Well happy Monday everyone! After a very restful and rather uneventful weekend I am excited and motivated to start fresh new week. I'm working on a few websites at the moment & I have quite a lot of work ahead of me so before I hop, skip and jump into the tasks at hand I must tell you about this bread I made yesterday. I am actually not eating much bread these days thus the lack of any bread baking in our household but after reading about this easy no-knead recipe on my friend Julie's blog I just had to give it a go.

Julie, a foodie of all foodies, is always inspiring me with her clever recipes and helpful tips so instead of re-typing what she so elequently wrote I encourage all of you to venture over to her blog The Golden Piglet and read her very in-depth write up of this fabulous and extremely easy bread recipe by Jim Lahey. If you have never made bread before this is the best recipe to kick off your affair with bread baking. Don't be intimidated or think you don't have the knack because even the most novice of bakers can whip this up in no time at all!

The combination of the woody, bitter walnuts and earthy, peppery truffle oil will blow your mind. The truffle flavor is not overpowering but it gives the bread the most wonderful aroma and allure that what you are eating is exotic in a way.

The key to this recipe is that you use little yeast (compared to most bread recipes) which actually makes for a better crust. Less yeast, however requires the dough to rise for several hours... 20-21 to be exact. But don't let that scare you. All the work you do only takes about 10 minutes. Then you just let the dough sit and do it's thaaang....

Your result is an extremely crisp, tangy crust and the softest crumb (the inside part of the bread). The texture is very similar to sourdough, and the taste will knock your socks off! The great thing about this recipe is you can add anything to it: rosemary, olives, onions, hazelnuts...etc. or you can just keep it simple and not add anything at all. (naked bread!)

If you want the recipe and detailed instructions click here. Below are a few notes that I would like to add:

* The recipe calls for you to use a 4-5 quart dutch oven. I only had a 5.5 quart so my boule of bread was more on the flatter side. Next time I will definetly use a 4 quart so the bread will rise better and not have excess room to spread out.

* The recipe calls for 30 minutes for the final browning (the part when you remove the dutch oven lid). I only did this for 20 minutes because my oven always cooks things faster than most and I could tell my bread was ready. Just keep your eye on it and remember that it will continue to cook even after it is out of the oven.

* Our house is set to be about 69 degrees so I put my dough in a room that tends to heat up to about 71 degrees so ensure that the dough will rise well.

* Make sure you follow the instructions about "fluffing" up the flour. Sure enough I had about 1/4 cup excess flour after I fluffed, scooped, and leveled.

*Here is a very helpful illustration of Jim's step by step instructions (click to page 7).

* Have fun with this! Bread making is so easy, frugal and rewarding!