Kneadlessly Simple: Fabulous, Fuss-Free, No-Knead Breads (40 page)

KS Quotient

Easy: Modest list of ingredients. Easy preparation; may be made ahead.

This is a simple, cinnamon-and-butter streusel mixture that can be stashed in the refrigerator and tossed together with a dough to create a great coffeecake almost instantly (see the
Simple Streusel Coffeecake
recipe).

Yield: Enough for 1 large coffeecake

1 cup packed light brown sugar

¾ cup unbleached all-purpose white flour

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

¼ teaspoon salt

½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted

2/3 cup chopped walnuts or pecans

In a medium bowl, thoroughly stir together the brown sugar, flour, cinnamon, and salt, breaking up any lumps of sugar as you work. Stir in the butter until evenly incorporated and the mixture forms small clumps. Stir in the nuts. Refrigerate until firmed up, about an hour. Just before using, break up any large clumps with fingertips or a pastry cutter. Use as directed in the coffeecake recipe. If not using immediately, refrigerate, airtight, for up to 3 weeks. Let warm up slightly before using.

Chapter 9: Kneadlessly Simple Recipe Makeover Guide: How to Convert Traditional Yeast Recipes to the KS Method

Many people have asked me if it's possible to take their old-fashioned conventionally proofed and kneaded yeast recipes and turn them into
Kneadlessly Simple
breads. The answer is absolutely! Even first attempts usually yield breads that are quite good, and, if you take what you've learned from the first try and make the necessary adjustments, second efforts often produce bread comparable to or even better than the original. And with a lot less work!

Revamping does involve a little bread science, so it's best to read the section on the chemistry behind the
Kneadlessly Simple
method called
The Chemistry Behind the Steps
before jumping in.

The
Kneadlessly Simple
method aims to accomplish two major goals:

1.
To eliminate the traditional risk and work of yeast proofing and kneading; and

2.
To streamline all the other traditional bread-making steps (without sacrificing quality) as much as possible.

To get a feel for how to proceed with a makeover, start by making a few recipes in the book. Choose at least one that's similar to the revamping candidate. For example, if your bread is an old-fashioned white loaf, prepare or at least carefully examine a simple white bread recipe in the book (see
Easy White Bread Loaves
). If your recipe is a butter-and-egg laden coffeecake, check out a coffeecake that's along the same lines (see
Simple Streusel Coffeecake
). While the list of basic ingredients in the two recipes will usually be similar, you'll likely see that the order of incorporation and method of handling are very different.

Using the
Kneadlessly Simple
version as a guide, jot down your recipe's ingredients in the revised order. Next, compare the amount of water and yeast in the two. As a rule,
Kneadlessly Simple
recipes will require less yeast because it has more time to become very active. But they need more water, or other liquid, partly so doughs can be stirred rather than kneaded, of course, but also because the moistness helps promote "micro-kneading." (See the "Yeast" and "Water" sections that follow for more on the "whys.") Always replace the warm water with ice water, and let the dough stand for a 12- to 18-hour slow first rise instead of the shorter rise originally called for. Use the same options as those given in
Kneadlessly Simple
for the second rise.

Normally, follow the lead of the appropriate
Kneadlessly Simple
recipe on the amount of yeast. Or, use this rule of thumb: Add a scant ¼ teaspoon of yeast per cup of flour in lean breads containing mostly white flour, little fat, and little sugar. Add a generous ¼ teaspoon of yeast per cup of flour in rich breads: very sweet breads; those containing lots of whole grains; and those containing cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, cardamom, garlic, or onions (more on these ingredients under "Additions" later).

Trial and error is the best way to determine the amount of water needed for the makeover, though if there are no other liquid ingredients (including honey or molasses) in the recipe, a scant ½ cup water per 1 cup of flour is a good place to start. After mixing together the yeast and other dry ingredients following the selected
Kneadlessly Simple
recipe model, just stir in enough ice water to make a slightly stiff, but stirrable dough. Immediately note the amount required on your revised recipe. If you overdo it and the mixture looks more like pancake batter than bread dough, fix it simply by adding more flour until the mixture is just slightly stiff; the finished bread will still be perfectly good. (Too much water yields a doughy bread that will be prone to collapsing during baking.) Be sure to note how much extra flour was used. Then, next time around, either decrease the water or increase the flour, following your notes.

