I have stopped buying bread, even form the best bakeries in town. Nothing compares to fresh homemade bread and with these easy no-knead recipes, there really is no excuse not to do it yourself. Here's an adaption of a multi-grain bread recipe from Ellen Jackson. Feel free to vary the proportion of whole wheat flour to bread flour based on your preference. I've used as little as 1 cup whole wheat flour to 3 cups white and as much as 2 1/2 cups whole wheat flour to 1 1/2 cups white.
Yield: 1 Loaf
2 cups lukewarm water (not over 100 degrees F, better cool than hot)
1/2 t active dry yeast
2 T barley malt syrup or molasses
2 cups all purpose or bread flour
2 cups whole wheat flour
1 T salt
1 cup chopped walnuts
Combine the water, yeast and sweetener in a large bowl. Let the yeast bloom while you assemble the dry ingredients.
Combine the dry ingredients and walnuts in a medium bowl and stir to mix. Add to the wet ingredients and stir well. The dough will be quite sticky.
Cover the bowl with a cloth or plastic wrap and let rise 18 hours (a little more or less will work, I've let the dough rise as mush as 20 hours and as little as 16). The dough is ready when the surface is speckled with air bubbles.
Lightly dust a clean work surface with flour and place the dough on it. Fold the dough over itself several times. Meanwhile line a large bowl with a lint free cotton cloth and sprinkle generously with flour to thoroughly cover the bottom. Place the dough seam side down in the bowl, sprinkle the top with more flour and fold the cloth over the top of the dough.
Let the dough rise 1 1/2 hours. After 1 1/2 hours place a 4-5 quart heavy bottom pot with a lid into the over. Ideally a ceramic pot will work, but cast iron or Pyrex will do. Preheat the oven and the pot to 475 degrees F for 30 minutes. Meanwhile, let the dough continue to rise.
The dough is ready to bake when a finger poked in it springs back slowly. Remove the hot pot from the oven. With a quick action flip the dough into the hot pot. If the dough lands unevenly, using pot holders, give the pot a vigorous back forth shake. Cover the pot with its lid and return it to the oven. Covering the bread for the initial bake steams the dough and creates a nice moist bread.
Reduce the oven temperature to 450 degrees F and bake for 30 minutes. Remove the lid and bake an additional 15-25 minutes uncovered until deep brown. This will create the crisp crust.
Remove the dough from the pot by flipping the pot over onto a cooling rack. If the bottom of the bread sounds hollow when tapped it is done (though at these temperatures and times I've never undercooked a loaf!)
Let cool on the rack before slicing.
