and if I were a poet, an aspiring poet, or even maybe an English major, I might be able to maintain in that vein for a while longer. I am none of those things, so you’re spared the poor rhyming.

HPIM1873HPIM1872Instead, I’m writing with news on a variation of the no-knead bread that, as you can see from the picture, is on its way to the top of the bowl.

This variation came to me as I was falling asleep last night - in fact, it may have contributed to my difficulty sleeping since once dreamed up, I wanted to start mixing right away.

Yes, I dream of bread. What do you dream of, electric sheep?

Anyway, this bread is the result of two things:

  1. Emily mentioned that when she first made the no-knead bread, she let it rise a long time - like 30 some hours long. I’d known long kneads were possible, but never had the patience to wait that long.
  2. The no-knead bread is nice and all, but needs some flavor and needs to get away from being a purely white loaf.

So, here’s what I came up with last night:

  1. morning one: take 1 cup of flour, 1/4 cup of rye flour, and 1/4 cup of oatmeal. Add 1/8 tsp of yeast and mix to combine. Add 3/4 cups of water (maybe a smidge more) and old-dough if you’ve got it, and mix to the shaggy dough consistency you’re familiar with if you’ve made the no-knead bread before.
  2. evening one (about 12 hours later): to the fermenting pile of flours and oats, add 1.5 cups of flour, 1/8 tsp yeast, 1 1/4 tsp salt, and 3/4 cups of water, and maybe a smidge more water if you think necessary. Also add in enough flax seeds to make you happy.
  3. morning two (another 12 hours later):  punch down, fold, rest, shape, proof and bake.feb17

So far, I’m up to evening one.

The pictures above were take about 3 hours after adding the second round of flour and yeast. I was somewhat surprised at how quickly it had risen. I’m looking forward to the baking tomorrow, and will post pictures post-baking.