Every slice of this No Knead Artisan Bread has the perfect golden brown, crusty exterior with a tender fluffy inside. It requires minimal effort, simply mix the ingredients and let time do the work.
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This kind of crusty bread is lovely to enjoy with recipes that have some tasty liquid you can sop up with the bread. It's great with soups, like my Tomato Garlic Soup, Lemon Orzo Chicken Soup, or some of our favorite Cheeseburger Soup. It's also good to dip in dishes with gravy like Cube Steak with Onion Gravy.
Why this recipe works
Making this easy bread recipe couldn't be much simpler. It's a simple recipe that requires little effort. You only need 4 common simple ingredients to make a loaf of bread.
Since this is a wet and sticky type of bread dough, you'll love that you don't have to knead it a lot like many other recipes. It's the perfect beginner bread recipe!
Ingredients Needed
- Yeast: you can use either rapid-rise yeast or instant yeast
- Water: warm tap water. No hotter than 115 degrees F or you'll kill your yeast.
- Flour: All-purpose or bread flour.
- Salt
How to Make No Knead Dutch Oven Bread
- Step 1: Add the yeast and warm water to a large bowl and stir to activate.
- Step 2: Add flour and salt to the wet ingredients and use a fork or wooden spoon to mix until the flour is well incorporated. It's normal to be a wet sticky dough.
- Step 3: Cover the bowl with plastic wrap or a kitchen towel and transfer it to a warm place to let the dough rise for 2-3 hours, or until it has doubled in size.
- Step 4: While the oven preheats with the Dutch oven inside take the towel off the top of the dough bowl.
- Step 5: Add a few tablespoons of flour to your work surface. Place dough on the floured surface and roll it out using a dough scraper or metal spatula to help make the dough less sticky. Then use your hands to shape the dough into a ball.
- Step 6: Line your preheated Dutch oven with a piece of parchment paper and place dough inside the hot Dutch oven. Cover with a lid and bake.
Recipe Tips
- Let fresh baked bread rest for 15 minutes on a wire rack before slicing.
- Store fresh baked bread at room temperature in an airtight container or bread bag for up to 3-4 days. You can freeze bread dough after it has risen for up to a month.
- It's best to bake this on the middle rack of the oven.
- If you don't have a Dutch oven, you can use a casserole dish with a lid to help seal in the steam as it bakes. Or you can see the notes section of the recipe card for another way to make this.
- I have not tested this recipe in a bread machine.
Recipe Faq's
Some recipes will make you use bread flour which can be more expensive. But I have tested this recipe with bread flour and all-purpose flour and it works well with either.
Yes, you can make the dough ahead of time. Once you've let the dough rise, store it in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days. Let the dough come to room temperature for about an hour before baking in a preheated oven.
The dough can be frozen let rise then wrap in plastic wrap and place in a ziplock freezer bag for up to 1 month. Defrost the dough in the refrigerator overnight and let come to room temp before baking.
You can freeze baked bread for up to 3 months. Wrap it in aluminum foil or parchment paper and put it in a large ziplock freezer bag.
Adjust your oven rack to the middle position and one to the lowest position. Fill a metal pan (don't use glass) with about 1 inch of water and place it on the lowest rack. Place bread dough
on a parchment-lined baking sheet and place it in the middle rack. Bake for 35-40 minutes until golden brown.
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Artisan Bread NO KNEAD
Equipment
Ingredients
- 2 teaspoons instant or rapid rise yeast
- 1 ½ cups warm tap water
- 3 cups all purpose or bread flour plus a little extra for shaping
- 2 teaspoons salt
Instructions
- In a large bowl add the yeast and warm water give it a stir. Add in flour and salt and using a fork mix until all the flour is incorporated. The dough will be wet.
- Cover with plastic wrap and put somewhere warm for 2-3 hours to rise or until it doubles in size.
- Preheat oven to 450 degrees with a dutch oven.
- Add 1-2 tablespoons flour to your work surface. Place dough on the flour and roll it around using a scraper or metal spatula to get the stickiness away. Shape it into a ball with your hands. Place in a hot dutch oven lined with parchment paper.
- Place the lid on and bake for 30 minutes. Remove lid and bake another 12 minutes.
- Cool on a baking rack for 15 minutes and slice.
Yay Sara it's a fav in our house too!
This is so good! I had my 15 year old granddaughter make this- her first bread! It's become a favorite of the families - ours and hers. There is never any leftover. So, easy!
Although I haven't tested it and the texture won't be the same, I think it will work fine.
Hi Wendy. Can I use GF flour for this recipe? Thanks
This is a sticky wet bread dough