1.27.2008

Kneadless, all the rage

kneadless boule

Since the NYTimes video hosted by Mark Bittman (the minimalist) and reported on by various other authors, kneadless bread making has been the niftiest technique in thousands of years, roughly. Although the process was likely discovered many times since bread was in existence, it is becoming more developed and better understood.

The February 2008 issue of Cooks Illustrated disclosed significant process improvements to the sometimes capricious method. It's paid content and a laborious effort, so I can not ethically disclose the intellectual property here. This is entered as an endorsement of the methodology. The article is only two pages. I bought it just for this piece and don't regret it.

Here's my stab at it.

the crumb
The crumb

It's unfortunate I can't upload an aroma.file.

4 comments:

tinotchka said...

It looks awesome! And no kneading? Huh.

Dave said...

Thanks. The video is a good intro to the method. The article alters it a bit and included a little folding at an intermediate stage; almost kneading, but not quite. Pretty easy, but you'll need a bit of persistence and a couple tries. Or, email me and come over for a weekend tutorial.

Anonymous said...

Oh goodness, kneadless bread has got to be one of foods best inventions. We've seen this more often, but have not tried it. This bread looks amazing!

Dave said...

Thanks for the comment. Your site looks really fun!

The boule's nice, but I like my kneadless baguette a lot more. MUCH easier and less planning.