No-knead and easy-make breads are all the rage these days on food blogs. I don’t usually make bread. I don’t give myself the time and have never seemed to buy the hype of these easy ones on the food blogs. Then, a perfect storm of sorts convinced me I should take the plunge.
We were getting ready to make pasta last week and decided to try to figure out the Czech types of flour. Mrs. NH bought a bag of what was supposed to be the Czech version of “all-purpose.” As a matter of fact, out little photocopied grocery store guide said it was perfect for “making pasta.” Home run, we thought. We were way wrong. The flour was a hard wheat flour that was the consistency of corn meal or cream of wheat. We put it on a shelf and forgot about it until I saw this recipe.
Coincidentally, we had a 1/2 a block of cake yeast left over from some pizza dough we had made that needed a home. Bingo. I had 10 free minutes this morning and made the batter. At the very least, I thought, the flour will be out of the house – either in my belly or the trash. So, I gave it a shot.
As you can see, it turned out alright. It’s not ciabatta by any means, it’s way too dense. However, it is pretty good slathered with butter. Interestingly, though, it didn’t get brown on the outside. The picture actually makes it look browner than it is. Any master bread makers out there want to venture a guess where I went wrong? Is there an English name for the flour I used?
Will I make it again? I doubt it. But for less than 10 minutes of active cooking time, and with the right type of flour, I might reconsider. Oh, and I promise I’ll soon post a picture of something that isn’t brown…
NotHemingway 
You used semolina to make bread? I wouldn’t have tried that. Looks like it didn’t turn out so very badly though. =)
The “flour” was very coarse because it hadn’t been through the final grinding process to be made into actual flour. Semolina is good for pasta, yes. But not for bread because it’s so course that you can’t get a good gluten structure going.
You might be able to make it work for a sourdough. At minimum, you’d need more water and a LOT more time for it to work.
Good for you for trying new things!
I guess it was semolina. Hmmm, I said I don’t make bread much! However, it has grown on me. I had some last night dipped in good olive oil and it was pretty tasty. I’ll definitely be trying this recipe with all purpose flour in the future. Thanks for posting the “hack” and thanks for your comment!