If you do not remember the pandemic sourdough craze, congratulations. I mean, I get it. We were home, we were scared, we needed to feed our families and feel like we had some control. Then, just like everything else in those dark days, things went too far…
I did not join the cult of sourdough, both because, while I love sourdough’s chew, I am not wild about the sour. That, and the four or five times I’ve tried to make a starter they have either stumbled out of the gate, or I have realized, too late, that I don’t want the commitment of feeding the starter every day, dumping all of it but one cup the next day, feeding it again and repeat repeat repeat.
And yet, I love love love a nice crusty loaf, and so decided a few weeks ago to try a bread from an earlier craze, a no-knead overnight bread that I recall from about eight years ago but my most immediate hit is from the Times in 2025.
The recipe, “No-Knead Bread,” is adapted by Mark Bittman, of How to Cook Everything fame, a cookbook I really recommend, and one I gave to my daughter’s late father for Christmas in I think 2025, when he told me he really wanted to learn to cook. I also gave him a set of knives for Christmas, really the only three knives you need for daily use, a paring knife, a chef’s knife, and a serrated knife.
“Wow, these are better than the ones I bought at K-Mart,” he said, and proceeded to make a bunch of stuff from the cookbook, including for us. He was so excited to cook for us, I am getting chills thinking about it and also tearing up. I miss him and his enthusiasm, including for good food! When I moved from Portland, I kept Tim’s knives and use them every day.
