Buzz's No-knead Olive Bread

This is a delicious no-knead olive bread recipe my husband, Buzz Mersereau, came up with. It can be made with just about any herb, berry, whatever, instead of the olives.

The long knead-free process allows the dough to develop good flavor while the preheated Dutch oven** will create the humid conditions needed for a crisp crust.

YIELD: One 1 1/2 lb loaf

1/4 tsp active dry yeast 1 1/2 C warm water		In a large bowl, dissolve yeast in water.
3 C flour 1 tsp dried oregano 1 tsp dried thyme 1 tsp dried rosemary,          crushed 1 1/2 tsp salt 1/2 C olives, sliced		You can use all purpose flour, white bread flour, whole wheat flour, or any combination thereof. In a second bowl, combine dry ingredients and olives. Add mix to the bowl containing the water & yeast. Stir until blended. The dough will be shaggy & sticky.
first rise 8-18 hours		Cover bowl tightly with plastic wrap and let rest at least 8 hours, preferably 12-18 hours at warm room temperature (about 70 degrees). The dough is ready when the surface is dotted with bubbles.
form loaf		Lightly flour a work surface and place dough on it. Sprinkle a little more flour on it and fold it over on itself a couple times. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let it rest for about 15 minutes. Using just enough flour to keep the dough from sticking to the work surface and to your fingers, gently shape the dough into a ball.
second rise 1-2 hours		Generously coat a dish towel with flour, wheat bran or cornmeal (your choice). Put the ball of dough on the surface of the towel and dust the ball with your choice from the previous sentence. Cover with another towel and let rise for 1-2 hours. When it is ready, the dough will have doubled in size and will not readily spring back when poked with a finger.
preheat		At least 20 minutes before the dough is ready, pre-heat the oven to 475 degrees. Put the pot in the oven to heat up.
bake		When the dough is ready and has risen, carefully remove the pot from the oven and lift off the lid. Put the dough in the pot. The dough will lose its shape somewhat in the process, but that's okay. Center the dough in the pot. Cover and bake for 30 minutes at 475. Remove the lid and bake for an additional 15-20 minutes until the loaf is beautifully browned. Remove the bread from the pot and let it cool on a rack for an hour before slicing.

** Any 6-8 qt pot, like a Dutch oven, cast iron, enameled, Pyrex or ceramic, with lid.

Peg Boley

Crusty Whole Wheat/Bulghur Bread

The instructions are long, but well worth the effort. Connie made it for the first time yesterday to sanity-test the recipe, and it was delicious! Once you've made it a few times, you won't need the instructions except for checking ingredient measurements.

Required equipment

• a bread machine (or strong arms !)
• a dutch oven with close fitting lid**
• good quality oven mitts

1/2 c bulgur 1 c water		Bring 1 cup water to a boil in small saucepan. Add 1/2 cup bulgur and simmer, covered, for 10 minutes. Let cool. After about 5-10 minutes, the bulgur should have absorbed all the water.
1 1/3 c water*** 1 1/2 tsp salt 1 1/2 Tbl olive oil 1 Tbl dark        molasses		Add water, salt, oil and molasses to bread machine. Add cooled bulgur
2 c bread flour 2 c whole     wheat flour 1 tsp bread-   machine yeast (parmesan)		Add flours to bread machine. Make an indent in the flour with your knuckle and place the yeast in it. I like to add a large handful of shredded parmesan to make the bread a bit richer tasting.
first mix/rise		Start Bread Machine on Dough Cycle After 3 min scrape down sides to make sure all is being mixed. When dough cycle is complete, let dough rise in bread machine for approximately another hour.
form the loaf		Place a smooth (not fuzzy) kitchen towel on the counter and flour one end with whole wheat flour. Dump the dough from the bread machine container onto the floured part of the towel (remember to remove paddle!) Dust the dough with more flour to absorb the surface moisture.
		Pat the dough flat into a rectangular shape, dusting with more flour any sticky parts. Fold the dough like a letter (i.e. 1/3 over, pat down, then other 1/3 over, pat down) Turn the dough 90 degrees, flatten the dough, and fold like a letter again. (add more flour on towel if needed) Turn the dough 90 degrees and pull sides up to form a loaf shape (you will need to 'pinch' the seal)
second rise		Pick up the towel and place in a basket or bowl. (I use a loaf shaped bread basket - about 9" x 7", but a med-large mixing bowl works also) Cover the dough with the un-floured part of the towel, and let rise for approximately 1-2 hours.
preheat		20-30 min before baking: place dutch oven with lid into oven and set heat to 500 degrees. Once oven has reached 500 degrees, leave pot in at least another 5 minutes.
start baking		Reduce temperature to 425 Carefully take pot out of the oven and remove its lid. Using the towel, gently lift the dough from the basket; lower towel into pot and slowly roll the dough off the towel Put lid back and bake for 30 minutes at 425. Remove the cover, bake for another 25 minutes.
finally ..		Remove bread from the pot to a wire rack and let it cool at least 15-20 minutes.

