Mark Bittman’s no-knead bread recipe (based on Jim Lahaney’s method) is billed as idiot-proof, but it’s really not. Or maybe it is, but idiots like me aren’t very good at it. The first couple of times I tried it, I followed the recipe exactly and ended up with a bland, dry bread. [...]

As regular readers know, I’ve been experimenting with homemade bread for months now. My early results ranged from inedible to palatable. Some loaves even went directly from the oven to the trash can. In retrospect, I handicapped my learning process by adopting and abandoning several different methods and recipes before perfecting one. [...]

I’ve been baking bread at home for a while now with mixed results. This weekend, I finally made some very good bread:

I used the no-knead technique made famous by Mark Bittman and Jim Lahaney (video here), but I incorporated some tips from America’s Test Kitchen.

Like I’ve said before, I’m trying to get better at baking bread. Last week I tried a no-knead ciabatta recipe and was only somewhat pleased with the results. I decided I’d try again, so I made another batch of dough on Saturday. On Sunday afternoon, the dough was ready for the oven. [...]