Overnight Yeast Adventures

Thank you, Jim Lahey, for the "daily bread" recipe that nourishes our bodies and spirits. I stumbled across the NYT article several months ago in the course of researching perfect pizza crusts (that's another story!). I'd been feeling sorry for myself in the months following herniated cervical disks and ruminating too much on what I could no longer do, when along came no knead bread. Minimal effort, patience, and we are graced with the comforting aroma and reward of fresh baked bread.  It's cheaper to make bread than to buy it, and this makes great toast and special sandwiches. We use this basic dough for bread, pizza crusts, cinnamon rolls, even doughnuts! I stopped measuring after the first few attempts and it works well every time.  If we're planning to make pizzas, I sometimes add a splash of olive oil with the water on the first night.

4 cups unbleached flour
1 tsp (big pinch) salt
1/4 tsp (pinch) yeast
1-2 c water

Combine dry ingredients in large bowl. Add water and stir well (enough to moisten and make a shaggy dough).  Cover and rest on countertop overnight.

Sometime the next day... The dough should have risen in the bowl, smell deliciously yeasty, and be full of holes. Generously flour a clean cloth. Pour the wet dough onto the flour and liberally dust more flour over the top. Use your hands or a dough scraper to fold the dough several times until no longer sticky.  At this point, I usually divide in half and let one section rise in a greased bread pan until it reaches the edge of the pan.  To bake loaf bread, place the dough in a cold oven. Set at 400 F for 15 minutes, then reduce heat to 375 F and bake 25 minutes. Cool on rack.

For cinnamon rolls, roll out the other half of the dough on the floured cloth. spread with about 1/4 c softened butter and generously sprinkle with a mixture of sugar (I don't measure, so approximately 1/3 c), cinnamon (1 tbs), and ground nuts (1/2 c).  Roll dough into log and cut into 1 inch slices. Place on cut sides in greased 9 inch pan until at least double. In a small bowl combine 4 tbs soft butter, 1/4 c flour, 1/4 c brown sugar, 2 tsp cinnamon and sprinkle over top of rolls. Bake at 350 F for 25-30 minutes until brown and hollow sounding when tapped.

For pizza, sprinkle pizza pan with cornmeal. Stretch dough into pan and let rest 5-10 minutes. Top with tomato sauce, grated cheese, herbs and toppings of choice. Bake in preheated 450 F for 15-20 minutes.

My daughter wanted doughnuts last weekend, so on a whim we took spoonfuls of the wet dough and rolled in a small bowl of flour until dry. Each ball was rolled flat and dropped into an inch of oil heated to about 350 F. They browned nicely and puffed up beautifully. We drained on paper towels, dusted with powdered sugar, and made a teenager smile.