Dinner with a Food Blogger and Mark Bittman’s No Knead Bread

I recently had the opportunity to dine with a lovely fellow food blogger, Alanna from A Veggie Venture.   Alanna was in Chicago on business and we decided to meet at a restaurant near her hotel, the Basil Leaf Café.  The restaurant was quiet and the food was quite good.  I ordered the Butternut Squash Ravioli with Fresh Spinach & Roasted Garlic in Basil Oil and would recommend it.  We sat and talked for nearly three hours.  It was a very enjoyable evening. 

During our conversation Mark Bittman’s No Knead Bread came up.  I
haven’t been baking bread very often lately, but this reminder
encouraged me to throw together this very simple dough on Monday
night. 

When I returned home from work on Tuesday I took the bread
through the final rise and baked it in my new cloche.  Nick and I made
a nice dinner of goat cheese and roasted tomato ravioli with a garlic
cream sauce.  The bread turned out wonderfully, with a gorgeous crust
and a light sour taste.  We enjoyed it warm with dill havarti cheese
while we finished our wine and watched episodes of 30 Rock.

It seems every food blogger has made this bread, so I won’t bother
reposting the recipe here (you can also find a video).  I would recommend that bakers, both new and
seasoned, give this bread a try.  The results are great.  I do find it
a bit funny that the absence of kneading should make bread making so
much more accessible.  I actually really enjoy kneading bread.  Rather, it is my
impatience with letting dough rise for hours (or days) that is the most
bothersome.  However, this recipe provides some great
instruction for the home baker, particularly when it comes to creating
a good oven environment.  Putting the dough inside of a well preheated
container, be it a cloche or heavy pot, will offer dramatically
different results than simply placing the dough on a sheet pan.

Thanks for looking me up Alanna, and for reminding me of this great recipe!