I’ve been baking bread since the early 1970s, with great success and delicious results. Last week, I stumbled across the recipe for Jim Lahey’s No-Knead Bread, which it seems that most of the foodie world was buzzing about more than 2 years ago, when it was featured in an article in the New York Times. Dunno how I missed it back then, but I couldn’t wait to try it myself.

This bread is nothing short of magnificent, an artisan loaf with a thick crispy crust and a deliciously chewy center similar to a ciabatta. All you do is mix 4 ingredients (flour, water, salt, and dry yeast), let it rise for 18 hours, and toss it into a preheated cast iron or pyrex dutch oven, pop the lid back on, and bake for 30 minutes.

Really and truly, NO kneading! And it’s the best bread I’ve ever made. I’ve been making it daily for more than a week, varying the recipe from day to day by adding wheat germ, oatmeal, chopped kalmata olives, etc. The first couple days, I worried about mixing the dough at the right time to allow the 18 hour rising, which meant it had to be mixed between 10 pm and midnight. Now, when I wash and dry the bowl with “today’s” dough in it, I add the four dry ingredients, cover the bowl, and set it aside until right before bedtime, when I quickly stir in the water and cover the bowl to let the dough rise. Such a simple routine, and we’re enjoying amazing bread with dinner every night.

I haven’t blogged about this bread yet, so here’s a link to where I discovered it, on a fabulous blog called The Wednesday Chef:

http://wednesdaychef.typepad.com/the_wednesday_chef/2006/11/jim_laheys_nokn.html

Cheers!

Victoria

One way to reinforce the idea of eating more sustainable food is to reinforce the steps above and others through the senses.

For example, if a person takes the time to learn to make bread (or uses a bread machine), the smells that will fill their kitchen and home will create a new sensual experience that will have them asking for more (see “Will the Real Bread Please Stand Up?” at: http://everytable.wordpress.com/2009/03/23/victory-oven-challenge-king-arthur-v-sara-lee/).

I also believe that if people take stock of how they spend their limited time, they will likely find a number of things they would happily cut back on, in the same way that people that lose a job find ways to cut back on spending.

So much of this comes down to priorities and focus.

Cheers,

Rob Smart
(a.k.a., Jambutter on Twitter)