King Arthur No Knead Everything Bread

From Appalachian Cooks
An overnight rest develops this bread's flavor, and strengthens its gluten-it effectively "kneads" itself!

Dough

2 ¼ cups cool water

5 ½ cups King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour or High-Gluten Flour*

½ teaspoon instant yeast

2 teaspoons salt

2 tablespoons Everything Bagel Topping

2 tablespoons olive oil

note: see tip about flour substitution below

Topping

1 tablespoon Everything Bagel Topping

Mix the dough ingredients in a large bowl to make a sticky dough. Or beat in a stand mixer for 3 minutes.

Cover with plastic wrap, and let rest at room temperature overnight, or for at least 8 hours; the dough will become bubbly and rise quite a bit, so make sure it's in a large bowl.

Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface, and form it into a log or round loaf to fit your 14" to 15" long lidded stoneware baker, or 9" to 10" round lidded baking crock. Our bread baking crock and bread pot are both good choices.

Place the dough in the lightly greased pan, smooth-side up.

Cover and let rise at room temperature for about 2 hours, until a slight indentation remains when you poke it with your finger.

Just before baking, spritz or brush the dough with water and sprinkle with about 1 tablespoon Everything topping over the dough. Make several ½" deep slashes in a decorative pattern to allow the bread to expand.

Place the bread in a cold oven, and set the temperature to 450°F.

Bake the bread for 50 minutes, then remove the lid and continue to bake for another 5 to 10 minutes, until it's deep brown in color, and an instant-read thermometer inserted into the center registers about 205°F.

Remove the bread from the oven, turn it onto a rack, and cool before slicing.

Tips from our bakers

Because this is a high-hydration dough, both all-purpose and high-gluten flour will work in this recipe without changing the amount of water. You'll simply end up with a chewier loaf (more bagel-style) with the high-gluten flour than with all-purpose flour, which will yield a slightly more tender loaf.

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