In March, as quarantine-fueled bread baking became a craze, America’s Test Kitchen and Cook’s Illustrated launched a bread newsletter and blog to address that enthusiasm — and the ensuing shortage of flour and yeast. In this recipe, ATK bread guru Andrew Janjigian, a senior editor at Cook’s Illustrated, makes a smaller-than-normal starter — #Quarantinystarter — so you can save your precious flour (he prefers King Arthur) for the actual bake.
If you scored some culture from a friend or bakery, you can skip the levain build as long as yours is on a large-enough scale to yield 30 grams — remember, you’ll need extra to refresh your starter for your next baking project.
Simple No-Knead Sourdough Boule
Makes one round loaf
Levain build ingredients:
40 grams or 1/3 cup flour
40 grams or 3 tablespoons lukewarm water
20 grams or 4 teaspoons sourdough culture
Directions
Combine flour, water and culture together in a container, stir until uniform, then cover tightly and let proof at room temperature until it is double or triple the volume, 6 to 12 hours.
Bread ingredients:
360 grams or 1 2/3 cups lukewarm water, divided
30 grams or 1 tablespoon 100-percent hydration levain (from above)
500 grams or 3¼ cups bread flour or high protein all-purpose flour
10 grams or 2 teaspoons table salt
Directions:
Place 10 grams (2 teaspoons) water in a small bowl and set aside. Whisk 350 grams water and the levain together in medium bowl until levain is mostly broken up. Add flour and stir with your hands or a wooden spoon until no dry flour remains. Cover bowl and let sit for 30 minutes.
Add salt to top of dough and sprinkle with remaining water. Working in the bowl, knead gently by hand until the salt is fully incorporated and dough is uniform in texture (it will remain shaggy). Cover and let sit for 30 minutes.
Using wet hands, stretch and fold the dough until it is tight and uniform, 6 to 8 folds.
Cover tightly and let sit at cool room temperature until puffy, jiggly and bubbly, 12 to 16 hours. You can generally move to the next step anytime within this window, as long as the dough looks right and as long as ambient temps aren’t much higher than 75 degrees.
Flour the top of the dough and your work surface liberally and evenly. Unstick dough from the bottom of the bowl and transfer it to the counter. Pat gently into a 7-inch disk. Fold edges of dough over center to form a round. Place round on your work surface seam-side up, cover with a bowl or loosely with plastic wrap, and let sit for 30 minutes.
Line a colander (or banneton or other similar proofing basket) with a large linen or cotton dish towel and dust liberally with flour. Flour the top of the dough ball and the surface around it and, using a bench knife, carefully unstick the dough from the surface. Repeat patting and folding to form a tight round. Pinch the seam tightly to seal and transfer the dough to the floured towel, seam-side up. Flour top surface of dough and fold edges of towel over dough to cover. Place the colander in a large plastic bag, covering it loosely but completely.
Let loaf sit at room temperature for 1 hour, then transfer to refrigerator for 8 to 24 hours. (Or proof at room temperature until the loaf is about doubled in size and does not readily spring back when poked with your finger, 2 to 4 hours. But note that retarding the dough for 8 to 24 hours will result in better oven spring, easier and better scoring, and less worry about knowing when it’s ready to be baked.)
Thirty minutes before baking, place a large covered cast-iron Dutch oven on the middle rack of the oven and heat oven to 500 degrees.
Fold back edges of towel and dust top of loaf liberally with flour. Lay a 12-inch square of parchment on countertop. Gently invert the loaf onto the parchment and remove the towel. Using a sharp knife, make a single, ¼-inch-deep slash from edge to edge across center of loaf. (Or score however you like.)
Carefully remove the hot pot from the oven and remove the lid. Holding the edges of the parchment paper in both hands, carefully and gently place loaf into pot. Cover pot, return to oven and reduce oven temperature to 450 degrees.
Bake for 20 minutes. Carefully remove lid and continue to bake until loaf is golden brown, 15 to 20 minutes longer. Carefully remove pot from oven. Return loaf to bare oven rack and continue to bake until deep golden brown, 5 to 10 minutes longer. Transfer loaf to cooling rack and allow to cool for at least two hours before serving.
— Recipe courtesy of Andrew Janjigian, America’s Test Kitchen bread expert
