If you want to make delicious homemade Artisan bread that looks and tastes like it came from a fancy bakery but takes minimal effort, this easy No knead bread recipe is for you!
This Dutch Oven No Knead Bread recipe has only four ingredients and takes 5 minutes of prep time. It is effortless to make, perfectly crusty and golden on the outside, and soft and flavorful on the inside.
If you’re new to baking bread, this is a great recipe. Making no knead bread is the simplest method; it requires no stand mixer, starter, special knowledge, and kneading. This is a step-by-step guide with a video for easy no-knead bread.
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What Is No-Knead Bread?
No-knead bread was introduced by bread baker Jim Lahey and went viral a few years ago when Mark Bittman published the recipe in the New York Times.
This is the most straightforward kind of bread you can make. You throw everything into a bowl, mix it up, let the dough rest for 18 hours, and bake it.
The slow rise gives this bread great flavor, and the no-knead baking method gives it an excellent crispy crust. It’s artisan quality with minimal effort!
No-Knead bread is a method of bread baking that uses a very long fermentation time instead of kneading to form the gluten strands that give the bread its texture.
This easy No-Knead Bread is the perfect recipe if you want to try making bread but need more confidence in your bread-making skills.
It is super soft on the inside and has a flaky crust on the outside. But, as I said, the preparation is effortless.
To make it even faster, If you have Instant Pot, you can reduce the fermentation time from 18 to 24 hours. Check that out in my Instant pot bread recipe post.
Everyone who tastes this bread loves it. My favorite way to eat it is with a warm bowl of soup, with butter or dipped into balsamic vinegar and olive oil. And from leftover bread, I make different types of sandwiches like
Caprese Grilled Cheese Sandwich, Eggplant Parmesan Sandwich, Creamy Beetroot And Sprouts Grilled Sandwich, and Veggie Grilled Sandwich.
Ingredients required
- Bread flour: You can replace bread flour with all-purpose flour.
- Salt: This makes the bread very flavorful.
- Yeast: Active dry yeast and Instant yeast are the best choice for this no knead bread recipe; however, you can use rapid-rise yeast, but you will still need to let it rise overnight.
- Sugar: to activate the yeast.
- Water: Make sure to use warm water (105 degrees). It should feel warm to the touch but not hot.
Step-by-step recipe
Step – 1 Make The Dough
- If you are using Active dry yeast, follow the below step.
- Mix the 1 teaspoon active dry yeast with the sugar and warm water in a small bowl, and set aside until the yeast is foamy and activated. It will take about 4 to 5 minutes. In a large bowl, add flour and salt. Mix well. Add water and yeast mixture. Using a wooden spoon or the back of your spatula, mix everything to mix until the flour is incorporated with the water. You can use your hands to finish if it is too hard to mix. But don’t knead the dough; mix it.
- If you are using Instant yeast, follow the below step.
- First, you’ll need a big bowl. Add the flour, sugar, ½ teaspoon instant yeast, and salt and mix until combined. Next, pour in the warm water and mix everything with a wooden spoon or plastic spatula until well incorporated.
- Note: Do not be tempted to add more flour; this is quite a sticky, shaggy dough, so trust the process, and yes, the ratio of water to flour is correct.
- Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let it sit on your counter or anywhere at a warm place for 18 hours. Make sure your bowl is big enough. The dough will rise.
Step – 2 Process after 18 hours – Shape and second fermentation.
- Preheat oven to @450 degrees F. Place a Dutch oven (I used a 3.5-quart size) in the oven to preheat it as well.
- Scatter some flour on a piece of parchment paper, and remove the fermented dough from the bowl onto the floured Parchment paper.
- Shape the dough on parchment paper into a tight ball.
- Tip – Shaping the dough into a tight round loaf on parchment paper makes it easier to place the bread in the Dutch oven and take out the bread from the Dutch oven.
- Cover the dough ball with a towel for about 30 minutes.
Step – 3 Baking
- After 30 minutes, carefully remove the hot Dutch oven from the oven. Next, remove the lid and gently put the dough ball into the Dutch oven.
- Sprinkle a light coating of flour over the top.
- Take a sharp knife and slash the bread 2 to 3 times, making a cut about ½ inch deep. Of course, you can skip this step as well.
- Put the lid on and pop it in the oven for 30 minutes. After that, remove the cover and bake it for 10 to 15 minutes without the cap at @450 degrees F on the middle rack. (30 minutes lid on and 10 to 15 minutes without the cover, a total of 40 to 45 minutes).
- Remove the loaf and let it cool on a rack before slicing. To keep it warm, cover it with a towel.
- Enjoy Warm, crusty, and soft No Knead Bread with a warm cup of soup. It’s complete bliss.
Variations
- Add garlic: Grate 2 fresh garlic cloves and stir them into the dough during Step 1.
- Add in herbs: Chopped fresh herbs (such as rosemary, cilantro, mint, tarragon, or sage) would be lovely additions to this bread too. Just stir them into the dough during Step 1.
- Add cheese: Stir ½ cup freshly-grated cheese of your choice into the dough during Step 1.
- Add in Jalapenos: Add chopped pickled or fresh jalapenos into the dough during step 1. The cheese and jalapeno combination works well.
- Add in chocolate chips, nuts, or dried fruit of your choice in step 1.
Pro tips, notes, and quick FAQs
- Always check your yeast’s expiration date and ensure it hasn’t expired.
- Check the water temperature before adding the yeast. The perfect water temperature is 105 to 115.
