No-Knead Peasant Bread

In a mixing bowl whisk the flours and the salt. Set aside.

Grease a separate large bowl with butter or olive oil and set this aside. (This bowl will be used for the initial rise of the dough).

In the bowl of your stand mixer, dissolve the sugar into the water. Sprinkle the yeast over the top. (If you’d like, at this point, to ensure the yeast is active, you could let the mix stand for 10-15 minutes or until it’s foamy and/or bubbling just a bit. I typically don’t.)

Add the flours and salt. Mix. (Note: The original recipe outlines stirring with a wooden spoon, which works…but I like to use my mixer with the dough hook and let it go for 4 or 5 minutes on medium speed.) When it’s ready, the dough will be on the wet side. Transfer the dough to the greased bowl from the preparation step.

Cover bowl with a towel or plastic wrap and set aside in a warm spot to rise for at least an hour or until it’s about doubled in size. Typically, dough at our house takes 3 or 4 hours to double. Point being…don’t sweat the exact time.

Grease 2 oven-safe bowls with about a tablespoon of butter each. (I use two 1-liter size Pyrex glass baking bowls.)

Punch down your dough and divide it into 2 equal parts. One by one, place each half on a floured counter-top. Quickly form a ball with each part and transfer them to your prepared bowls. At this point, the original recipe calls for letting the dough rise until it’s doubled again in size. And this certainly works. I’ve taken to putting the dough into the fridge overnight for its second rise. There’s something that happens to dough when it ferments for a long period of time in a cool environment.

Preheat oven to 425 F. Bake for 10 minutes at 425 F. Reduce the heat to 375 F and bake for 18-19 minutes longer. Remove from the oven and set the bowls on a rack. Let the loaves sit for 5-10 minutes before turning them over onto cooling racks.

If the bowls have been greased well, the loaves should easily fall out out onto the cooling racks.
You’ll have to gauge it based on taste. I cook the loaves on the lower end of the time the original calls for because we like them pale and soft. If that’s not for you, they can always be placed back into the oven (not in the bowls) and baked for about 5 minutes longer. Remove from oven and let cool for 10 minutes before cutting.

Adapted from Alexandra’s Kitchen.