Dough very Wet
I am using Mark Bittmans No Knead Bread recipe. For the record I am very new to bread making, besides quick breads I’ve done one other yeast bread a focaccia that I was very happy with.
https://www.markbittman.com/recipes-1/no-knead-bread
I have follow me the recipe exactly as stated-I did weigh my flour but not the water which was slightly over 70° but not by more than about 5°. When I turned the dough out onto a floured surface to fold it the dough was very wet a sticky and even after the 15 minute rest period did not hold its shape. I am going to finish out and see what happens. I do live in Alabama where it is more humid but nothing terrible as of right now 66% as of right now, my apartment is probably upper 60’s low 70’s??
Has anyone else tried his or similar recipes, what would you suggest on my next attempt? Also as a beginner I am not sure if a lot of bread baking terms, I am fairly skilled as a home cook in general. So explaining what terms or tricks mean would be of great help!
I do exactly that same Mark Bittman recipe and have been doing it for years.
It's normal for the dough to be runny.
If you watch the video of Mark executing his own recipe, then you will see that when he removes the dough from the fridge he does a couple of folds (the dough can be seen to tighten slightly but it barely holds its shape) then Mark flips it onto the screaming hot dutch oven by using the cloth and flipping it over quickly.
https://youtu.be/13Ah9ES2yTU
What I found over the years is that there is no need for fussing, this technique turns out great bread no matter how many mistakes I make.
I also found out that I only have enough skill to do simple baking so I started with Mark's technique and then I adapted it to my skill level.
I bake at very high hydration, simply because I like the outcome better so I am usually baking with 85% hydration which is not easy to do any stretch and folds (for me) and I am at high altitude so my technique is adapted to my specificities temperatures, humidity and altitude: so what I do is to take the dough out of the fridge and sit it on the counter until the dough reaches room temperature (a few hours) then once the dutch oven is up to temperature I simply pour the dough into the screaming hot 500º F dutch oven, put the hot lid on it and get it into the oven quickly and safely.
Note: Ovens vary dramatically in how they work, so in my gas oven I have to lower the temperature to 450º F after 5 minutes but in my electric oven I don't have to lower the temperature at all.
It's baked at that temperature until the last 15 minuets then I take the lid off for more browning and crunchiness of the crust.
I check the loaf with a thermometer (this is one of the most things that I do) and make sure that the loaf is anywhere from 200 to 211º F (if it reaches 212º F then its already burned) before I take it out of the oven.
Then when the time is up I tilt the dutch oven carefully and the loaf just rolls out by itself onto the cooling rack.
It stays on the cooling rack for at least 2 hours so the water has enough time to distribute itself evenly throughout the loaf. If you don't let it cool off and set properly it will be gooey (it still will be edible, I have eaten plenty of loaves like this until I learned to use the thermometer properly).
Just keep practicing, I have tried other methods and I always return to Mark Bittman because it works so well, saves me time, I get great rise and the loaves taste as good as they look so my family is very happy with them.
Note: I don't do any kneading (obviously lol), no stretch and folds, no scoring at all and I get great looking loaves.
Thanks I’ll check the video out. The recipe didn’t call for it to be in the fridge? Should I do that and not leave it out? Can you explain the hydration thing? Obviously it’s about water but what does it mean in practice, at a lower high humidity elevation what should I consider?
I well try it again for sure, a failure is only bad if you don’t learn. It’s in the oven right now I’m waiting on the crust to brown but seems firm when I tap it.
I'm using the very latest version of his recipe which calls for putting it in the fridge for one to three days.
That means 18 hours on the counter and then I put it in the fridge for three days. My family really enjoys the flavor that it builds up during this "retardation" process in the fridge (its a flavor enhancer, if you are in a rush then you don't have to do this but I do suggest that you experiment with it so you will know what works for you.
OH! Wait a minute!!!!
I just realized that you were talking about Mark Bittman, in reality Mark learned the "No Knead" recipe from Jim Lahey (Sullivan St Bakery Brooklyn New York), so it was Jim Lahey that I was talking about.
Jim Lahey is the original inventor of "No Knead" bread that everyone else copied but if you ask Jim, he will say that he suspects that in the olden days no one actually wasted time kneading bread because their lives were completely occupied with basic survival needs so they probably just mixed the ingredients and left it in the cast iron kettle for a number of hours for the dough to knead itself and then when it was their turn in the community oven they just shoved it in there and pulled out a loaf of bread half and hour to an hour later.
Yeah the video had some big differences in it from the How to Cook Everything: The Basics.
do you happen to have the recipe you use?
510 Grams Bread Flour
410 grams room temperature water
6 grams yeast
10 grams salt (if you find an original version of the Jim Lahey recipe you'll see that it has two little salt, that was a error by the publisher and resulted in a bland loaf)
Stir together
Cover container
Leave on counter 18 hours
Put in fridge for 24 hours to three days (to suit your taste buds)
Pull out of fridge and let stand on counter until it reaches room temperature (I am at high altitude, this gives me a result that is closer to what I want, I have also baked it directly out of the fridge and that also works, I love the screaming souk the cold dough makes when it hits the hot dutch oven)
Preheat oven to your desired temp
Pour the dough into the steaming hot dutch oven (I don't knead or do stretch and folds, that makes no sense to me since this is suppose to be a no-knead recipe LOL)
Cover
Bake for 45 minutes (your time may vary, mine varies a huge amount compared to when I bake at sea level)
(If you want a browner or crunchier crust then remove the lid the last 10 to 15 minutes of baking, I get a better rise at high altitude by leaving the lid on so that is what I do)
Pull out of the oven when the center of the loaf reaches 200º F to 211º F
Roll the bread out onto the cooling rack
Allow to cool on wire rack for 2 hours to overnight (I just do it overnight now so I don't have to time it) so you don't get s gooey center
Enjoy!
(Let mw know how you made out)