No-Knead Light Whole Wheat Bread

Blogging Marathon# 43: Week 1/ Day 2

Theme: Tame the Yeast

Dish: Varada's No-Knead Whole-wheat Bread

For the second day, another one of our resident expert bread baker, Varada, shared her No Knead Light Whole wheat bread with the group. Back in US, I use my stand mixer to mix the dough for all my breads. Here in India, I didn't have my special equipment, so I was elated when Varada sent her no-knead bread recipe over. I knew this will be perfect to make in India and already made it twice and got rave reviews from family and friends.

The second time I made this bread, I let it rise overnight and asked my mom to put the dough in the loaf pan since I got into the habit of waking up late (enjoying my vacation, eh??). She forgot some of the instructions I told her and we ended up with a bread that stuck to the pan. So for all the novice bakers, here are some pointers that will come handy:

• Always grease the bowl used to place the dough and the loaf pan thoroughly. Cooking spray works wonders, so just use oil or butter and brush all the corners well.
• Loosely cover the loaf pan with a greased plastic wrap. If the wrap is not greased well, then the dough will stick to it and when you pull it out it will deflate your lovely risen bread. If using a kitchen towel, loosely cover and use one that has ridges instead of being all plain.
• Preheat the oven to the prescribed temperature for at least 10 minutes.
• Let the bread cool completely before slicing. I love warm bread but slicing it when completely cooled makes the bread more slice-able. 

This no-knead bread has great texture, it is very soft with a nice crust. It is great for breakfast with some butter, jam or my kid's favorite Nutella. It is also great in a sandwich -- my mom and I had aloo bhaji (potato curry) sandwich it for dinner one day. I have another sweet treat coming up tomorrow using this bread and that can be had for breakfast or snack.

Ingredients:

All purpose flour - 2cups

Whole wheat flour or Atta - 2 cups

Yeast - ¾tsp
Sugar- 3tbsp
Salt - 1¾tsp
Cold water - 2cups+1tbsp
Vegetable Oil - 3tbsp

Method:

• In a large mixing bowl, combine all the ingredients. Using a wooden spoon and your hands, mix the ingredients until they are just combined. Do not knead the dough. Pour some oil in your palm and rub on the top of the dough to prevent drying out.
• Cover the bowl loosely with a kitchen towel or a greased plastic wrap and let rise overnight. If the weather is hot and humid then you might have to shorten the rising time. In that case, mix the ingredients during the day time to monitor the rise closely. If the dough seems to be rising too fast, then refrigerate it to slow down the rising process.
• Lightly grease a 9"x5" loaf pan.
• Once the dough is doubled in volume, use a greased spatula and stir the dough together gently. Then push your hand under the dough and pull it up all the way over the top. Rotate the bowl and repeat folding over the dough over itself 3~4 times.
• Gently pick up the dough and transfer it seam side down to the greased loaf pan. Smooth the top with oiled hands and using a very sharp knife, make three deep cuts on the top. Sprinkle ½tbsp whole wheat flour on the top of the bread (I forgot to do it both the times).
• Cover loosely with greased plastic wrap or kitchen towel. Set aside to rise until the dough is about ¼" over the rim of the loaf pan. This will take about 2hours.
• Preheat the oven to 375F for at least 10 minutes.
• Bake the bread for 40~50 minutes or until the top is golden brown and the bread sounds hollow when tapped on the top. Cool the bread for 10 minutes in the pan, then remove it onto a wire rack to cool completely. Slice and enjoy!!

Let's check out what my fellow marathoners have cooked up today for BM# 43.