No Knead English Muffin Batter Bread

No Knead English Muffin Batter Bread

If you're new to baking and just a little timid of working with yeast, this is a bread I highly recommend starting with.  There's no kneading, a single rise, no fussy shaping, and the results far outweigh the effort.  This bread is toothsome and yeasty and oh so delicious and makes the crunchiest toast.

NO-KNEAD, ENGLISH MUFFIN BATTER BREAD
Makes 2 loaves

5-1/2 cups all-purpose flour  (more or less) (divided)

2 tablespoons active dry yeast (yes, tablespoons, not teaspoons) 

1 tablespoon sugar

1 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

2 cups milk

1/2 cup water 

Cornmeal for sprinkling inside baking pans and on top of loaves

Start by greasing two 8" x 4" baking loaves and sprinkling enough cornmeal inside and tipping and rotating the pan to leave a light coating on the sides and bottoms of the pans. Lightly tap out any excess.

In a large bowl, combine 3 cups of flour, yeast, sugar, salt and baking soda.  Give it a good stir.  

Heat milk and water to a temperature that falls between 120 to 130 degrees Fahrenheit.

Pour liquids into the dry mixture and stir; what you should have is something that is about as thick as pancake batter.  Add additional flour as needed.  (See notes below)

Divide the dough between the two pans. Stretch the dough to fit the pan.  Sprinkle with a little corn meal and allow to rise in a warm place about 45 minutes or until the dough has risen about 1/4 inch over the edge of the pan.

Depending on how fast your dough is rising and how long it takes your oven to preheat, somewhere during this time, preheat your oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.

Bake at 400 degrees Fahrenheit for 25 minutes, or until when thumbed with a knuckle it sounds hollow.

Let cool in pan for about 10 minutes and then remove from pan and allow to finish cooling on rack.

COOKS NOTES:  Now you're going to have to use some judgment here.  Recipe says more or less 5 1/2 cups flour.  I can tell you depending on the brand of flour, the age, if it's spring or winter wheat, if it's summer or the winter, the alignment of the stars and if the day of the week you're making this has a "y" in it, you're going to need some judgment on how much additional flour to add.  I add a half a cup at a time and give it a stir until I end up with something that is gloopy (is that a baking term?), and stretchy.  You may not need the full amount; you may need to add a bit more.  This time I only needed 5 cups of flour and it was absolutely fine.

Recipe says to allow dough to rise for 45 minutes.  Well, it's the beginning of September, I live in Arizona, the sun is beating down on us, and my house is cooled to 75 degrees, grins, so needless to say 45 minutes of rising time is out of the question.  I checked at 35 minutes, and the dough was at the near perfect point.  It only takes a few short minutes to heat the oven, and we were good to go.

Mmm, homemade English muffin batter bread for breakfast!