Busy Tuesday! - No Knead Bread, Part 1

WOW was I a busy girl yesterday! I decided I'd try the "No Knead Bread" method first thing off... So I went out in search of instant yeast. Not active yeast, instant. Of course the local grocery stores didn't have it but after a quick search online I decided Smart & Final was my best bet.

I'd made it to 3 stores and was on my way home... finally, my bread baking dreams were about to come true... Wait, that's not right... It couldn't be that easy... I was only 3 blocks from home when I decided to make the Parmesan & Olive variation ( here's the Parm & Olive recipe & method. Just scroll down till you see it) so I made a u-turn and headed to Von's for my parm & olives... I added some cornmeal to my list too... Ok, so now, I'm on my way to making my bread baking dreams a reality...

Here's my gaggle of groceries... just waiting for me to mix and make some magic!
















Back at HQ (that's Head Quarters for all you beginners out there!) I start measuring out all of my dry ingredients into my mixing bowl (make sure you use a scale when measuring ingredients for baking kids... this is serious business!)


But, in the back of my mind this idea of making bread using a sourdough starter instead of yeast keeps nagging me... Of course, I have no sourdough starter so I head on over to my computer and start watching the videos about making your own sourdough starter. Here's the video I watched... Sourdough Starter Video
This method requires pineapple juice so I run to my pantry and start digging through it in search of pineapple juice. Nada, no juice... found 6 types of coffee though. (I don't even make coffee for myself... what's going on here?) And besides that, the thought of waiting a week for some sourdough starter was just absolute TORTURE so I called a couple of local health food stores and found one with some sourdough starter right there, in the store, in Bakersfield, CA!!! (I figured I'd get some pineapple juice too and start some of my own, from scratch.) That settled it, after watching the video and finding a starter in town I figured it must have been a sign. I MUST make my bread using sourdough starter. And of course, I decided that I should get started right away! I shoved my arms back into my jacket and dashed off to to Lassens. (I told you it wouldn't be that easy to make my dreams a reality...)

After a quick stop at the bank, Lassens, Bed Bath & Beyond, Williams Sonoma & Olcott's, it's back to HQ to work on that dreamy bread thing...

So, you're thinking, WHAT? What's this about BBB, WS & Olcott's? Lemme tell ya', it's this... I saw these tools on Breadtopia that I just HAD to have... today! (which was actually yesterday) What tools you ask?
First up is this dream of a whisk... It's a Danish whisk. Check it out for yourself... After reading some of the comments it left me wiping my chin of babas. For I NEEDED one of these whisks... (actually, 2, I need the little one too) I mean, these people don't know how they got along before they had THIS whisk... How in the world am I getting along without one?
Second up is a bread proofing basket. Why you ask? Well every bread maker must have one. It's as simple as that.
Third up is this funny shaped bread dough scraper. I think it must work better than anything else in the world because the guy in the video called it "nifty".
Fourth up on my most recent list of desirable items (and maybe my most desired of this list) is a La Cloche Clay Baker... Oooohhhh, just look at how nice and round and pretty it is! It's so smooth and looks to be ideal for baking the BEST loaf out there! And, I NEED ONE! But to no avail, I found not one single item on my list at BBB, WS or Olcott's. Geez, what's a bread baker to do??? Darn this town!
Other things I was looking for were a sourdough starter jar & some flour sack kitchen towels. I found those but decided against them until after the holidays. In case you're wondering, I didn't find that exact jar, I found one similar but the notes on Breadtopia say that it has superior clarity and a fancy blue top. I'll be gettin' one a'those too!

Ok, so I get back to HQ and heat up some lunch while I rip open the package for the starter and begin reading the destructions... Sheer disappointment! I can use it but I have to add water and flour and WAIT 24 hours... NOOOOOOOOO! Bummer, back to where I was 3 hours earlier... I guess I'll be using the yeast! LOL

So after I grate the cheese, weigh and add to my dry ingredients, I measure some water, dump it in, mix it up, and add in the olives. I forgot to take pics of all this so here's one after I wrapped the bowl in plastic .
















Now, I must wait! 18 hours-22 hours.

Here it is after 6 hours. Can you see the difference? I was so excited to see it growing!
















When I checked on it this morning it had filled up the bowl. I was in a rush to get to work so I didn't take a pic but I'll take one before I remove it from the bowl.

I'll be baking it up tonight. I left the loaf in my oven with the oven light on. (Next to my sourdough starter from the package... more on that later!) This is supposed to keep it around 80-something degrees.

So, just think. This would have been so much easier if ANYONE else had tried it! You can do that too!