I made food: no-knead bread

I'm going to be honest with you: I'm 27 years old and until today, I'd never baked a loaf of bread in my life. I wasn't really sure what bread dough is supposed to look like, or even what ingredients are in it ("Are there eggs in bread?" I asked my husband once). So I figured I would probably screw up my first couple of tries. But nope, this recipe is pretty much foolproof, and as the name implies, it actually requires almost no work, just a lot of patience.

There are a zillion places online to find the no-knead bread recipe; I used this adorable tutorial from Steamy Kitchen. (The only change being I used all-purpose flour instead of bread flour.)

Here's my dough right after mixing. This is like 90% of the work you do right here.

Then it rises overnight...

"Hey, I'm gonna get some of this, right?" (Nope.)

I didn't take any more pictures of the dough because it wasn't very exciting, but you just have to stretch and shape it briefly, then let it rise for two more hours. At this point I was worried I had messed up, because my dough was very wet and wasn't holding a round shape like the tutorial pictures. But once I got the finished bread out of the oven...

Not pictured: clouds of steamy bread-smell

...yep, I think it turned out OK.

Our plan was not to eat any until lunch, but that plan was quickly abandoned. We waited impatiently for 10-15 minutes until it had cooled a little, then buttered up some slices. The first words out of my husband were "holy s**t!" (and he doesn't swear much). This bread has super crispy, yet thin, crust, and the inside is chewy and filling but still airy at the same time.

I'm still slightly in shock that I'm actually capable of making bread...I just wish I had made more (this loaf is more than half gone already, and I just made it this morning). Seriously, if bread seems like too much work to you, try this recipe!