Who knew that cast iron would be so great?

While preparing for February's cooking class, I came across a recipe for a terrific bread - "No Time Bread". Someone asked me how I found the recipe and I said......I'm not sure. As I visit my favorite sites, Food Network and, primarily, Fine Cooking, I, sometimes follow a trail if something looks interesting. I'm sure that's the case with this recipe. Below is the link for the cooking blog where I found the recipe. Take a look, it has some fun recipes, ideas and information:

http://www.thekitchn.com/thekitchn/quick/recipe-notime-bread-040653

I'd decided that I wanted to try this bread, but that it would require some experimentation before class, I also needed to purchase a dutch oven (oh shucky darn). That's pretty unusual for me as I, often make a new recipe at class without trying it out first. I think because of how the bread is prepared and baked. I wanted to make sure that it lived up to it's hype. Well, it does!

Let me say first, that you can make this bread from start to finish in about 1 1/2 hours. Follow the recipe, it's very straightforward and simple. It takes about 5 minutes to mix the dough. It takes 20 minutes to raise it in the microwave (I'm thinking this might be very user friendly for many bread recipes), you "plop" it, literally, in a very hot, preheated, dutch oven, put the lid on and bake it for 20-30 minutes (it gets "plopped" because it's very sticky. You'll notice also that you don't have a second rising time - pretty cool), take the lid off and continue baking for 5-10 minutes and you have the most amazing bread you've ever tasted. It has a slightly thick, crunchy crust with a dense, moist center. It can be sliced hot and served with butter (yummmm!) and it holds up to a Panini press. I placed it in a zip lock bag to keep fresh and the crust became chewy instead of crunchy, it's still the best bread I've ever made, and I've made a lot.

The article indicates you can use other pans for baking your bread if you don't have a dutch oven. I wanted to try it out, so the next day I made 3 more loaves of bread (I couldn't wait to try it again). I baked one in the dutch oven again, with a little less baking time. Because it's dark, it bakes quickly and conducts the most amount of heat. I reduced the baking time to 25 minutes instead of 30 and the 10 minutes "toasting" time to 5 minutes. I'll reduce the baking time again to 20 minutes. The bread is amazing, I just want it a little lighter.

I baked the second loaf in a Corningware casserole dish with a clear lid. This dish had the least amount of dough, not by design, and rose the most. I determined it was due to the fact that the dish was white and had a clear lid.

I baked the third loaf in my Pampered Chef Covered Baker. I was sure that between the Corningware and the Pampered Chef stoneware, that I'd prefer the PC stone. I have to say, the Corningware out baked the stone on this one.

I should say, that each dish resulted in a different end result. The dutch oven gives you a rather nutty flavor to the bread with a thicker crust. The Corningware gives you a finer bread texture than the dutch oven and the crust is slightly thinner. The Pampered Chef stone gives you the finest texture and thinnest crust. All the breads were very good. My "taste-tester" started with the Pampered Chef stone and loved the bread, moved to the Corningware and realized that there was a slight difference in the texture and crust, when she tasted the dutch oven bread, she couldn't stop raving about it. The difference is so significant that she thought that it was a different batch of dough. It was not.

So the moral of my story is, you don't need a dutch oven to try this bread. You don't need to be a great bread maker to try this bread, it's over the top easy, in other words, there's no excuse for not trying this great bread. If you try this bread and don't have a dutch oven, great! You'll love it! If you have a dutch oven, you'll be amazed!

There were only three changes I made to the dough:

1. I added a little more sugar, about 1 Tbl., because I like a slightly sweeter dough.

2. I used unfiltered Apple Cider Vinegar instead of Balsamic.

3. I also added 1 tsp. of dough enhancer to the recipe. This isn't necessary, I just like it.

My brother, Mark, made it with Balsamic and said that it gives it a nutty flavor and he loved the bread. He said it was as good as any fine bakery bread. That's true.

Hmmm ... I think I'll try the Balsamic with some fresh herbs and perhaps, a little grated Parmesan cheese.

I'm trying to figure out if there's a way to make this dough into rolls - well you'll know at the cooking class. Make some bread today. See you.......