No Knead Light Wheat Loaf

Last summer Valli and some of the blogging group members suggested having a new theme, Tame the Yeast, to encourage novice bread bakers like me to bake some breads and to tame the yeast. The first bread suggested was Varada’s No Knead Light Wheat Loaf. That month I did not participate in the marathon and did not bake the bread. I took this month’s marathon as an opportunity to bake this bread. I made this bread last month and it was soft and had a nice texture. I made half the recipe and ended up using a loaf pan which was big for this recipe and did not get that perfect loaf shape. Top of my bread was flat but the taste was good. This bread was my dinner and breakfast the next day.

Source: Varada’s Kitchen
Total Time: 9 – 12 hours
Preparation: 10 – 15 minutes
Rising time: 8 hours – overnight
Bake Time: 50 – 60 minutes
Yields: 1 Loaf (8 ½ x 4 ½” loaf)

Ingredients:

• 1 cup All-Purpose Flour
• 1 cup Whole Wheat Flour
• 1 ½ tbsp. Sugar
• ¾ + ⅛ tsp. Salt
• ⅜ tsp. Active Dry Yeast (can also use instant yeast. Check note below)
• 1 cup + ½ tbsp. Ice Cold Water
• 1 ½ tbsp. Oil

Preparation:

• Take ¼ cup of warm water in a bowl, add sugar, yeast and let it foam for 5 minutes.
• In a large bowl sift together flours and salt.
• Add yeast mixture to flours and mix.
• Pour ¾ cup + ½ tbsp. of cold water, oil and mix until all ingredients are combined. Do not knead the dough.

• Pour few drops of oil in palm and spread over the top of the dough. Cover with saran wrap and keep aside to let the dough double in volume. Mine was done in 6 hours. In cold temperatures or in winters this dough can be prepared and let to rise overnight. On hot and humid days it should be done in 6 hours.

• Lightly grease a loaf pan. I used 8 ½ x 4 ½” loaf pan. It was a little big but had to use it as the mini loaf pan was too small for this quantity of dough.
• Gently mix the dough. Now fold the dough over itself a few times. Starting from one side, push the hand under the dough and pull it up all the way over to fold over the top.
• From one of the sides fold the dough in half.
• Lift it out of the bowl and place it in the loaf pan, seam side down.
• Smooth the top of the loaf with oiled hands. Using a sharp knife, make three cuts on top of the dough.
• Sprinkle ¾ tsp. whole wheat flour over the top.

• Cover with plastic wrap and let it sit for couple of hours or until the dough rises quarter of an inch over the pan. Since my pan was big, I let the dough rise almost until the rim of the pan. It had already increased more the double in the volume. I had to step out that day and the dough was proofed for almost 3 hours instead of 2 hours.

• Preheat the oven to 375 F during last 15 minutes of the rise.
• Bake the loaf in a preheated oven on the center rack for about 50-60 minutes. If the top browns very fat, place a foil on top of it.
• Let the loaf rest in the pan on the countertop for 10 minutes.
• Place on a cooling rack and let the loaf cool completely before slicing.

Note:

• Yeast – I used active yeast for this recipe. If using instant yeast, mix the instant dry yeast directly with the flour, pour 1 cup + ½ tbsp. cold water, oil and mix the flour to make the dough.