Waynes No-Knead Bread & Pizza Dough
The process of kneading bread dough is completely unnecessary and only serves to speed up bread making. For superior flavour, texture, and gluten development you can let the fridge, using cold fermentation over 24 hours for bread or 48 hours for pizza, do your work for you. For precise, consistant results the flour and water should be measured by weight, not by volume. This recipe works great at 1020 metres elevation, I haven't had a chance yet to try it at higher elevations. I developed this recipe with camping in mind, and use it with great results in both the oven at home and in a dutch oven on a WhisperLite Universal backpacking stove, both for bread and pizza. The dough's hydration is calculated by dividing the weight of the water by the weight of the flour. I use all-purpose flour and add Vital Wheat Gluten to increase the gluten content rather than using bread flour (which has a higher gluten content than all-purpose flour). I include the Vital Wheat Gluten in the weight of the flour.
INGREDIENTS
<> 30 grams vital wheat gluten + 370 grams all purpose flour = 400 grams total = about 3 cups
<> 1.5 tsp of salt
<> optional seasonings ... garlic, Italian seasoning, oregano
<> 3 tsp instant quick-rise yeast
<> 324 grams cold water ... this gives 81% hydration (324 divided by 400) ... I find this gives a very nice moist texture but it would be too wet to knead by hand, and it results in good rise during both fermentaion and baking ... at 75% hydration I get noticeably less rise during baking.
DIRECTIONS
<> Mix well the 400 grams flour and vital wheat gluten, salt, and optional seasonings. Put in a medium freezer ziploc bag if you're premixing to take camping
<> When you're ready to make dough add the 3 tsp instant quick-rise yeast to the flour mixture and mix well
<> Add 324 grams of cold water to a mixing container. I find a 3 kg plastic honey container works well ... it gives enough room to mix the dough with a spoon, and after mixing the dough, if you leave the empty container overnight the bits of dough left will be dried out and with a bang on the counter come loose, much easier than trying to clean wet dough.
<> Add the flour mixture to the water in the mixing container and mix with a spoon ... you shouldn't have to touch the dough with your hands. Note that adding the flour to the water rather than the other way around makes it much easier to incorporate all the flour into the dough.
<> When you have all the flour incorporated into the dough tip it out with the help of the spoon into a fermenting container, cover with saran wrap, then put immediately into the fridge for 24 hours. You could put the mixing container itself in the fridge if you have room but I use a stainless steel container 12 cm diameter and 17 cm high ... it's an efficient use of space and will fit in the door of the fridge (as well as my pressure cooker). As I developed the recipe I used it to bake the bread as well, but then you're into using parchment paper to line the container, and I figured out a better way to bake.
<> After 24 hours in the fridge the dough will typically have risen to about 2.3 times it's original volume, and after 48 hours it will still be about 2.3 times it's original volume
<> For baking I use a 30 cm diameter baking tray, which can either go in the oven or in my stainless steel Dutch oven (37 cm diameter x 9 cm high). If using my Dutch oven I use a 3 cm high trivet to keep the baking tray off the bottom.
<> For bread, after 24 hours remove from the fridge and immediately place on the baking tray ... I use cooking spray so it won't stick to the tray. Using flour on your hands, work the dough out to create a flatbread about 1/2 to 1" thick, leaving it a little higher all around the outside edge (this will keep the outside edge as thick as the centre after baking) ... it will double in height in the centre during baking, but not much at the edges.
<> Bake immediately in a preheated oven at 375° for 20 minutes.
<><> Baking in the Dutch oven (NOT preheated) on my WhisperLite takes about 30-35 minutes ... I start the WhisperLight, then put the Dutch oven on the stove with the lid off, arrange aluminum foil as a wind break around the stove/Dutch oven, then fold the aluminum foil just over the edge of the Dutch oven, then put the lid on to hold it in place, then start timing.
<> After the flat bread has cooled I cut it into 4 - 6 buns, depending on how big I want them.
<> For pizza, 48 hours in the fridge is a little easier to work with, the gluten is a little more relaxed and easier to stretch out. The recipe is probably enough for 2 pizzas, but when camping I can only cook one at a time so I just use all the dough for one pizza, which makes for lots of crust, but the crust is so good that's fine with me. But you might want to use a bigger baking tray if using an oven ... that would probably require a little more work getting the dough stretched out.
<> Dust the baking tray with flour and have a bowl of flour handy to keep flour on your hands to prevent sticking. Use the back of your hand and knuckles to work the dough from the centre outwards. If you're experienced making pizzas you probably have a better method for shaping the dough.
<> When the dough is shaped and will retain shape I coat it with extra virgin olive oil to help prevent the topping from making the dough soggy.
<> Add your pizza sauce
<> Add a little grated mozzarella
<> Add your toppings
<> Top it off with the rest of the mozzarella
<> Bake it in a preheated 450° oven for 29 minutes. In my Dutch oven on my WhisperLite it takes 25 minutes ... you can smell it when it's done
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