Bread for Dummies

A couple of years ago I flew out to Lake Tahoe for a conference. I took a red-eye flight, so I arrived in the middle of the night. I was half asleep when I checked in. "I think you'll like the room we put you in," the woman behind the desk said. Frankly, I just wanted to go to bed, any bed. I had to trudge outside in the freezing cold to get to my room, but she was right. It was pretty cool. Two floors, three bedrooms, a living room, kitchen, fire place ... all for me. I jumped into one of the beds and fell right asleep.
The next morning when I woke up, I groggily opened the curtains not knowing that my breath was literally about to be taken away. There, outside of my window, was the most magnificent view of a towering, snow-topped mountain looming larger than life. It actually scared me for a moment, it was so unexpected.
So what does this all have to do with food?
Just as I was truly surprised when I opened the curtains, I was pleasantly shocked when I made the now-famous Sullivan Street Bakery bread that Mark Bittman wrote about in a recent New York Times article. I love to bake. Give me any excuse to whip up a batch of cookies or a cake and I'm there. But I tremble at the thought of bread. No, not bread. Yeast. It scares the daylights out of me. I had a couple of bad experiences trying to make sunflower bread and I just never got over it.
The No-Knead Bread recipe, however, was getting rave reviews all over the web. People were touting not only its ease, but its great taste as well. Why not? I thought. I'll give it a try.
It really couldn't be easier. You mix the flour, water and salt and let it sit overnight. The next day you fold it up two times and let it sit again. Then you toss it into a heavy pot and bake it. This was where the magic came into play. I put my dough into my favorite heavy cast iron pot and put the lid on. After baking for 30 minutes, you take the lid off. I sort of expected a flat bread, kind of like corn bread or a quick bread. But when I pulled off that lid, I gasped. There, in my very own oven, was a beautiful, round crusty boule. It looked like something from an Italian restaurant. Absolutely gorgeous. But how would it taste?
My husband could barely wait for it to cool before slicing it up and drizzling on some olive oil. What can I say? Delicious. Warm, crusty bread that I MADE!! The next night I roasted some garlic (and in fact, let it go longer than usual and it caramelized--yum!) and we spread that on the bread. Lord have mercy. There goes my diet for the week.