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No-knead issues

My reading is not yeilding any answers so I now need help

I followed the NYT recipe to the letter. I know there are other recipes out there but my problem is not the recipe. Or maybe it is I don't know. I don't think so though. The bread is burning on the outside and not completely cooking on the inside

Set oven to 500 degrees and preheat with a 12 inch lodge dutch oven on the lowest rack
Bread proofing on parchment paper
Put parchment paper and dough right into the preheated dutch oven
Set timer for 30 minutes

bread burns. The bottom is charcoal and the top is black. Inside center is not cooked completely

The second time took the lid off at 15 minutes and let it go for 15 more minutes

Bread burns. Same results

I am at 4300 feet, could that have something to do with it?
 
I have used a recipe from King Arthur Flour with success. Their recipe calls for using the dutch oven to pour water in while the bread is baking. The bread bakes on a stone or a sheet although it works best on a stone. Also, their recipe calls for a lower temperature.
 
In the no knead method it is cooked in the dutch over.

Lowering the temp will not give the spring bread needs.

Any thoughts
 
Are you measuring ingredients with a measuring cup or by weight? Bread often works out best when ingredients are measured by weight and not volume. I've never made no-knead bread, so this is just a shot. I normally just mix things until the bread feels right, but that isn't something easy to explain.
 
...I followed the NYT recipe to the letter.
.
.
Put parchment paper and dough right into the preheated dutch oven
Set timer for 30 minutes

bread burns. The bottom is charcoal and the top is black. Inside center is not cooked completely

The second time took the lid off at 15 minutes and let it go for 15 more minutes

Bread burns. Same results...
I believe you forgot to cover the dutch oven before placing inside the hot oven:


Excerpt from http://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/11376-no-knead-bread:

Step 4
At least a half-hour before dough is ready, heat oven to 450 degrees. Put a 6- to 8-quart heavy covered pot (cast iron, enamel, Pyrex or ceramic) in oven as it heats. When dough is ready, carefully remove pot from oven. Slide your hand under towel and turn dough over into pot, seam side up; it may look like a mess, but that is O.K. Shake pan once or twice if dough is unevenly distributed; it will straighten out as it bakes. Cover with lid and bake 30 minutes, then remove lid and bake another 15 to 30 minutes, until loaf is beautifully browned. Cool on a rack.
 
I have just joined these forums, didn't know bread was part of things for shaving people. Been making weekly bread for decades. I steam the oven. By putting a pan of water in the bottom of it. You can also spray the inside of it with water (check your manual, you can mess up the oven), but I have a steam tray for mine and steam setting. But before this oven I just put a 1½ cups of water in a pan on the lowest rack. I make three such loaves at a time (enough for the week).

500°F sounds hot to me. I go 450° for 22 mins and then without openning the oven, 325°F for 20 mins which practically means that the temp perhaps drops 25° but no new heat is applied.

This sort of baking takes time and experiments. It's hard to be patient, but 6 months of weekly or every second trying isn't so unusual.
 
My reading is not yeilding any answers so I now need help

I followed the NYT recipe to the letter. I know there are other recipes out there but my problem is not the recipe. Or maybe it is I don't know. I don't think so though. The bread is burning on the outside and not completely cooking on the inside

Set oven to 500 degrees and preheat with a 12 inch lodge dutch oven on the lowest rack
Bread proofing on parchment paper
Put parchment paper and dough right into the preheated dutch oven
Set timer for 30 minutes

bread burns. The bottom is charcoal and the top is black. Inside center is not cooked completely

The second time took the lid off at 15 minutes and let it go for 15 more minutes

Bread burns. Same results

I am at 4300 feet, could that have something to do with it?

When you say the NYT recipe, I'm assuming you're referring to Lahey's recipe that was introduced to the world during 2006. If that's correct, here goes.

You seem to have combined Lahey's recipe and the improvements Cook's Illustrated (CI) made to Lahey's recipe. Lahey didn't use parchment paper. That was introduced by CI. So, here's what you should do:

- Preheat at 500
- place the dough and parchment paper in the pot
- immediately reduce the temp to 425, cook for 30 minutes with lid on
- remove lid after the 30 minutes
- cook for another 20 minutes without the lid
- life is good : )

No parchment paper seems to be rated above 450 based on my research. Even if your bread didn't burn while using 500 during the entire bake the parchment paper would and impart a bad taste in the bread. Trust me, I know, lol.

I hope your next loaf is what I've come to love using the CI recipe. By the way, CI uses beer and vinegar instead of some of the water when mixing the ingredients. It simulates a mild sourdough flavor without being true sourdough. There used to be a third-party site that listed the CI recipe, but their site won't open for me. The CI police may have shut them down, lol.
 
All good advice so far. I use a variation on this recipe regularly, and bake at 475, so playing with the temp a bit will help. With the Dutch Oven, you should not need extra water. One thing I found with my old oven was that it ran hot, so it would be about 25 degrees higher than set. You can pick up a Polder dial thermometer pretty inexpensively and put it inside the oven to record the actual internal temperature of oven. From there, you can adjust the oven's set point accordingly.
 
All good advice so far. I use a variation on this recipe regularly, and bake at 475, so playing with the temp a bit will help. With the Dutch Oven, you should not need extra water. One thing I found with my old oven was that it ran hot, so it would be about 25 degrees higher than set. You can pick up a Polder dial thermometer pretty inexpensively and put it inside the oven to record the actual internal temperature of oven. From there, you can adjust the oven's set point accordingly.

Good point bout the thermometer. Previously we had an electric oven that ran hotter than the setting. Now we have a gas range that runs cooler. The thermometer solve the problem.
 
Thanks. I used the parchment paper because the dough was sticking to everything. The lightly oiled bowl was the worst sticking I had. I figured the parchment would not stick. I put the parchment in the dutch oven because the dough was thoroughly stuck to it and would not come off.

I will try again soon. Things got crazy this weekend.
 
500° is way too high. I make this style of bread all the time -- 450 is about right. I've also had success at 400-425. Should take about 30-35 minutes (uncover for last 10). Use a thermometer and look for 190° in the middle.


Oh and paper will ignite above 450° -- remember Ray Bradbury's "Fahrenheit 451"? (who would have guessed that a High School lit class would have application in the kitchen!)
 
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