Back To Bread

I've been baking again- not that my girlish figure benefits from this! I was inspired from the December 9, 2007 post on the blog by Breadbasketcase http://www.breadbasketcase.blogspot.com/ . She had been baking from the recipe at Cook's Illustrated February 2008 magazine that had a no-knead bread recipe. I gave it a try and substituted my sourdough starter (about a quarter cup) for the vinegar and got what you see above and below. The one on top is olive and Parmesan. I tried the green olive, rosemary and Parmesan and liked it but really thought maybe Kalamata's would be better- I'll let you know. Anyway, this article touted using a Dutch oven to get the crispy crust and we had an old one- see bottom picture- and I found this works much better than the pan and ice cubes or spraying water into the oven! It's a sacrifice if it's a new pan but in the magazine they show one that can be had for under $40. I love this method and have been using it for my other recipes. It's embarrassingly easy!