No-Knead Salt Bread

• servings: 12 servings

Ingredients

400 g bread flour

120 g cake flour

26 g sugar

10 g salt

30 g non-fat milk powder

7 g instant dry yeast

365 g water

40 g softened unsalted butter

12 x 15 g butter chunks

Directions

In a large bowl, combine the bread flour, cake flour, sugar, salt, milk powder, and yeast. Add the water and mix until no dry flour remains. The dough will not be smooth and should be sticky.

Cover and rest for 25 minutes.

Add the softened butter in 2–3 additions. Gently knead by hand until the butter is fully incorporated and the dough comes together into one cohesive mass. The dough does not need to be smooth at this stage.

Cover and rest for 25 minutes.

Perform 3 sets of stretch and folds, spaced 25 minutes apart. For each set: Fold top of dough to center, bottom to center Fold left to right Flip seam-side down Cover and rest 25 min The dough will become smoother and more elastic with each fold. After the 3rd stretch and fold you want to make sure the surface of your dough looks smooth. If even after the last stretch and fold it is not quite there yet/doesn't pass the windowpane test, do some coil folds, slap and folds, and rounding/tuck and turns until it appears smooth.

After the final fold, let the dough rest undisturbed until it increases to about 1.5× its volume. The dough should feel lighter, smoother, and slightly jiggly.

Degas the dough and divide into 80 g portions.

Roll each into a smooth ball, cover, and let rest for 15 minutes (starting from the first ball you shaped).

Roll each ball into a long teardrop shape, keeping the top wider and the bottom narrower.

Start with the bottom half of the tear drop shape (narrower part.) Use a rolling pin to flatten the bottom half while using the other hand to slightly pull downward. Do the same for the upper half to flatten the wider end into a triangle base about the same width as your butter stick.

Place a butter stick at the wide end and roll down toward the point, gently tugging for tension.

Keep the seam side down on the tray.

Place rolls on non-stick baking tray (no parchment paper) with space between them.

Cover and let rise until doubled in size.

Preheat oven to 450°F (232°C).

Spray rolls lightly with water and sprinkle pretzel salt on top.

Just before baking, spray each roll generously (about 20 pumps) for added steam.

Lower oven to 400°F (204°C) and bake for 12-15 minutes, rotating the tray halfway if needed for even browning.

Enjoy hot out of the oven — the bottoms will be crisp and buttery, the insides fluffy and soft.