Baked some rosemary garlic challah bread today. It needed a bit more kneading but it was still delicious. Made the place smell so good

I love baking challah bread because it mixes up so easy I don’t even need to break out the stand mixer

So pretty all risen

One day I’ll learn how to do 4 strand braid but these work

Several years ago, the Nytimes published a recipe for "No Knead Bread" http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/08/dining/081mrex.html.  Last Thursday I got a hankering to make it since the last time I'd done it was about 4 years ago.  The plan was to modify it slightly by adding fresh rosemary and garlic.  That was the plan...the reality? My crazy life and work schedule made me modify it A LOT more.  Usually you let the bread rise for 12-18, then fold it over upon itself and let rise a second time for 2 hours.  My version?  Letting it rise for 24 hours and then no second resting.  All because I'd planned to have dinner by 9:30 (and didn't get out of work until 8:30!)

I then followed most of the rest of the instructions...that is, I heated my oven to 500 degrees with my Le Creuset and then when it was sufficiently hot, threw the dough in.  All great except in my rush I forgot to oil the pot. ARGH!  After baking first with the cover on (to steam and get the nice crust) and then the latter part with no cover, out popped a surprisingly nice loaf, albeit a bit hard to get out of the 500 degree pot because it was stuck from lack of oil.  The next step, once again I modified by not letting the bread rest and stop "crackling".  We cut into it straight away before letting it cool at all!

End result?  The bread still tasted great, the crust was nice and crunchy and chewy and the bread was a hit.  The difference in doing it my way was the dough had a little less "chew" given I didn't let it rise a second time and it was more moist inside because it had been rested.  Overall still good and even more flexible than the original recipe which was easy enough to begin with!

BEFORE (after first rise)

AFTER