1st attempt at Lahey's No-Knead as a Loaf

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strikingtwice
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1st attempt at Lahey's No-Knead as a Loaf

So one of the issues that i've been running into with the no knead bread recipe from My Bread by Jim Lahey (run and get it immediately if you don't have it), is that it's not great for sandwiches. The boule that it makes is beautiful beyond belief and delicious, but the inconsistent natural shape doesn't give you a lot of sandwich worthy height. 

One of the main points of the cooking method (read about the whole method in the book), is that it's done in a cast iron dutch oven. An oven within an oven. It's meant to replicate a closed door wood burning stove (more accurately, an ancient roman clay oven). Instead, today I used a super cheap loaf pan that I got from The Restaurant Store or http://www.webstaurantstore.com. I covered it pretty tightly with tented foil for the first 30 minutes, then uncovered for the next 15-20.

Also, before the second quick fermentation, I gave it a couple of folds. The no-knead bread produces a very light open crumb, one that is not ideal for sandwiches. With a few folds and some VERY light palm presses, I squeezed together some of the dough. Then cooked. The result is a beautiful looking loaf of bread, but I still can't get the height I want. I'm thinking more dough for the batch? Is my solution that simple? Thanks everyone, enjoy the pics.

If you can't view the pictures, here's a link.

http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v637/strikingtwice/