No Knead Sourdough Bread with Jalapenos, Cheddar & Gouda Cheese

The years 2020 and  2021 will always be memorable for every one on this planet... and will be written down in history for sure.  When the Pandemic first hit and everyone started working from home, people started cooking at home and baking lot of breads and so did I ... The stores were out of flour, sugar and yeast... that is when my sour dough starter really came in handy..I must have baked so many breads, dinner rolls, pita bread, tortillas  and buns.... there are so many no knead recipes floating around and I wanted to perfect mine with my homemade sour dough starter that I have...and I think I did after many trials, For you guys who don't have sourdough starter you can buy it from King Arthur's website and it was so funny to see that people are actually selling the sourdough starter on FB market place.. but if you don't want to use the starter you can just omit and may have put little more water. Good thing about this recipe is there is no messing with kneading , but you do require lot of  patience, as you can not make this bread the same day. but as they say you always get good results with patience. 

• Also most of the recipes on line advised you to bake this in Dutch oven but I don't own one and have no interest in investing in one, so I baked it in a covered deep corning ware casserole.
• You will also need parchment paper  a good quality one that can stand 450 degrees temp in over. Also will need a good dough scarper.
  
• Very easy to make and perfect loaf with lots of air pocket.
• So without further delay here is the recipe...

Ingredients: 

• 4 cups of all purpose flour (once you master it you can experiment with different flours)
  
• 2   teaspoons of Kosher salt (any coarse salt would do) you can adjust the amount of salt to your palate but remember the cheese is salty so I feel 2 teaspoons  is   pretty good  measurement
  
• 1 packet of instant  fast rising yeast (I think it is 2 heaped teaspoons)
  
• 1/2 cup of sourdough starter
• 1 and 1/4  cup of  warm water  you can add more or less depending on your sourdough starter consistency.  (I added 1 and 1/2 cup as my sourdough starter was thick, but always add water slowly and remember the dough is very sticky and not firm at all, you want a sticky dough, just like the pictures show)
  

• 1 cup of Mexican blend or cheddar cheese to put in the bread
• 1/2 cup of Gouda cheese
• 1 fresh Jalapeno chopped 
• 5 spring onion chopped with green included
• 3/4 cup of additional Cheddar cheese for topping
• 1 tablespoon of olive oil to brush on bread before baking
• 15 slices of pickled Jalapeno slices or more if you like
  

Method:

• In a large deep bowl mix flour and salt with whisk.
• Add yeast and mix again with whisk.
• Add chopped peppers, onions and cheese and mix well with whisk.
• Add water to the sour dough starter, stirring until diluted.
  

• Add the sour dough starter to all the ingredients.
• Mix with wooden spatula.
• Dough should be very sticky, don't add any flour even though it may be tempting.
• Gently shape in to a ball with dough scraper.
• Cover with a plastic wrap and set it on counter at room temperature. 
• Let it stand for one hour, uncover the bowl and fold the dough over on itself few time with dough scraper. (DO NOT KNEAD) 
• Cover the bowl again and let it sit at room temp overnight (12-18 hours to rise)
  

• The dough will be double in size and will have lot of bubbles.
• Scoop the dough on to a floured board, using dough scraper repeat the folding motion, four times, on to itself.
• Shape it in a ball, line a bowl with parchment paper and place it in the bowl lined with parchment paper, this will make it easier to transfer in the bake ware, remember  leaving the seam side of folds down, cover it with towel and let it sit for 1 and half hour.
  

• Just before the end of second rise of the dough, preheat the oven at 455 F (baking temp is 450 F but I always have it on 5-10 degrees more for preheat as when you open the door you loose some heat).
• Place empty corning ware with parchment paper and lid on and heat it in the oven at 450 Ffor 30 min without the dough inside. 
• Then very carefully take out the corning ware wearing the mittens and keep the oven preheated at 450 F.

• Transfer the dough in  the preheated corning ware with seam side up.
• You may cut a slit in the dough with a sharp knife which  I totally forgot to do this time (no worries)
  
• Brush the dough with olive oil and sprinkle cheddar cheese and place pickled Jalapenos on it.
• Carefully cover the hot lid on the corning ware and place it back in oven and bake it at 450 F for 30 min.
• Then after 30 min open the oven and take the lid off, bake it uncovered for another 10-15 min to desired crispiness.
  

• Remove the corning ware from oven and carefully remove the bread loaf from the corning ware and place it on cooling rack.
• For best result let it completely cool before slicing.
• I used jalapenos, green onions and cheese, but you can make any flavor, you can add garlic cilantro, rosemary or any other herbs.
• As I mentioned earlier if you don't have sour dough starter, you can make this bread following same recipe may have to adjust amount of water 1 and 3/4 of cup instead of 1and 1/2 cup.
  

Enjoy !!

Recipe and Photographs by Surekha.