Boat Bread

Boat Bread, originally uploaded by macatay.

For three summers, I have been trying, without success, to make good bread in Indigo's small oven. I haven't been able to produce bread that satisfied the taste we've developed living near great bakeries in the big city. No crisp crust, no tantalizing aroma. A few months ago, our generous friend Jane sent along bread recipe from the New York Times called "No Knead Bread". This bread rises for 18 hours, then is cooked in a casserole inside a very hot oven. I was skeptical: my largest casserole is two quarts, and I have never tried to heat our small oven to its hottest setting. A few days ago, I came across a rave review of this same recipe, and decided to try to adapt it. I made a 2/3 sized batch, and cranked up our oven to the max. Fantastic results, as shown in the photo above. The Captain gobbled up the bread, all the while fussing about how much propane was required to bake the stuff. Then he got a gleam in his eye, grabbed his tape measure, and headed topside to figure out where to stow more propane tanks.