[MrsMike]

I was given the following recipe for bread. It's supposed to be no-knead and very, very easy.<br><br>
One Hour French Bread Recipe:<br><br>
1 1/2 c warm water<br>
1 TBSP honey<br>
1 1/2 TBSP dry active yeast<br>
3-4 c flour (I use whole wheat)<br>
*Optional 3/4 c flax seed meal<br>
Oven 450<br>
Bake time 20 min.<br><br>
Blend water honey and yeast to proof 5 minutes.<br><br>
Blend dry ingredients. Add yeast mix to dry ingredients and blend with a wooden spoon until no longer sticky. Roll dough into 2 long baguettes or one large round loaf. Place onto parchment lined baking sheet. Slice diagonal slits into the top of the loaf. Let sit 20 minutes to rise. Bake 20 minutes.<br><br>
Everyone who has tried it raves about how super easy it is to make. I am a complete moron in the kitchen and figured that even I could handle this one. I made it a few days ago. It came out reeking and tasting like pure yeast. I realize now that my yeast didn't proof properly. Looking back, it didn't proof at all, but I've never tried this before so I didn't know. It was gross. I tried tonight. My yeast was gorgeous. Beautiful. I realized that my water probably wasn't warm enough last time. Tonight the yeast rose just fine. So I added it to my flower and began to mix it. And mix it. And mix it. It says to mix until no longer sticky, but after 40 minutes it was still a sticky mess. I added a teeny bit of flour, but it didn't help. I wet my hands and shaped the loafs anyway. It's in the oven now. I don't have hope. Has anyone else tried this recipe? Any clue as to what I'm doing wrong?<br><br>
ETA : Yep. Fail. I have two very large, very flat croutons. <img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="http://www.mothering.com/discussions/images/smilies/greensad.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="greensad">

 

[Owen'nZoe]

Are you using 100% whole wheat flour? That could be your problem. You could try switching to a 50% wheat/50% white mixture. If you really want to do 100% ww, you'll have better luck if you add gluten.

 

[allnaturalmom]

I'm so sorry your bread making experience didn't go well for you. I have never used that recipe, so I'm not sure about it. I can tell you, though, that that seems like an awful lot of yeast for the amount of flour. And, in my experience w/no knead loaves, the dough should be a little sticky... at least stickier than a traditional kneaded loaf.<br><br>
I usually make traditional kneaded bread and just recently started w/the no knead loaves because they are so easy. If you are interested, this is the recipe that I use. It uses 100% whole wheat flour and is printed on the back of the King Arthur Flour whole wheat flour 5 lb. bag. It has lots of room for tweaking/substitutions. And (this is the best part!) the KAF website has live/instant chat w/a baker to trouble shoot any problems or ask any questions. They also have a toll free baker hotline. I have used both in the past and every time I contact them they are so friendly and helpful. I highly recommend them.<br><br><a href="http://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes/no-knead-100-whole-wheat-bread-recipe" target="_blank">http://www.kingarthurflour.com/recip...t-bread-recipe</a><br><br>
Mine is done in about 30-35 minutes instead of the 40-45 they suggest. I use an instant read thermometer to be sure. I also use milk instead of water w/powdered milk. I think I read in the reviews that some just used water altogether. I use honey instead of maple syrup. Sometimes I use half all-purpose and half whole wheat flours instead of all whole wheat. It does call for oj. I have used a quarter-cup of water w/a teaspoon of lemon juice instead and it came out fine - I think someone in one of the reviews did the same thing.<br><br>
Anyway, don't give up. Maybe start out w/a different recipe. Maybe try this one and if you still have trouble, talk to one of their bakers.<br><br>
gl<br>
hth<br><br>
ps - Here is a list of all of their no-knead recipes from their website:<br><a href="http://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes/no-knead-bread/view-all" target="_blank">http://www.kingarthurflour.com/recip...bread/view-all</a>

 

[Smokering]

One and a half cups of water to 3-4 cups flour seems like too much liquid to me. My basic recipe uses one cup of water to 3 cups flour, and I still need to add 1/2 - 1 cup for kneading. You could try again with just 1 cup of water and see how it goes?<br><br>
But with that much yeast, your bread will probably taste very yeasty anyway. Could you use way less yeast - just a teaspoon - and let the dough rise longer? It wouldn't be "harder", just more time-consuming... healthier, though. Ack, the whole recipe looks flawed to me. <img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="http://www.mothering.com/discussions/images/smilies/lol.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="lol"> Normal bread recipes are complicated because they NEED to be - there are important reasons why two risings is good, and why long risings are better than short. Want me to walk you through my tried-and-true bread recipe? It's really not hard, you just have to start it earlier in the day or the night before, not an hour before dinner (but hey, I'm always busy making the rest of dinner then anyway!).