This bread makes wonderful toast.

** You need a fairly heavy pan with close-fitting lid. The pan will hold the heat from pre-heating, and when you add the dough, the steam created is what creates the wonderful crust. We have an assortment of dutch ovens and also ceramic crock pot liners (with glass lids) from the thrift shop. If the cover knob is plastic, it often cannot take the high heat, but you can sometimes replace it with a simple metal drawer pull.

*** if you are in a hurry and your bulgur is a bit warm, use really cold water.

Neal Clark

Crusty Artisan Bread

I've been making variations of this bread since November 2006, where the first versions of the recipe appeared in Mark Bittmann's column in the the New York Times. Later improvements came from Cooks Illustrated in late 2007. There is a great article with instructions and pictures by Nancy Leson of the Seattle Times (May 2008)

This version makes two loaves, and replaces some of the bread flour with whole wheat.

Special requirements:

• parchment paper
• heavy pots with close fitting lids **
• heavy duty pot holders

4 c bread flour 2 c whole     wheat flour 1 T salt 1/2 tsp bread-    machine yeast		Whisk together bread flour, whole wheat flour, salt and yeast in a large bowl.
14 oz water 3/4 c beer 2 Tbl white        vinegar 3 Tbl honey		In separate container, mix water (14 oz is about 1 3/4 cups) and beer (a mild-flavored lager - the recipes suggest Budweiser, but I usually use Henry Weinhard's Blonde) Add the vinegar and honey and mix together well. Add mixed liquids to the flour, using a strong wooden spoon to mix. Cutting through the mixture with a spatula, and turning it also helps to get the ingredients well mixed.
first rise 8-18 hours		Cover with plastic wrap and let rise 8 to 18 hours.
form loaves second rise 2 hours		Dump onto floured surface, dust with flour. Cut the dough in half. For each half: Knead 10-15 times, form into a loaf, and put seam side down in a parchment-paper-lined mixing bowl or large skillet. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise for two hours. (Start the preheat step after 1.5 hours)
preheat 30 minutes		Half an hour -before- you are ready to bake, put covered pots ** into oven and turn oven to 500 degrees.
baking		Reduce temperature to 425. With heavy gloves, remove baking containers from oven and place the lids aside. Remove plastic wrap from loaf. Lift loaf by parchment paper and place (paper and loaf) into baking container. Cut an cross into the top using kitchen shears. (See Nancy's picture) Replace lid and bake for 30 minutes. Remove lid and bake for 25 minutes. Transfer to wire rack and cool 1-2 hours.

** You want a heavy pot with a close fitting lid. We have a mix of dutch ovens and also ceramic (crock-pot) liners with glass lids. The preheated pots create steam when the dough is first put in - this is what gives you the wonderful crust.

The trick for the double recipe is that -both- containers need to fit into the oven at the same time. I usually use one dutch oven, and one crock pot liner with glass lid. Test for fit in a cold oven!

Neal Clark