In taking stock of the
Kneadlessly Simple
recipes, you may wonder why some conveniently incorporate all the ingredients before the first rise, while others require a two-step approach, or why certain ingredients turn up more or less often here than in traditional recipes. Bread chemistry and food safety issues are usually the reason, as explained here:

Yeast—
To shield the yeast from the shock of ice water, in
Kneadlessly Simple,
the dry granules are always stirred together with the flour before the water is added. Usually ¾ to 1 teaspoon of yeast is plenty for a recipe calling for 3 to 4 cups of flour. As already mentioned, for breads containing significant amounts of whole-grain flours, increase the amount of yeast slightly to compensate for the coarseness and weight of the whole-grain particles. Also, boost the yeast in doughs containing even ¼ teaspoon of cinnamon per cup, as cinnamon contains a chemical that inhibits yeast growth. Ground cloves, allspice, nutmeg, mustard, oregano, thyme, garlic, and onion also inhibit yeast growth, but to a lesser extent. For recipes calling for large amounts of these, to ensure vigorous yeast growth, it is best to use extra yeast and, if convenient, to hold off adding the retarding ingredients until just before the second rise, which will then proceed more slowly than normally.

Water—
Revamped recipes need somewhat more water than conventional recipes during the first rise, because the slightly wetter dough facilitates more "micro-kneading." This is what I call the process in which key protein molecules bounce around during fermentation and hook up to form gluten. Revamped doughs should be moist enough that they can be mixed by vigorous stirring, but in most cases, they should seem slightly stiff, not batter-like; some soft, buttery rolls (see
Pull-Apart Butter-Top Rolls
) are an exception. During the second rise it is important to incorporate enough more flour to yield a stiff dough. While extra water facilitates plenty of the "micro-kneading" that develops gluten, during the second rise too much water "dilutes" the gluten and weakens the bread structure.

Sweeteners—
For recipes with quite a bit of sugar (more than 1 tablespoon per 1 cup flour), don't add the full amount before the first rise. Although doughs appear to be wetter after sugar is incorporated, the sugar actually draws up moisture and dehydrates the dough. This deprives the yeast organisms of vital water and retards their activity. If it's convenient, add up to 1 tablespoon sugar per cup of flour initially, then add the rest before the second rise. Note that honey and molasses don't rob the yeast of moisture, as they are already in liquid form. They can be conveniently combined with water and incorporated before the first rise, a procedure that's commonplace in this book.

Dairy Products—
Highly perishable items such as eggs and milk, etc., shouldn't be added until just before the second rise, as they can't safely be left unrefrigerated for the long countertop first rise called for in
Kneadlessly Simple
recipes. So, it's usually necessary to replace the milk or buttermilk that would have been added initially in a conventional recipe with water and then compensate by adding the appropriate quantity of instant nonfat dry milk or buttermilk powder before the second rise. To adjust for the lower butterfat in nonfat dry milk, you can stir in 1 to 2 teaspoons of melted butter along with the nonfat dry milk. To ensure good flavor and smooth incorporation, be sure to use top-quality brands of
instant
dry milk and buttermilk powder.
Eggs are likewise perishable and must be added after the initial rise. They need to be beaten with a fork first. And because their water content will make the dough wetter than it should be for a second rise, some more flour will need to be incorporated to stiffen the dough.

Salt—
For most recipes, salt should be added at the same time as the yeast and in the same quantities as in the original version.

Fats—
Fats can't all be handled the same way or randomly substituted for one another in the
Kneadlessly Simple
method because they solidify at different temperatures. Corn oil and canola oil (often called for in
Kneadlessly Simple
) do not solidify at very cold temperatures, so they can be simply whisked together with ice water and incorporated during the first mixing. But olive oil and butter will both harden in ice water, so they must be either stirred in separately from the water or added before the second rise.

Additions—
Besides the spices and herbs containing chemicals that retard yeast growth, dried fruits inhibit yeast growth by robbing the dough of water as they rehydrate. If it's convenient, add raisins and dried cherries before the first rise. But be sure they are fresh and plump and are rinsed or soaked, which partially rehydrates them, first. Note that dried fruits added during the second rise don't always have to be rinsed under water first, as they will absorb some of the excess water in the dough that is no longer needed for "micro-kneading."
It's fine to add seeds and bits of grain that need to soften at the initial mixing. Just remember that a dough that starts out fairly moist will be stiff by the time raisins, seeds, wheat berries, grits, and various other kernels of grains have absorbed the moisture they need. Flavorings including vanilla and other extracts and citrus zests may all be added during the first mixing, if desired.

Baking—
A major consequence of creating wetter-than-normal doughs is that baking times will increase. Sometimes baking temperatures must be lowered slightly as well, so the outside doesn't burn before the inside is done. Because these doughs are already moist, it's harder to tell when
Kneadlessly Simple
doughs are baked through in the center. Inserting a skewer in the thickest part until it comes out with just slightly moist, but not gummy, particles attached is one way to check. Using an instant-read thermometer and baking until the center of the loaf reaches 207° to 210°F (be sure the tip doesn't touch the pan bottom) is an alternative and more foolproof approach. Since there is little danger of drying out these supersaturated doughs, if a thermometer isn't available, bake them for an extra 5 to 10 minutes after they seem done, which helps avoid the chance of under-baking. To prevent over-browning, simply cover the top with foil.