Budget Friendly Recipes: No-Knead Bread

We've reached the last week of June- that last long stretch until a new grocery budget. It's getting a bit lean over here. For example, yesterday we ran out of bread. Now, I could just dip into July's grocery budget and buy bread, or I can stay strong and wait a little longer. Typically, I would just take it from July's money, but then it's a vicious cycle. I take from August early in July, and then September, and so on, and before I know it, I've spent an extra month's worth of grocery money. In an effort to solve our breadless problem, I decided to make some to tide us over. My husband had a slice of freshly baked bread this morning with breakfast, and I have bread for sandwhiches later. Here is an easy No-Knead Bread recipe, that I use the majority of the time I bake bread. Last night I was running out of time and didn't want to get up at 2 AM to bake this, so I skipped Step 3 which made my bread less fluffy than it otherwise would be. It still turned into bread though which demonstrates that if you don't follow it exact, it will most likely still turn out. If you start this in the morning though, or right before bed, you should be able to do all of the steps and have it baked mid morning or evening. Taken from the New York Times in 2006.

No-Knead Bread
Adapted from Jim Lahey, Sullivan Street Bakery
Time: About 1 1/2 Hours plus 14 to 20 hours rising

3 cups all-purpose or bread flour, more for dusting
¼ teaspoon instant yeast
1¼ teaspoons salt
Cornmeal or wheat bran as needed.

1. In a large bowl combine flour, yeast and salt. Add 1 5/8 cups water, and stir until blended; dough will be shaggy and sticky. Cover bowl with plastic wrap. Let dough rest at least 12 hours, preferably about 18, at warm room temperature, about 70 degrees.

2. Dough is ready when its surface is dotted with bubbles. Lightly flour a work surface and place dough on it; sprinkle it with a little more flour and fold it over on itself once or twice. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rest about 15 minutes.
3. Using just enough flour to keep dough from sticking to work surface or to your fingers, gently and quickly shape dough into a ball. Generously coat a cotton towel (not terry cloth) with flour, wheat bran or cornmeal; put dough seam side down on towel and dust with more flour, bran or cornmeal. Cover with another cotton towel and let rise for about 2 hours. When it is ready, dough will be more than double in size and will not readily spring back when poked with a finger.
4. At least a half-hour before dough is ready, heat oven to 450 degrees. Put a 6- to 8-quart heavy covered pot (cast iron, enamel, Pyrex or ceramic) in oven as it heats. When dough is ready, carefully remove pot from oven. Slide your hand under towel and turn dough over into pot, seam side up; it may look like a mess, but that is O.K. Shake pan once or twice if dough is unevenly distributed; it will straighten out as it bakes. Cover with lid and bake 30 minutes, then remove lid and bake another 15 to 30 minutes, until loaf is beautifully browned. Cool on a rack.
Yield: One 1½-pound loaf.