Bake Perfect Loaf of French Bread - DID IT

I don't think there is anything on this list that suffered as many failures on the way to crossing it off the list as baking the perfect loaf of French bread.  I kneaded, mixed, folded hundreds of times. I baked gummy loaves, crumbly loaves, dense loaves, dry loaves... oh, sure we ate them, but they were not right. The operative word in this item is "Perfect."  It had to have a thin, crispy crust with a soft pliable interior filled with big holes - no crumbs just flakes of crust could appear on your plate.  It had to be cuttable and tearable - spell-check hates both of those words, but I stand by them.

Last year a friend sent me a recipe for a No-Knead bread from a website called Steamy Kitchen.  I shrugged it off.  How could you possibly turn out a traditional loaf of bread by such an untraditional prep method?  But eventually I gave it a try.  The results were amazing.  Not perfect, but as close as I had ever come. I tweaked the recipe a couple times until I got it.  The PERFECT LOAF, at least the way I like it.  Here's the original website http://steamykitchen.com/168-no-knead-bread-revisited.html.

 

My "tweaks" included adding a touch more salt, a bit of powdered milk, some honey, and lightly sprinkling the top with sea salt crystals before it goes into the oven.  I've experimented with adding fresh herbs to the dough as well - equally yummy.

Anyone can do this.  Unlike the professional recipes you don't have to steam your oven, spray water on things, use a cooking stone, or spend hours kneading and fussing over it. By cooking it inside a large kettle with a lid on it, you trap the steam and that keeps the crust flaky and the interior moist.  Amazing!