You’ll have heard me talk in great depth and detail about the moment of peace that kneading provides us with, I find it an absolute pleasure, but it’s not always practical.
Sometimes we might feel like there’s not enough time in that moment to knead our bread dough, or it might be physically difficult for some of us. At times you just might not fancy it.
Good news though:
You can pretty much turn any standard yeasted bread recipe into a no knead bread recipe.
Kneading builds strength in our bread dough. It’s the physical energy we apply that develops the gluten inside, the elastic bands that make our dough springy, bouncy, stretchy and STRONG. It’s one of the four principles of home made bread I talk about in Bread Every Day. Strength, Structure, Puff and Time combined make amazing bread.
But there is something else that develops strength in our dough too, and it’s another one of the top four. It’s TIME.
So then, we can replace the physical act of kneading, the WORK, with a little extra TIME and everything will be fine yeah?
Not quite…
Whilst time does develop the gluten and therefore the strength, our dough does need a little help along the way.
So then, it’s a nice idea to give our dough a little stretch and fold along the way, or as I like to do, a Roll Up. At intervals during the slightly extended rest I pause, take the dough from it’s bowl, roll it up, and put it back in.
What I am doing here is creating STRUCTURE and TENSION so that combined with the STRENGTH that is created over TIME, together, we are making that bouncy, springy dough that will puff up just lovely.
So if the structure of a standard yeasted bread dough is the following:
Mix > Knead > Rest > Shape > Rest > Bake
We can pretty comfortably change that to:
Mix > Rest & Roll up > Shape > Rest > Bake
Meaning that if a yeasted loaf of bread recipe looks like this:
1. Mix
2. Knead
3. Rest 1 hour
4. Shape
5. Rest 1 hour
6. BAKE!
It becomes:
1. Mix
2. Rest 30 minutes
3. Roll up
4. Rest 30 minutes
5. Roll up
6. Rest 30 minutes
7. Shape
8. Rest 1 hour
9. BAKE!
This means that if a dough recipe fits the first scenario, you’ll be able to swap it for the No-Knead-Roll-Up-Instead technique. Making pretty much any straight yeasted bread recipe a no knead bread recipe, even if it’s enriched like doughnuts, or a cinnamon bun for example.
The formula above is an IDEA though not the rule. It means you can feel free to extend your rest to say, 2 hours and pop an extra roll up in the gap. Or condense the roll ups dough more in a shorter space of time if it works for you. Really though, the resting time is where the magic is at; 1.5-2 hours before shaping will really help.
Two things to pay attention to when changing a recipe like this.
1. A little extra water (or liquid) helps.
Gluten develops better in a more liquid environment, meaning when the dough is resting, and the flour is soaking in the water, it will be developing even more strength on its own. A little extra liquid in your recipe will help make this happen.
2. Mix your dough really well in the first place.
When you are kneading your dough you can loosely mix it and everything will be fully combined when you’re kneading. But for a no knead bread you can’t rely on that, so make sure that you mix really well to begin with. Dissolve fresh yeast or dry granules in water before adding the dry ingredients, or if you are using fast action powder yeast put it in the flour to avoid clumping.
Good luck, have a play and remember the principles. It really works, and you just might like the results even better than when you knead.
Discover my no knead Cheddar Cheese Bap recipe in the Home Bakers Club