The smell of yeast dough is, for me, a kind of Proustian experience.  My dad, an immigrant from Greece with little education, spent most of my childhood working as a cook in pizza restaurants, and for a short while running his own place.  I would often watch him work, mixing huge batches of dough in enormous stand mixers, kneading and measuring out pieces by hand.  I was mesmerized by his rhythmic, sure movements, and I remember being particularly fascinated by the sensation of the sharp knife cutting though the soft, smooth dough. Smelling that dough takes me right back those restaurant kitchens and the time I spent there with my dad.

Despite those strong feelings, however, I seldom bake bread.  I always wish I baked it more, but it feels like such a time commitment, even if the effort involved is minimal.  So when I read in Gourmet a while back (still sad about its cancellation) about Jim Lahey and his “no-knead bread,” I thought, maybe I can handle this.  On a recent trip to New York, I had the opportunity to eat at Lahey’s pizza place, and it was every bit as mind-blowing as I expected.  Upon our return, I decided I HAD to try out one of Lahey’s bread recipes, and found a basic one on his Sullivan Street Bakery website. 

The bread was almost embarrassingly little work.  I mixed the dry ingredients (I didn’t have bread flour so I used two parts all-purpose and one part whole wheat),

then added the water and it almost immediately formed a dough, as if on its own.  

Then it gets transferred to a fresh, oiled bowl and covered with plastic wrap

where it just does its thing, the yeast eating and burping until the dough is all bubbly and gooey looking, which takes about 12 hours. 

Once that happens, it takes about 5 seconds of work to massage it into a round-ish shape, then some more hanging out under a kitchen towel, about an hour or two.  I think I left it a lot longer and it was still fine.

The most challenging part was getting it from the towel into the preheated pot (I used a Le Creuset) to bake.  I guess I was a bit stingy with the flour, because the dough stuck to the towel a bit and kind of flopped over on itself as I dumped it into the hot oven.  No matter, it was delicious and had an amazing texture.  I shared it with friends and we ate every bite before it even cooled (so much for having toast the next morning).  And now I’m definitely buying Lahey’s Book; In fact, I’m not sure why I haven’t made the bread again, but I sure plan to.  A friend who had also made it recommended that I start it the night before for dinner the next day, a very good suggestion.  I wish my dad lived close enough that I could bake it for him, too.