• Eat Your Books

  See Susie's review of this cookbook in her round-up of the best 2009 cookbooks at The Boston Globe.

• KatieK1 on March 16, 2021

  I make the rye bread recipe a lot. The bread has a propensity to stick to the bottom of the pot so I do the final rise in parchment paper which I later lift into the pot. The recipe also tends to make a wet loaf. I leave the lid on for 40 instead of 30 minutes. Works out much better.

• lorihenry on February 18, 2010

  Best bread ever! Even though I am not a baker I make at least one loaf of this bread every other week. The basic white is wonderful and the rye is super delicious...a perfect accompanyment to soup on a cold, wet winter day.

• Substances on January 18, 2010

  The basic no-knead recipe is my go-to for easy weekly bread and oh so tasty!

• nomadchowwoman on January 08, 2010

  A revelation: this book has recently turned me into a bread baker. Brilliant. The basic recipe seems foolproof. The reassuring step-by-step instructions and photos guide you easily through the process.

• Nancy Levy on December 31, 2009

  Need at least 1 day for preparation. If you don't have time go to Artisian Bread in Five minutes a day

Notes about Recipes in this book

• Pizza funghi: mushroom pizza

  • gastronom on February 27, 2015

    Have made this several times very successfully. Thinly sliced mushrooms in food processor, tossed them with sliced red onion & olive oil to top dough. Does need quite a bit of salt sprinkled on top. Crispy crust with flavorful juice of mushrooms on top. Excellent!

• Rye bread

  • gastronom on February 27, 2015

    Easy, crusty, tasty!

  • stockholm28 on January 05, 2020

    This is a very mild rye bread. Just as good as the basic recipe.

  • Lepa on March 18, 2020

    As another poster noted, this was a really mild and delicious rye!

  • KatieK1 on May 20, 2021

    This is a recipe I make all the time. I use 1/6 cp less than the 1 1/3 cp water because otherwise the dough is too wet. For the second rise I turn the dough into a parchment-lined bowl, and then when it's time to bake it I lift the parchment out of the bowl and place it in the Dutch oven and bake it for 40 minutes covered instead of 30, then 15 minutes or so uncovered. Without the parchment the dough has a tendency to stick to the bottom of the pot which is a serious bummer.

• Carrot bread

  • katieate on January 13, 2012

    Delicious and easy to make. I just used bottled carrot and fruit juice. It was better when I went to the effort of making my own carrot juice.

• The basic no-knead bread recipe

  • DianeKirkland on February 15, 2011

    I have made over 200 loaves of this bread for friends and family. The best flour combo I've found is one-half durum wheat flour (not cornmeal) from King Arthur Flour and one-half King Arthur Bread flour.

  • Lepa on July 01, 2019

    I still cannot get over the fact that I made such amazing bread. The charred crust is absolutely perfect. I made it once with bread flour, following the recipe in the book, but today I made it with half durum flour, as suggested by @DianeKirkland and it really was over the top delicious (so thank you!)

  • rionafaith on October 21, 2018

    p. 50 -- While this takes a full 24 hours or so, almost all of that is hands-off, so as long as you start it the day before you want to eat it there's basically less than 5 minutes of actual work, making this the easiest bread ever. Basically foolproof, too -- I even messed up by not flouring my tea towel enough for the second rise (though I thought I had used quite a bit of flour...), so it stuck pretty badly and I deflated the dough quite a bit when trying to transfer it to the preheated Dutch oven. Disaster, or so I thought.... but it puffed right back up again in the oven and was totally fine, if maybe a touch smaller than it should have been in the end? Amazing, rustic texture -- super crusty crackly exterior and moist, chewy interior with big bubbles. Will be perfect alongside soup. I'll be making this again and want to try many of the other variations in this book now!

  • blazin on March 22, 2020

    The online recipe differs from the book in a couple ways. First, the online version bakes at 450 while the book is 475. Second, the book does not instruct to preheat the lid, only the pot. I think those changes would produce a better result and will verify next time I make this (which I most definitely will, and soon!)

• Pizza patate: potato pizza

  • eliza on August 02, 2021

    The soaking method for the potatoes works well; it needs to be done 90 minutes ahead. I added some cheese to mine. As he says in the recipe, spread topping to the edge as it's likely to burn there. Mine was done in 25 minutes. Very good pizza.

  • okmosa on July 01, 2019

    I’ve never been able to make a potato pizza like I had in Rome until now. I found JIm Lahey's method via @smittenkitchen and it appears to have cracked the code! I didn’t use the dough recipe listed because ours was already started and I added some zucchini blossoms from the garden that were waiting to be used (although they didn’t add much in the end), but this method will be used again and again. Yay!

  • SpatulaClark on March 14, 2020

    Made the sweet potato variation. The soak-and-dry effort is worth it, for a crispy topping that isn't soggy.

• Pane integrale: whole wheat bread

  • eliza on March 23, 2020

    Very easy bread. I've adapted this to sourdough (I use 1/4 cup fed starter at 100% hydration) and it's my most requested bread!

