dough out to a rectangle shape.
10. Roll up the dough from one end to the other.
11. Place the dough into a lightly greased bread pan (seem side down).
12. Let dough rise till it is a bit above the top of the bread pan (about double in size or 1.5 to 2 hours).
13. Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees.
14. Place bread in the oven for 40 minutes to 45 minutes.



Photo credit from original posting site

15. Remove from oven and let it cool on a cooling rack or your counter top.

I have smaller Pyrex loaf pans, so I actually split the dough and made two smaller loaves from this recipe.  Not a bad deal for so few ingredients!  I absolutely love this recipe and have another batch currently rising on my counter :)