What’s your view on the “no knead bread” - something to study or ignore in favour of the longer traditional bread making process yielding a superior loaf.

I see the “no knead” method as a staple bread making technique. We had an early Thanksgiving dinner Saturday and a friend brought a delightful loaf made using that method. Rose blogged not too long ago about her own refinements on the technique. I was inspired by her writing to try my own variation that worked out well.

I do both.  I have to say that the old-fashioned method using sourdough is my favourite by I do make no-knead from time to time - mostly white.

That is interesting. So there is definitely a place for it. I read Rose’s pieces but I wasn’t sure how impressed she was at the end.

Yes, it still seems to be quite popular.  I thought it was somewhat lacking in flavor when I made it, but perhaps I should revisit it sometime.

Rose’s pizza dough from the Bread Bible is no-knead, and it is delicious.  We make it every week.  We mix the dough the night beforeor early in the morning, and use 50% by weight semolina (Bob’s Red Mill) flour and 50% better for bread.  Truly delicious.  You can also use the finer grind durum flour, but that requires an increase in the water and is a shade less flavorful.

As a really inexperience bread baker, I love the no knead bread.  It’s not the most flavorful, but it’s pretty good for a beginning bread baker like me.

Matthew is right. I found the original NYT recipe a bit bland. I usually enhance the recipe a bit with some potato water or malt. And frankly I usually knead it a little bit too.
The real revelation about this recipe is I think not that you don’t have to knead it but that by baking in a preheated covered vessel the home cook can achieve a near commercial quality rustic crust.
The thing that nags is getting the dough into the hot pan after the final rise. The classic method calls for a very rustic plop which loses a lot of loft. Rose has been experimenting with her coffee filter method which inspired me to try using my SuperPeel. I made a cardboard cylinder just smaller than the bottom of my baking pan. Then I put the cylinder on my SuperPeel and let the dough rise for its final rise in the cardboard cylinder. When it was time to bake I removed the cardboard and slid the risen loaf into the baking pan with the SuperPeel. It turned out very well although I had some sticking problems that I think I can solve with more flour next time.

I do no knead all the time, 99% of the time with some combination of white whole wheat, spelt, and rye, most with yeast, sometimes with sourdough. I make the dough thick enough for it to retain it’s shape for the final fermentation, and they usually do well when I plop them into the dutch oven. It comes out superb. I disregard what Bittman said about not being able to bake it with the dutch oven. And I agree with Gene that that’s the real revelation.

The only time I knead is when I make white bread, I feel it’s a little better with kneading.

I add a cup of kalamata olives to my white no-knead while it is bubbling away overnight - simple perfection! Or I add various seeds and dried fruits and molassas/honey for a rich fruit loaf. I love the no-knead recipe because it is so forgiving.

I also have stopped putting it in a pre-heated dutch oven and put it in the oven cold. Stops sticking issues and still gives a great crust (my favourite thing about it).