Needin' some no-knead

Jim Lahey's method for a "no-knead" bread has to be the most blogged-about bread recipe ever, so I won't go into any intro here.

For my attempt I used one-third white whole wheat flour, two-thirds bread flour. Second rise in oiled stainless steel bowl instead of flour- or bran-coated towel; it slid out easily when it came time to transfer the dough into the heated pot (no messy, dough covered towels here).

After removing the lid I let the loaf bake for another 25 minutes, but next time I will shorten this to 15 as the bottom came out a bit burnt.

This loaf didn't rise as high as I expected to, perhaps due to the whole wheat. And while I loved the texture and the crust, I wasn't that impressed with the actual flavor. I will follow the Cooks Illustrated adjustments next time to get more of a sourdough tang. I may omit the whole wheat flour next time also, as others seem to have reported similarly disappointing flavor results with it. Next time I may double the dough amount so as to get more of that moist, chewy inside (my favorite part).

The color of my dutch oven turned to rich burgundy after it heated up in the oven, but went back to fire-engine red once it cooled (note the color difference between the pot and the lid, which had already cooled off). I also later discovered a crisp golden-brown square affixed to the bottom of the pot when I was washing it—I had neglected to peel off the price tag sticker before using it in the oven! Luckily, no ill effects (that I could tell, anyway).

Modified from:
"No-Knead Bread," The New York Times