Proofing Yeast and Baking No Knead Bread

Progressing through Cooking for Geeks, I got to do an interesting experiment with yeast. To test if your yeast is good put 2 tsp of yeast and 1 tsp of sugar in a half-cup of warm (105 degree) water. Then wait for it to bubble up.

And bubble it did.

Meanwhile I was making a batch of no kneed bread based on the recipe in this book. The last time I made it I used a recipe I found on the web. The problem was that I didn't realize that they called for "fresh yeast" and I use active dry yeast. So I ended up using half as much. I tried to add some more after it had started to rise, but I don't think this helped. So I ended up with a much denser loaf than the last time I made it.

After it raises for a day, bake in a pre-heated 450 degree cast iron pan. Covered for 30 minutes, then uncovered until it reaches 210 degrees internal temp. (I gave up when it seemed to plateau at 207).

So I had to figure out what to do with the proofed yeast experiment. I made a basic loaf of bread with it. Which also ended up a little dense, but much of this was that I forgot about it during the first rise and it had collapsed when I got around to backing it the next day.