  • Lepa on July 10, 2019

    As the other post noted, this is just as good as the regular recipe. I didn't experience any of the issues I often have when baking whole wheat bread. I used white whole wheat flour.

  • rionafaith on October 27, 2018

    p. 61 -- Just as good as the regular all-white no-knead bread. Since I had some trouble transferring that one to the Dutch oven, this time I did the shaping on a piece of parchment and just plopped the whole thing in together, paper and all. I would still flour more heavily next time though as I did have some paper fuse to the bottom of the loaf... oops. I'm sure I'll figure out the best way to get the bread in the oven eventually....

• Apple bread

  • eliza on September 22, 2016

    Another winner from this book. It's important to cut the apples the size stated in the recipe (1/4 inch). My tendency was to cut them larger which wasn't as good. There are 3 forms of apple in this bread, fresh, dried, and juice making for good apple flavour. As with all the breads in this book it's very easy. I especially like it with savoury soups and cheeses.

• Basic pizza dough

  • eliza on November 06, 2015

    This is my favourite pizza dough. I've made many others and always come back to this one.

  • sturlington on December 09, 2012

    Easy pizza dough. Needs about 2-1/2 hours resting time (not overnight). Makes a crispy crust. I think it might be better to pre-bake the crust before adding toppings, rather than baking with the toppings as the recipe directs. Leftover dough can be frozen.

• Pane all'Olive: olive bread

  • eliza on September 20, 2016

    My go to olive bread. I've also adapted this to make a sourdough olive bread. Very little work and tastes great. Can substitute a bit of whole wheat flour for some of the white flour with good results.

  • rionafaith on March 31, 2020

    Unfortunately the olives I used were pretty average canned Kalamatas rather than fancy salt-packed ones, so the dough lacked seasoning. Next time I would use a more flavorful or high quality olive, or at least compensate by adding salt to the dough. That said, the texture of this bread is fantastic as usual with Jim Lahey's no-knead breads. I was all out of bread flour so I used AP and it was fine.

• Coconut-chocolate bread

  • Rella on December 18, 2015

    I own this book and have made Lahey's basic no-knead bread for several years now. Today 12-18-15 I ventured to bake this recipe. After baking this bread, I went to the internet to see if anyone had the same experience that I had about the time needed to bake this Coconut-chocolate bread. http://www.breadexperience.com/no-knead-coconut-chocolate-bread/ If you decide to bake this bread, I would take the internal temperature of this bread after it had spent 40 minutes in the oven with the pot's cover on. Then decide whether you wish to bake it for longer than the initial 40 minutes. At the end of 40 minutes, mine was burnt, and I used the same enameled cast iron pans as used in his basic recipe. The calibration for my oven is correct.

  • Rella on December 19, 2015

    Another site which mentions the timing of baking (reduction in time to bake)this recipe is http://www.staceysnacksonline.com/2012/02/my-second-loaf-chocolate-coconut.html

• Pizza pomodoro: tomato pizza

  • sturlington on April 11, 2013

    Could not be easier. We also add cheese.

• Marinated beets

  • sturlington on March 17, 2015

    Very tasty on a strong-flavored bread like rye. Can be made ahead.

• Marinated eggplant

  • sturlington on May 17, 2013

    P160. Make ahead -- marinate at least 12 hours, up to 5 days. Serve as appetizer or sandwich filling.

• Almond-apricot bread

  • bching on December 24, 2017

    Delicious. I used dried pears and hazelnuts instead of apricots and almonds. I intend to do the recipe as written soon.

• Pan co'Santi: walnut bread

  • Lepa on July 10, 2019

    This bread didn't do it for me. It may be my fault. I not only let it rise for twenty hours instead of 18 (which made a weepy dough) but also mistakenly baked it at 450 instead of 475. Nevertheless, I didn't love the flavor profile here and doubt I'll make it again. Perhaps I prefer an enriched dough when baking with raisins and it just didn't work with this type of bread (in my opinion).

• Peanut butter and jelly bread

  • SpatulaClark on March 14, 2020

    Good concept for a 'special' loaf. Used orange-ginger jam, which lacked colour but paired delightfully with peanuts. Overall though, the bread didn't have much flavour (rye sourdough is my standby!) so next time I'd try double quantity of PB and jam. Peanuts on top charred by the time bread was baked, and tended to fall off when slicing, so might leave them out. Toasted nicely.

• Pizza cipolla: onion pizza

  • SpatulaClark on March 14, 2020

    This is a favourite pizza recipe! Light crispy crust and a simple, flavourful topping.

• Stirato: Italian baguette

  • bob.mack on January 10, 2022

    Very happy with this one. The recipe in the cookbook recommends a “Römertopf French Bread Baker” but I believe that is no longer available for sale. I used the Oblong Cloche Clay Baker from Breadtopia that is about the same dimensions.

• Fine Cooking

  Also included is a fantastic chapter on sandwich making and several recipes for using up stale bread, which you’ll have plenty of if this book gets you hooked on baking. And chances are, it will.

  Full review