I’ve had a lot of questions about my new excursion into bread making. The method is “no kneed” “wet dough” and it has been mastered and made famous by Jeff Hertzberg and Zoe Francois. They have written two books based on this method and have recipes for both savory and sweet based breads.

I’ve been working my own recipe but have run into some issues (mistakes by any other name). So, here is the solution – watch Jeff and Zoe make the bread !

A few things I’ve culled from their website that may help.

• work the dough very little – you can see how little work Zoe does in the video
• avoid knocking the air out of the dough when you cut off the boule
• there is an errata that says the 1-1/2 TBS of yeast should be 2 packets, not 1.5
• that 450 degree oven is important – even if it sounds to hot, it isn’t
• that pan of water is important – don’t skip it
• the resting time before baking should be at least 40 minutes and probably more
• bread flour has too much gluten – King Arthur APF is a bit high while Gold Medal APF and Pillsbury APF are about right

So, here is my 2/3rd version of the “Master Recipe”:

• 4 cups warm water
• 2 packets active dry yeast
• 2 TBS kosher salt
• 8 cups all purpose flour

typical additions:

• 1/4 cup flax meal
• 3/4 cup toasted wheat germ
• 1/4 cup honey