Cabin Baking: Improved No-Knead Sourdough Bread

I'm a novice bread maker, but have been learning to make improvements with each batch.

Here are my most recent tricks for making better no-knead sourdough bread. (Click here to see the recipe).


The recipe called for letting the dough rise in the mixing bowl covered with plastic wrap. But if the dough touched the plastic wrap, it fell and produce a denser bread.

My good friend Jeanne heard my tale of woe and gave me an early Christmas present, a dough rising bucket from King Arthur Flour.

With it's 6 litre capacity, I don't have to worry about the dough hitting the top. Plus, the lid keeps the temperature steady for a consistent rise.

Coating the inside with vegetable spray allowed the dough to slide right out onto my breadboard ready for the next step.

I bake my no-knead bread in a cast iron dutch oven. It absorbs and radiates heat consistently throughout baking. One trick I learned early was to line the pan with parchment paper. The wider 15" size fits perfectly, keeps the wet dough from sticking, and makes lifting the finished bread out of a hot pan easier.

One problem I had baking bread in a cast iron dutch oven was over browning the bottom. Where the the dough did not touch the hot metal, it came out perfectly crisp and golden. But where the bottom of the loaf touched the pan, it turned out dark brown and hard.

I have metal trivets and thought I would try using one to keep the dough off the bottom of the pan. The parchment paper kept the moist dough from slipping through the openings and the bottom of the loaf came out just as perfect as the top. A major success!

These are my three tips for improved no-knead sourdough bread. Do you have any bread baking tricks? I'd love to hear from you. -- Margy