A little while ago we bought Easy, Fabulous Bread Making: A collection of quick, no-knead, homemade bread recipes by Barbara Mack (who is an online friend and independent author. And the book is now also available in a Kindle Version) and have been practicing our art of bread making as we get a chance. These are all no-knead recipes in the book; the first rise is done entirely in the refrigerator and you leave the dough in there anywhere from 8 hours to 5 days, so plan ahead and don’t get impatient! (My biggest ‘folly’ with bread making – LOL. But let me tell you that at least 8 hours of slow ‘refrigerator’ rising gives a GREAT flavor!)
Yesterday morning I made her dough for Portuguese Sweet Bread. At about 5 p.m. I took it out of the fridge, formed it into a boule (round loaf) on an oiled baking sheet as recommended. After about 3 hours it finally started to do more than ‘unchill’ itself and started to seem more like bread dough again. But then I broke from the directions and put it in a glass bowl I could also bake it in so it retained it’s shape and more depth, as it seemed like it was spreading out more than rising. It turned out to be a good move – the final bread came out nice and round and golden brown:
As it was too hot and too late to taste it last night, I had a healthy piece for breakfast and it tastes absolutely delicious! I doubt if it will last more than a day here. I will definitely be making this again! Thanks, Barb!