No Knead Bread

Please scroll down to see the detailed photo tutorial and printable recipe!

Dear friends, with all of this quarantining at home I’ve been drawn to comfort food recipes. This “No Knead Bread” recipe is ridiculously easy to make and results in a crusty on the outside but soft on the inside loaf of bread that will be inhaled within a few minutes! You may want to make a second loaf just in case…

The dough does have to rise for 12-18 hours, so please remember that when making this recipe. You’ll need to prepare it the day before you plan on baking it. There are only four simple ingredients: flour, yeast, salt and water. That’s it!

Just a few quick tips:

(1) Use the correct size Dutch oven (if it is too large, the bread tends to flatten). I use a 3.5 quart “La Creuset” version, but any brand is fine.

(2) Try to use only 1.5 cups of water. If you need to, you may add a touch more, but be careful; if you add too much, the dough will not rise enough.

(3) Be very careful when handling the Dutch oven since it will be extremely hot!

No Knead Bread

This delectable, crusty on the outside, but soft on the inside loaf of bread is ridiculously easy to make with a handful of economical ingredients! You may want to make a second loaf!

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Servings 8

Equipment

• 3.5 quart Dutch oven

Ingredients

  

• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/4 tsp instant or bread machine yeast (NOT active dry yeast packets)
• 1/2 tbsp salt
• 1.5 cup water (you may need to add at touch more)

Instructions

 

• The day before baking, combine the flour, yeast and salt in a large bowl until they are well incorporated. Stir in 1.5 cups of room temperature water until a shaggy, sticky ball of dough forms and there is no dry flour remaining at the bottom of the bowl. If necessary, you can add up to an extra 1/4 cup of water only if needed. I notice that the bread ends up flat if I add too much water, so be careful.
• Cover the bowl loosely with plastic and let it sit at room temperature for 12-18 hours.
• When you're ready to bake, sprinkle a bit of flour on top of the fermented dough, which would have risen quite a bit by now. Scrape the dough out of the bowl and, with floured hands, shape it into a ball and place it onto a piece of parchment paper big enough to place into your Dutch oven with some overhang over the edges. Let the dough rise for 30-60 minutes.
• While the dough is rising, preheat the oven to 450°, or the highest recommended temperature listed on the packaging of your parchment paper. Place the Dutch oven inside your oven as it heats and make sure that it sits in the fully heated over for at least 15 minutes prior to baking the bread.
• Once the dough has risen and the dutch over is fully heated, carefully remove the Dutch oven from the oven (it will be HOT)! Lift the parchment with the dough straight into the Dutch oven and cover with the lid.
• Return the Dutch oven to the oven and bake for 30 minutes. Carefully remove the lid and bake for another 15-20 minutes, until the crust is a deep golden brown.
• Remove the Dutch oven from the oven and allow the bread to cool for a few minutes. Carefully take the bread out of the Dutch oven, allow to cool a bit longer, slice with a bread knife, and then serve with butter! Enjoy!