No-Knead Deli Rye Bread

Yield: 4 small loaves (This recipe can easily be doubled or halved.)

Recipe from The New Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day, Jeff Hertzberg, M.D. and Zoe Francois (Thomas Dunne Books, 2013)

Husband-Tested in Alice’s Kitchen

This is just the easiest bread to make and the recipe makes four small loaves! You will LOVE the results. The outside crackles as you cut into the loaf, but the inside is chewy and tender.  Make this bread to enjoy with soups or stews.  It can also be sliced and used for sandwiches. . (Check out the No-Knead website BreadIn5.com)

3 cups lukewarm water (100°F)

1½ Tablespoons yeast (2 packets)

1½ Tablespoons Kosher salt

1½ Tablespoons caraway seeds, plus more for sprinkling on the top

1 cup rye flour

5 ½ cups unbleached all-purpose flour

Cornmeal for pizza peel

*Cornstarch Wash:  Using a fork, blend ½ teaspoon cornstarch with a small amount of water to form a paste.  Add ½ cup water and whisk with the fork.  Microwave (or boil) until mixture appears glassy (about 30 to 60 seconds on high.)  It will keep in the fridge for two weeks.  Discard if it has an off smell.

1.     Mixing and storing the dough:  Mix the yeast, salt, and caraway seeds with the water in a 5-quart bowl, or lidded (not airtight) food container.   (I use a Rubbermaid 8 quart plastic container with a lid. To make it not airtight, my husband drilled four holes in the plastic lid.) 

Here's a photo of the container I use.  My husband drilled four holes into
the lid so that it is not airtight.  Perfect for all my No-Knead Recipes!!!

2.     Add the rye flour and the all-purpose flour to the bowl.  Using a clean wet hand, incorporate the flours in so that no dry flour remains.

3.     Cover (not airtight) and allow to rest at room temperature for two hours. 

4.     Place the container of dough in the refrigerator.  (The dough is much easier to work with when it’s cold.)  The dough may be kept in the fridge for up to 14 days!!

5.     On baking day: dust the surface of the chilled dough with flour and cut off a grapefruit sized piece (about 1 lb.)  Dust the piece with more flour and quickly shape it into a ball by stretching the surface of the dough around to the bottom on all four sides, rotating the ball a quarter-turn as you go.  Elongate the ball into an oval-shaped loaf.  Allow to rest and rise on a cornmeal-covered pizza peel for 40 minutes.  (The dough loaf will be small, but will get bigger as it rises and then as it bakes.)

6.     Twenty minutes before baking time, preheat the oven to 450°F, with a baking stone placed on the middle rack.  Place an empty broiler tray on the lowest shelf of the oven.

7.     Using a pastry brush, paint the top crust with the cornstarch wash and then sprinkle with additional caraway seeds. Slash the loaf with deep parallel cuts across the loaf, using a sharp knife or clean razor blade.

8.     Slide the loaf directly onto the hot stone.  Pour 1 cup of hot tap water into the broiler tray, and quickly close the oven door.  Bake for about 30 minutes or until deeply browned and firm.  Smaller or larger loaves will require adjustments in baking time.

9.     Allow the bread  to cool before slicing or eating.