 

[TheGirls]

My no-knead recipe has similar flour/water proportions to yours - no-knead bread uses far more water than kneaded bread - but less yeast. I use 3 1/4 C flour, 1 1/2C water, and 3/4TBSP yeast.<br><br>
It works GREAT as long as there is no more than 60% whole wheat flour. 100% whole wheat bread is something I haven't gotten very good at yet, but you definitely need to add gluten to make it work.

 

[MrsMike]

Thank you for all the replies and wonderful suggestions. I will try it with less yeast and maybe less water. I'll also cut the whole wheat flour down and mix it with all-purpose.<br><br><b>allnaturalmom</b> - thanks for the link! <img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="/img/vbsmilies/smilies/joy.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="joy"> That looks really easy and I like that you can substitute some of the ingredients. Is instant yeast the same as rapid rise yeast? I like King Arthur Flour - that's usually what I use when I can't find or afford my usual organic stuff.<br><b><br><br>
Smokering</b> - please share your recipe. I definitely want to learn. <img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="http://www.mothering.com/discussions/images/smilies/orngbiggrin.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="orange big grin">

 

[Smokering]

OK!<br><br>
In a bowl, mix:<br><br>
3 cups flour (I use 2 wholemeal, 1 white high-grade)<br>
1 tsp yeast or 1 1/2 tsp yeast with bread improver<br><br>
Make a well in the centre and pour in:<br><br>
1 cup warm water<br>
1 Tbsp honey (or you can add brown or white sugar to the dry ingredients)<br>
1 Tbsp olive oil or melted butter<br><br>
Mix together, then turn out on a floured surface and knead for five minutes. Let the dough rest for five minutes, then add a teaspoon of salt and knead 5 more minutes. (This method helps gluten formation - if you want to streamline the process, add the salt to the dry ingredients at the start and it'll be A-OK too.)<br><br>
Let the dough rest in an oiled bowl covered in oiled gladwrap, until doubled. You do NOT need a warm spot for this unless you're in a hurry, Bread dough rises in the fridge overnight. A longer rise is actually better for eliminating phytates in the grains. I usually do this first rise in the fridge overnight, and bake the bread the next day in time for lunch.<br><br>
When doubled, punch the dough down and knead it just a wee bit. Shape it however you want, and leave the loaf/rolls/whatever covered in oiled gladwrap (the same piece!) until doubled. I like to oil my pans with olive ol and sprinkle coarse cornmeal and rock salt on them; then I put more cornmeal and salt in the top before baking.<br><br>
Put in a cold oven with a pan of boiling water on the rack beneath, turn to 180C and bake for 40-50 minutes. Cool on a wire rack.<br><br>
If you want sweet bread, add ground spices to the dry ingredients, an extra Tbsp honey and use warm milk instead of water. Then knead in a cup of raisins after the first rising. You can do SO many variations on this bread! Swap one cup of flour for fine cornmeal or rye flour... add a cup of soaked and drained grains and seeds... add a Tbsp or two tomato paste to the wet ingredients... add a bunch of finely-chopped rosemary... whatever!<br><br>
If any of that doesn't make sense or requires further clarification, let me know. <img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="http://www.mothering.com/discussions/images/smilies/orngtongue.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="Stick Out Tongue"> I've been using the same recipe since I was a teenager and it has yet to let me down!

 

[JTA Mom]

