Ladies and Gentleman, please welcome the lovely Janine...

Poor Jill Bari is so slammed this week, what with being a famous actress and all. I felt it was a good time to contribute a guest blog entry, since JB ain't doin a whole lotta cookin this week. I hope you will all go see The Member of the Wedding at Barksdale Theatre. That's where I earn my daily bread, so this is a shameless plug for the both of us!

I love making bread. I love the whole process. The cool silky feel of the flour as I swirl my fingers through it. The transformation of the mass as I knead, from shaggy lumpy messy into smooth, elastic and springy. I wish I could smooth out my whole life like that!As much as I like kneading, I have discovered this really fun recipe that actually involves no kneading. Yep, you heard me. It makes a very rustic, crunchy crust and a sturdy crumb with big holes. It's not a light bread, but a hearty bread perfect for toasting and grilling. I found the recipe in the NY Times, who got it from some bakery. It's all over the internet now, and very popular. I could just post a link to it here, but then you wouldn't have the Janinified version, now, would you?

The key piece of cooking equipment you need to bake this bread is something heavy and thick with a lid. I use a pyrex casserole dish or this clay pot thing I've got. I'm told a cast iron pot does great, too. It just needs to be something heavy-ish and lidded that can withstand high heat.In a big bowl, mix 3 cups of bread flour, 2 teaspoons of salt, 1/4 teaspoon of dry yeast and 1.5 cups of water. Get in there with your hands---wait, for crap's sake, take your rings off--and mix this together only until the ingredients are just incorporated. This so- called dough will be really sticky and "shaggy". Cover the bowl snugly with plastic cling wrap and set the bowl in a warmish (70 degrees or warmer) spot.

you leave this mess for at least 12 hours, and as long as 18 hours. When it's ready, you'll notice that the top of the dough blob is liberally dotted with bubbles. That little tiny bit of yeast has gone hog wild, and because the dough is so wet, bubbles abound. We like bubbles, don't we?Sprinkle lots of flour on a surface like a baking sheet. Now tip the bowl of dough and with a gentle hand coax the blob onto the floured surface. Some degassing will occur during this dumping (I'm talking about the dough, not the baker!!)--that's okay! Sprinkle lots of flour to also cover the top of the blob. Let this rise another time for about 1-1/2 to 2 hours. Half an hour before it's done with the second rise, turn on the oven to 450, put your empty cooking pot in the oven and let the empty pot get really hot along with the oven.

Now, take the really hot pot out of the oven. Transfer the dough into the very hot pot. That's more easily said than done, because the dough might be really floppy. But just do the best you can, 'kay? The flour all over the dough should keep it from sticking. Put the lid on the pot and stick that mess in the oven. In 25 minutes or half an hour, take the lid off and bake for another 25 to 30 minutes.Take the bread out of the pot and put it on a cooling rack. Try to restrain yourself long enough to let it cool before you converge upon it like a couple of birds of prey.

You may be thinking, "Eighteen hours?? I don't have 18 hours to spend on baking bread!!"You silly monkey. You can do other things while it's rising. Go to work. Go to the gym. Go to sleep. Have a cocktail. Call your mother.Those are just a few suggestions.

Cheers! Janine