Tagged: Easy and simple

Home Made No Knead Bread

This recipe is super easy. I have made it a few times, every time it came out really fragrant, super chewy and satisfying.

No kneed bread

When you cut into the crust, you could hear the crunch, and the air pockets inside are just phenomenal. Who knew making this bread is so simple, and literally have no work involved? All you need is some patience and planning one day ahead.

cut no kneed bread

Ingredients:

  • 3 cups of all purpose flour
  • 1/4 tsp yeast
  • 1/2 TBSP salt
  • 1 3/4 cup water

Method:

Full disclaimer, this bread takes 2 days to make. Think of it this way, instead of sweating your butt off kneading the dough, time is working for you.

The day before eating the bread, combine all ingredients in a large bowl until well mixed. The mixture will be very shaggy, sticky, it will be a mess. Don’t worry, that’s how it is supposed to be. Just make sure there is no dry flour anywhere, including at the bottom of the bowl.

shaggy dough

Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and forget about it on the counter top for the next 12 to 18 hours. Don’t stick it into the fridge, unless you want to wait even longer.

When the dough is ready, the plastic will poof up slightly and once you open the plastic, you can really smell the lovely yeast. Preheat the oven with a nice heavy bottom pot (the lid should be oven proof too) such as a dutch oven to 425F.

Prepare a large piece of parchment paper, sprinkle with flour.

Lightly sprinkle the top and the sides of the very sticky dough with flour and carefully, use well greased hands to scrape the dough out of the bowl and onto the prepared parchment paper. Shape the dough mess into a rough ball shape. Cover with a clean kitchen towel and rest, while the oven pre-heats to temperature.

Once the oven reaches temperature, take out the pot very carefully, lid off. Pick up the parchment paper with dough and carefully drop the whole thing into the pot, parchment paper too. Bring the pot with lid on, back into the oven and bake for 30 minutes. Then take the lid off the pot and bake for another 15 to 20 minutes until the bread is golden brown on top.

Remove the bread by lifting the parchment paper out of the dutch oven, let it cool and serve.

Drumsticks and 40 Cloves – Made in the Oven

Another recipe for the same classic dish. This one was done in the oven, so mainly hands-free cooking of a delicious fall-off-the-bone crowd-pleaser, what’s not to love? All you need is a large oven proof pan and lid.

Ingredients:

Chicken drum sticks, I made a huge batch, a whole family pack, 11 drumsticks in that pack

1 bundle of thyme, I had some nice wilted ones in my flower pot, yep, I haven’t been keeping up with the watering…

1 bundle of Thai basil, not traditional ingredient for this dish but adds a nice mild earthy flavor

A ton of garlic cloves. I honestly did not remember how many cloves I peeled, probably 5 heads worth. I was watching cooking channel and peeling garlic, gotta say, it was kinda therapeutic.

Salt and pepper to taste

Method:

Liberally salt and pepper the drumsticks on one side. Oven pre-heating at 400F.

Large oven safe pan with a thin layer of oil on medium high heat.

Carefully put drumsticks into the pan, seasoned side down, and liberally season the other side.

Brown all sides of the drumsticks, take your time, be patient. This golden brown color will carry over to the final cooked drumsticks. Brown them in batches if needed to.

Sprinkle all the garlic cloves, thyme bundle and Thai basil all over the top of the chicken drumsticks.

Drizzle the top of the whole dish with a couple rounds of olive oil. Cover with an oven proof lid.

Bake at 400F for about 20 minutes and lower heat to 350F. Bake for another 40 minutes.

You won’t believe how tender these drumsticks turn out, and how sweet and soft the garlic cloves would be. Enjoy as an appetizer, or over some simple cilantro lime rice and asparagus and bell pepper stir-fry