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<div>Originally Posted by <strong>MrsMike</strong> <a href="/community/forum/post/15359170"><img alt="View Post" class="inlineimg" src="/community/img/forum/go_quote.gif" style="border:0px solid;"></a></div>
<div style="font-style:italic;">I was given the following recipe for bread. It's supposed to be no-knead and very, very easy.<br><br>
One Hour French Bread Recipe:<br><br>
1 1/2 c warm water<br>
1 TBSP honey<br>
1 1/2 TBSP dry active yeast <span style="color:#0000FF;">Way too much yeast. Fpr 3-4 cups, 2 tsp should be fine. The only time you need to use a lot of yeast in proportion to your flour is when you will be leaving the dough in the fridge for a few days, ala 5 minutes a day bread</span><br>
3-4 c flour (I use whole wheat)<br><span style="color:#0000FF;">Whole wheat is heavier than white flour. The bran that it contains adds to the weight. This means that it takes a lot more gas bubbles to make it rise to the same height as white flour.<br><br>
In addition, whole wheat flour contains bran. Bran is very sharp, and 'pops' gas bubbles. You need something to coat the sharp bran or your load will be denser than a white flour cousin.<br><br>
Because it contains bran, there is less gluten overall in whole wheat flour compared to white flour. This means that your heavier flour, with sharp pokey bran, will have less of those 'cables' holding it up (think of it like a suspension bridge)<br><br>
To get over all these, you can add:<br>
a) something acidic in the same amount as your yeast (vinegar, lemon juice, etc will work). This strengthens the gluten strands. So, if you use 1 tbs yeast, you need 1tbs acid.<br><br>
b) add more gluten to your dough. Either through gluten flour (about a teaspoon or two per cup of flour) or subbing in some white flour with whole wheat flour (up to 3/4 ww flour to 1/4 white flour, any more ww flour and it won't be enough to help). More gluten=more cables=higher rise=lighter bread.<br><br>
c) a starch to coat those sharp pokey bran pieces. I add 1/4c of the instant potato flakes to my recipe calling for 8 cups of ww flour. You can also substitute out all the water in your recipe with water you've boiled potatoes in. The starch nicely coats the bran, leading to more bubble retention.</span><br><br>
*Optional 3/4 c flax seed meal<br>
Oven 450<br>
Bake time 20 min.<br><br>
Blend water honey and yeast to proof 5 minutes.<br><br><span style="color:#0000FF;">Proofing just mean that the yeast puffed up. Water should be as warm as a baby's bath. Also, make sure you don't set your warm water/yeast mixture on a cold tile counter. Throw a towel under it to keep conduction to a minimum.</span><br><br>
Blend dry ingredients. Add yeast mix to dry ingredients and blend with a wooden spoon until no longer sticky. Roll dough into 2 long baguettes or one large round loaf. Place onto parchment lined baking sheet. Slice diagonal slits into the top of the loaf. Let sit 20 minutes to rise. Bake 20 minutes.<br><br><span style="color:#0000FF;">If this is a no knead bread, it will be sticky! That's the whole meaning of no-knead. You need a dough wet enough to give enough 'looseness' to the dough to allow the bubbles the yeast creates to form strong gluten strands. These doughs will flatten out to whatever the container is. You can add more flour for a stiffer dough, which means less spreading. But it should still be sticky. This is bad wording on the recipe part. True no knead dough can't be 'rolled' either. Sounds like a dough that's 'kneaded' through blending.</span><br><br>
Everyone who has tried it raves about how super easy it is to make. I am a complete moron in the kitchen and figured that even I could handle this one. I made it a few days ago. It came out reeking and tasting like pure yeast. I realize now that my yeast didn't proof properly. Looking back, it didn't proof at all, but I've never tried this before so I didn't know. It was gross. I tried tonight. My yeast was gorgeous. Beautiful. I realized that my water probably wasn't warm enough last time. Tonight the yeast rose just fine. So I added it to my flower and began to mix it. And mix it. And mix it. It says to mix until no longer sticky, but after 40 minutes it was still a sticky mess. I added a teeny bit of flour, but it didn't help. I wet my hands and shaped the loafs anyway. It's in the oven now. I don't have hope. Has anyone else tried this recipe? Any clue as to what I'm doing wrong?<br><br>
ETA : Yep. Fail. I have two very large, very flat croutons. <img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="http://www.mothering.com/discussions/images/smilies/greensad.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="greensad"></div>
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Too much yeast=yeasty tasting bread. Don't feel bad about adding more flour until it's just sticky. Flour is one thing that's affected by humidity. This is why most good bread recipes tell you to add water at the last step, 'as needed'. Sometimes when I've made bread, I've used 1.5-2 times the water that the recipe called for. Other times, I only used 3/4 of the amount. If it's humid, and I've been making soup, well, less water. If it's the middle of our 100* plus summer, sopping wet jeans dry in 20 minutes, then it's much, much more.<br><br>
It's a trial and error thing. Keep trying and soon you'll get a feel for wet dough versus 'stiff' dough (meaning it needs kneading), etc.<br><br>
Ami