When I used up the last of my cling wrap a few months ago I decided not to buy it again. I haven’t missed it at all. It’s easy to find alternatives and my favorite is using a wet towel (It has to be wet) to cover rising bread dough. Why is it my favorite? Because I remember my grandmother did the same thing.
P.S. Don’t be too impressed by the homemade bread. Even though I make a loaf every other day, I use this no-knead recipe. Go ahead, try it. Pretend to be a supermom, wrist deep, kneading bread all day. No one has to know your secret.
punk rock michelle says
<3
Shannon says
Cooks Illustrated published an improvement on that No Knead recipe which replaces 1/4 cup of the water with 3 TBS of Beer and 1 TBS of white vinegar (IIRC). I think it gives the bread a really great artisan flavor.
Also, do they use a parchment paper sling to move the dough into the extremely hot pan. I think it works brilliantly… although now that I think about it, you might not be interested in that tip if you are trying to cut back on your paper products.
Anna - Three Sneaky Bugs says
Thanks for the recipe link! My mom used to use a wet towel too. Not sure why I keep the plastic wrap on hand these days. It's so rare that I use it.
Raising a Happy Child says
I always wanted to try and bake the bread from scratch. On the other hand, husband works really hard to lose weight, so this would be sabotaging his efforts. Thanks for the link, I bookmarked it for the future.
Leslie says
I love this recipe and can't wait to try it! Shannon – can you say more about the parchment sling? Do you just leave it in the pan after moving the bread? Thanks!
Mom and Kiddo says
Leslie: you don't have to use a paper sling. Just flip the dough into the pan using the wheat bran dusted towel on which the dough has done its final rise. The flip doesn't have to be perfect, the dough bakes fine even if it looks a mess when entering the oven.
Leslie says
I've made the bread recipe twice and I its wonderful! Thanks so much! I'm thinking it is coming out way too wet after the first 18 hour rise. I can't really handle it at all. Have you found the flour and water proportions to be accurate? I guess I'm going to have to try adding more flour. I'm not good at messing with the recipe…Help!
Mom and Kiddo says
Leslie: It is a very wet dough, much wetter than a dough you would spend time kneading. I find that I just get my hands really coated with flour to handle it after the first rise — if it sticks to my hands I just scrape it off. I then GENEROUSLY dust the towel with wheat bran or cornflour for the final rise before flipping it into the pan. That said, different brands of flour behave differently so you could try decreasing the amount of water by a few tablespoons at a time to see if that helps. But the important part is that it tastes good!