No knead bread!

The first time I heard about the "No knead bread" was at a dinner which I blogged about in my last post "Portuguese homecooking".  My hostess, who baked the delicious bread, told us it was like the bread her grandmother used to bake in Portugal.  When she told us how simple the recipe was, I (and I'm sure everyone else who first heard it) listened with some skepticism.  When I googled "no knead bread", the first thing that came up was the New York Times recipe.  With a video and step by step instructions, it seemed almost too good to be true.  It's inevitable that I'd try it.

It didn't take long for the opportunity to come up.  New Year's Eve, I was showing my dinner host this blog and he questioned me about the No knead bread in the Portuguese homecooking post - whether I have tried it.  So here I was, at my son's house for an extended stay and with time on my hands after an early dinner.  My sister had left her Le Creuset pot with me for the week.  I checked the cupboards and found unbleached flour, a package of active dry yeast (with a 2016 expiry date - what a surprise, considering that there isn't a baker in the house!). And then water and salt are the only other ingredients. 

It was close to bedtime.  I did the calculations and figured that if it's that easy I could get the batter ready in 5 minutes (just mixing the flour, yeast, salt and water together), and it would be ready around noon the following day (recipe says 12-18 hours). Allow another 2 hours for it to rise, 45 minutes for it to bake, and I'd still be able to leave for a dinner date at 4 pm. It all turned out as the recipe indicated, and I was even able to go out for a walk while waiting for the bread to rise. 

Yes, it seemed that working out the logistics was the hardest part of the recipe.  No wonder it was the most popular recipe on the New York Times cooking page!  Check out the recipe and try it.  Since it came out there have been whole wheat and sour dough among other versions.  I know what I will experiment with next...

Finished bread in the French oven which was slightly too big for it 

Enticing on the rack

Visibly great texture and crust

Portuguese Homecooking

We tasted some delicious Portuguese homecooking last night and it's hard to let it go by without sharing it.  The highlight for me was the cod cakes.  My hostess made this for us several years ago and I have yet to taste any cod cakes that tasted better, not even in Newfoundland, the Canadian home of cod cakes.  

The Portuguese cod cakes (Bolinhos de bacalhau) were made from dried salted cod fish (soaked in water for at least two days) and potatoes. The proportion of cod to potatoes is the key to the tasty treat.  It's likely that the cod cakes we had in most restaurants had more potatoes than cod due to the cost factor so we have never been able to taste anything like the flaky homemade cod cakes our hostess pan fried in a minimum amount of oil.  The starch from the potatoes together with some eggs enabled the browning of the cakes without a batter.  Onions, garlic and parsley enhanced the flavour.  It was served as an appetizer although we would have been perfectly happy gobbling up all the cod cakes had we not been held back by the thought of more food to come.  (Recipe)

And indeed there were, as you can see below.  Chicken and four different kinds of Portuguese sausages, including blood sausage.  Cabbage greens, edoes (or taros), potatoes and carrots complemented the meat.  Our hostess drizzled everything on her plate with vinegar and olive oil (that's how it was done in Portugal).  I tried it, it certainly added a tang to the food. 

Our hostess made the "No knead bread" made famous by the New York Times and it tasted so good we had to restrain ourselves - the texture of the bread was unbelievable.  I will have to try making it myself!

We finished with Portuguese egg tarts.  These do not have the flaky crusts that we are used to getting in Chinese bakeries.  But according to my hostess, both are authentic Portuguese. They are both very good.  But this one, without the crust, is healthier.  

Bolinhos de bacalhau (Portuguese salted cod cakes)

"No knead bread"

Blood sausages, smoked sausages, hot and mild, chiken

The veggies

Portuguese egg tarts!