I have come late to the table on two fronts and am a convert: I made popovers and no-knead bread for the first time this past weekend. There. Now the whole world knows. First the popovers...
I was given Good to the Grain for Christmas and have finally made a recipe from it. Now this is a recipe I will make over and over again because not only are popovers fun to watch bake, this multigrain version is delicious! My children found them to be especially delicious slathered with jam. I mixed up a large batch of the multigrain flour mixture from the book so I have it on hand to speed the making of these again and again. I love that you don't even need a special popover pan but can use normal muffin tins. I'm planning to try the chocolate chip cookies next (probably Heidi's version here)!
Next, the no-knead bread...
Oh, people, this is the stuff of heaven. I got Jim Lahey's book a couple months ago and this is the first recipe I tried from it. Just like the popovers above, this will not be the last time I make this. This bread is the basic first recipe that Mark Bittman popularized in 2006 in the NYTimes. I can't believe it took me this long to make this bread! I made Jim's version to the letter using bread flour, regular table salt, yeast, and water. I mixed it up at 8 PM on Saturday night, started the second rise around 3 PM the next day and baked it 2 hours later in a 4.5 quart Caphalon soup pot with lid. Perfection! The interior of the bread was fluffy and lovely while the crust was crackly and chewy. This bread made the most incredible toast too! I followed up this beauty with the rye version last night which was excellent as well. Next up I'm going to try a version I found online that incorporates steel cut oats.
