No-knead bread still the king of viral recipes (2024)

Part of the food writer gig means trying to catch at least of the few trendy recipes zipping by at 100 Mbps on the interwebz every day. And I’ve certainly tested my share over the past decade.

How many have I gone back to make a second time? Exactly one.

Its genius was in the process: Lahey promised a professional quality loaf with about five minutes of active labor and with only fairly common household equipment. Bring a little flour, water, yeast and salt into a barely mixed shaggy mass, forget about it for about a day and toss it into a covered Dutch oven to bake. The signature move: skip any and all kneading.

It might be stretching the dough a little thin to call this the first viral recipe ever, but it’s safe to say the no-knead loaf quickly became one of the most widely attempted recipes among the emerging web-savvy network of home bakers at the time — myself very much included.

I started playing with the recipe in 2007 or so, making tweaks here and there to accommodate the particular volume of my 5.5-quart Le Creuset and whatever flour I was excited about at the time — buckwheat, rye, whole wheat, teff and others have all had a spin.

Within a year, the approach was pretty much baked into memory. I entered a couple versions, one with straight all-purpose flour and the other rye, into a county agricultural fair where I lived at the time. The rye took a first place blue ribbon. I didn’t even know they had a fancy purple and white Best in Show ribbon until they pinned one on the white loaf.

The $75 prize was quickly converted into a celebratory night out with my wife, but I still use the recipe to this day.

pstephen@express-news.net

Twitter: @pjbites

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This is, without question, the most rewarding bread recipe I’ve ever encountered. I committed this technique to memory back when originator Jim Lahey’s metric unit measurements were the most common version found online. Many have since converted it to cups and teaspoons, but I’m sticking with grams. So check the batteries in that digital scale, because I don’t know how to tell you how to do this without one.

Makes 16 servings

860 grams all purpose flour

16 grams salt

1 gram active dry yeast

690 grams water

Instructions: Whisk flour, salt and yeast in a large mixing bowl. Add water and stir until just combined. The dough will be very wet and sticky. Cover and let rise overnight or up to 18 hours.

When ready to bake, place a covered, empty 5.5-quart Dutch oven into the oven and heat to 500 degrees. Line another large bowl with a large sheet of parchment paper. Scrape the dough onto the paper and let the loaf continue to rise while the oven heats, at least 30 minutes.

Carefully remove Dutch oven from oven and remove the lid. Slide the parchment paper and dough into the Dutch oven and put the lid back on. Bake for 30 minutes, then remove the lid and continue baking for 15 more minutes. When done, remove loaf from Dutch oven and let cool for at least 15 minutes before serving.

Per serving: 196 calories, 1 g fat (0 g saturated fat), 0 mg cholesterol, 390 mg sodium, 41 g carbohydrates, 2 g dietary fiber, 0 g sugar, 6 g protein

Adapted from “My Bread” by Jim Lahey