So it was already a good foodie week for me a couple of weeks ago after meeting Matt and Renato from Baked at Yorkdale. The next day I found out Chuck Hughes would be at Walmart in Mississauga on Saturday afternoon. Kind of random, but obviously a must attend for me.  When my co-workers and I went to Garde Manger back in May, Chuck wasn’t there, so I thought this would be a good chance to see him in person.

Because I had just been at the Baked event a few days before, I was expecting the same type of thing, like a demo then a Q&A type of thing.  Instead, when I got there, I found my fellow Mississaugians getting on with their lives doing their grocery shopping, while Chuck was just hanging out and talking to people who stopped by – totally low-key.

We chatted about the show, expanding Garde Manger, turduckens, and the Geminis, and then Kristine showed up on the scene as well. We took some pictures, got Chuck to follow me on Twitter, and then got on with our Saturdays. Kind of a random encounter, but I’ll take it.

Since I thought there were going to be food demos (I think there were later, but we had left already), I was planning on re-creating something at home to blog about. Instead, I remembered Chuck making No Knead Bread on an episode of Chuck’s Day Off, and I made that instead.

No Knead Bread is pretty much a phenomenon in the food blogging community. I think every food blogger has dabbled in this area. Most recently, Gwendolyn at Patent and the Pantry has got me curious, and I will definitely get to the recipe she uses and it’s 18 hour rise once I get some Le Creuset for Christmas.

In the meantime, Chuck’s recipe is super quick and easy with wicked results. The rise time is only 30-40 minutes, and the bake time is just under an hour, so you can have freshly baked bread in the time it takes to watch a movie. It also uses regular all-purpose flour, which is great, because the various types of bread flour confuse me. The only note I have about this bread (or any homemade bread really) is that because there are no preservatives in it, it will grow mold (gross) fairly quickly. I learned this back in March with my only other bread attempt – Irish Soda Bread. I kept Chuck’s bread out for about 2 or 3 days, then I sliced the rest, wrapped it in plastic wrap and put it in a plastic bag and tossed it in the freezer.

This is seriously so good you guys, and I’m not just saying this as a foodie fangirl. Danielle and I were just talking last week about all the additives in packaged bread you get at the grocery store. This is cheaper, tastier, and best of all, you know exactly what’s in it.  I loved it toasted with butter or as PB&J sandwiches.

Side note: This is hilarious to me as my two biggest fears in the kitchen have historically been homemade caramel and anything involving yeast, and my last two posts have tackled these head on. I see a lot more bread in my future.

Chuck Hughes’ No Knead Bread

Source: Chuck’s Day Off

Note: You can halve this recipe as I did to make one loaf, but I obviously regretted it. Make two and stash the other one in the freezer.

Ingredients

3 cups very warm but not hot water

1 tbsp dry active yeast

1 tbsp sugar

1 tbsp vegetable oil

1 tbsp vinegar

3 cups white flour

2 1/2 – 3 cups whole wheat flour

1 tbsp coarse salt

Directions

1. Mix the water, yeast and sugar together in the biggest bowl you have. Wait a few minutes until the yeast starts to work (mine started to bubble a bit), then add the oil and vinegar.
2. Add the white flour cup by cup, stirring well after each addition. Then add the whole wheat flour in the same way. Stir in the salt. The dough will be wet and sponge-y.
3. Cover with a damp tea towel and let rise in a warm place for 30-40 minutes or until it has doubled in size.
4. Using a spatula, pour dough into two well-greased loaf pans. (Here Chuck sprinkles stead spice on top for a savory loaf, or raw sugar on top for a sweet one. I left mine plain)
5. Bake at 375 for 50 minutes. Let cool for 10-15 minutes before removing from pans, slicing and serving. Amazing.