Reddit reviews Saf Instant Yeast, 1 Pound Pouch (2-Pack)

So no-knead is pretty simple - it's like a minute per work session, spread out over two days or so. All you do is mix by hand the first day & let it sit. Then the second day, you fold it over & let it do a second rise for a couple hours, then pop it in the oven - easy peasy! In a bit more detail:

1. First day - 1 min - mix the ingredients & let rise for 8 to 24 hours
   
2. Second day - 1 min - fold over into a ball or roll shape, cover, & let rise for 2 hours
   
   1. One hour into this rise, preheat the oven with your baking vessel inside (Dutch oven, pizza stone, or my personal favorite, the Baking Steel)
      
3. Second day - 1 min - put in oven to let it bake (between 15 to 45 minutes, depending on if you're doing a short roll, a long baguette, a boule aka an artisan loaf aka a peasant loaf, etc.)
   
4. Second day - 1 min - pull it out of the oven to cool
   
   I tell people that baking bread is all about developing a relationship with the idea. Whereas a recipe is something you can lock in, like French onion soup, stuff like amazing homemade bread & pizza comes not from talent or magic or a strict recipe, but from developing a relationship with flour-based products, because - within the guidelines of the recipe, of course - a large part of it is a "feel" thing, and also a personal preference thing for how long you like to let it do the first rise, how much water to give it vs. how much flour to add, how you shape it & fold it, etc.
   
   But as you can see about, for about 5 minute's worth of hands-on work time over the course of a couple of days, you can have no-knead bread every single day, for cheap! Whole Foods charges $4.99 for the same loaf that costs me like $0.25 at home. You can buy bulk bags of 20, 25, or 50 pound flour at places like Costco. Walmart has a 25-pound sack of King Arthur flour (good brand) for $15:
   
   

• https://www.walmart.com/ip/King-Arthur-Flour-King-Arthur-Flour-Flour-25-lb/10535107
  
  I'd highly recommend investing in some good yeast. Two one-pound bags of SAF yeast is $12 shipped on Amazon, just store it in your freezer to extend the shelf life:
  
  
• https://www.amazon.com/Instant-Yeast-Pound-Pouch-2-Pack/dp/B00V7F5OPI/
  
  The key with making great no-knead bread at home is to have some kind of heavy, heat-absorbing (and thus heat-radiating) surface or bowl, such as a pizza stone, baking steel, Dutch oven (enameled or straight-up cast-iron), etc. I personally use a baking steel most of the time - not cheap by any means, but like cast-iron skillets, it's something that you buy once & keep it for life because it's impossible to break or wear out:
  
  
• https://www.bakingsteel.com/
  
  If you like eating Panera's bread bowls, you can make them at home using a small 2-quart cast-iron Dutch oven: ($22 shipped, another one of those "buy it for life" items)
  
  
• https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00008GKDU
  
  I use Kosher salt in all of my baking - just snag a jumbo red box of Diamond & you'll be good to go for a long time. One tool I've found useful is a Danish dough hook, which is a flat whisk that is really good for batters & doughs. Amazon has a kit with a bench cutter (if you want to slice the dough into smaller bits easily, like for crusty dinner rolls) for $12:
  
  
• https://www.amazon.com/Danish-Dough-Whisk-Bread-Mixer/dp/B07BBVWWVX
  
  So, there are a few things to think about investing in up-front - the main expense is a good baking surface, although Amazon has plenty of good pizza stones for under $30 - plus some bulk bags of flour & yeast to save money - but that opens up a world of possibilities. You can make tons of stuff like baguettes, boules, dinner rolls, etc. I have a zillion no-knead recipes if you need some ideas!
  
  And once you've mastered the basics of no-knead, you can branch that out into sourdough breads with homemade sourdough starter, which is SUPER easy to make, which adds more flavor to the dough! Like I said, it's a relationship in many ways:
  
  
• You have to get the hang of how it goes together
  
• You have to figure out what you personally like
  
• You have to build up your recipe box with different methods
  
• You can then add sourdough starter to it (again, super easy!)
  
• You can then try cold fermentation in the fridge (some reading)
  
• You can then branch out tremendously (I have good recipes for no-knead cheese bread, Sriracha bread, naan bread, pizza dough, plus stuff like cinnamon buns, pretzel, etc.)
  
  Here's an example of a baguette on the baking steel:
  
  
• https://www.bakingsteel.com/blog/24-hr-baguette
  
  Don't get alarmed by the steps - remember for the majority of the time, you're just letting stuff sit...the actual hands-on time is extremely minimal, so once you work it into your daily routine, you'll be having fresh bread all the time! Your house will smell amazing & your tastebuds will love it!

I've found bread to be around 25-50 cents a loaf depending on if you use an egg wash and what kind of flour (bread vs all purpose). The cost of yeast is another factor. Buying in bulk saves a lot


Saf Instant Yeast, 1 Pound Pouch (2-Pack) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00V7F5OPI/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_9ESKBbGGWMV3H

That stuff is really great and cheap.