- Flour-water ratio: Depending on how you measure the flour, the quality of the flour, and how dry the weather is, you may need to add/less water to bring the dough to the proper wet and sticky consistency. If your dough is dry after you mix it, add water by the tablespoon until it feels perfect.
- Make wet, sticky, rough, and bit shaggy dough.
- Shape the dough on parchment paper into a tight ball. Shaping the dough into a tight round loaf on parchment paper makes adding and taking out the bread from the Dutch Oven easier.
- Slashing the dough – I do prefer to cut the dough. Use a sharp knife and gentle pressure.
- Adjust the Oven temperature – Depending on your oven, you may need to adjust the temperature. For example, I bake my no-knead bread at @450 degrees F.
- Please give it a long rise. A long rise is required for no-knead bread. Ensure the dough is covered and in a relatively warm, room-temperature area. I place mine in the microwave(turned off) on cold winter days.
The answer is to use a candy thermometer or Finger test. Insert a clean finger in the water and count from 1 to 30. You should be able to leave your finger in the water.
I used a 3.5 qt. Dutch oven to make this bread!
How long can you let no knead bread rise?
Let it rise for 16 to 24 hours overnight at room temperature or up to 3 days in the refrigerator.
Yes, you can use a larger dutch oven.
Yes, you can double the ingredients and bake it in a 5-6 quart dutch oven according to the recipe.
You can add different ingredients when mixing all the ingredients to make dough.
Usually, your bread will be chewy when there isn’t enough gluten formation. Please make sure you let your bread dough rest for at least 16 hours to give it enough time for gluten formation.
Usually, the bread will be dense when there is too much flour. Keep in mind this dough will be sticky and shaggy; only add flour as specified.
If you are using instant yeast, mix the yeast right in with the flour, sugar, salt, and warm water. But if you use active dry yeast, you must first prove it in warm water.
I’ve only tested this recipe with all-purpose flour and bread flour, so I can only speak to some variations. But many of my readers have tried gluten-free flour with great success.
The Dutch oven allows us to create an enclosed environment for the bread dough so that it will steam while baking.
You can make bread without a Dutch oven too.
Use covered metal pot – The metal pot should have a cover and can stand up to 500 degrees F heat.
Pot covered with foil – If you don’t have lids for your pots, cut a square of heavy-duty aluminum foil and seal the pot after placing the dough.
Oven-safe Casserole Dish works fine as well. Just read the instruction and make sure it’s safe up to 500 degrees F. temperatures.
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No-knead Bread
Ingredients
- 3 cups Bread flour or All-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon instant yeast
- 1 ¼ teaspoon Salt
- 1 teaspoon Sugar
- 1 ½ cup Warm water Water must be warm, up to about 105 to 115 degrees F. – Very important
Instructions
Step – 1 Make The Dough
- If you are using Instant yeast, follow the below step.
- First, you’ll need a big bowl. Add the flour, sugar, ½ teaspoon instant yeast, and salt and mix until combined. Next, pour in the warm water and mix everything with a wooden spoon or plastic spatula until well incorporated.
- If you are using Active dry yeast, follow the below step.
- Mix the 1 teaspoon active dry yeast with the sugar and warm water in a small bowl, and set aside until the yeast is foamy and activated. It will take about 4 to 5 minutes. In a large bowl, add flour and salt. Mix well. Add water and yeast mixture. Using a wooden spoon or the back of your spatula, mix everything to mix until the flour is incorporated with the water. You can use your hands to finish if it is too hard to mix. But don’t knead the dough; mix it.
- Note: Do not be tempted to add more flour; this is quite a sticky, shaggy dough, so trust the process, and yes, the ratio of water to flour is correct.
- Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let it sit on your counter or anywhere at a warm place for 18 hours. Make sure your bowl is big enough. The dough will rise.
Step – 2 Process after 18 hours – Shape and second fermentation.
- Preheat oven to @450 degrees F. Place a Dutch oven (I used a 3.5-quart size) in the oven to preheat it as well.
- Scatter some flour on a piece of parchment paper, and remove the fermented dough from the bowl onto the floured Parchment paper.
- Shape the dough on parchment paper into a tight ball.
- Tip – Shaping the dough into a tight round loaf on parchment paper makes it easier to place the bread in the Dutch oven and take out the bread from the Dutch oven.
- Cover the dough ball with a towel for about 30 minutes.
Step – 3 Baking
- After 30 minutes, carefully remove the hot Dutch oven from the oven. Next, remove the lid and gently put the dough ball into the Dutch oven.
- Sprinkle a light coating of flour over the top.
- Take a sharp knife and slash the bread 2 to 3 times, making a cut about ½ inch deep. Of course, you can skip this step as well.
- Put the lid on and pop it in the oven for 30 minutes. After that, remove the cover and bake it for 10 to 15 minutes without the cap at @450 degrees F on the middle rack. (30 minutes lid on and 10 to 15 minutes without the cover, a total of 40 to 45 minutes).
- Remove the loaf and let it cool on a rack before slicing. To keep it warm, cover it with a towel.
- Enjoy Warm, crusty, and soft No Knead Bread with a warm cup of soup. It’s complete bliss.
Video
Notes
- Always check your yeast’s expiration date and ensure it hasn’t expired.
- Check the water temperature before adding the yeast. The perfect water temperature is 105 to 115.
- Flour-water ratio: Depending on how you measure the flour, the quality of the flour, and how dry the weather is, you may need to add/less water to bring the dough to the proper wet and sticky consistency. If your dough is dry after you mix it, add water by the tablespoon until it feels perfect.
- Make wet, sticky, rough, and bit shaggy dough.
- Shape the dough on parchment paper into a tight ball. Shaping the dough into a tight round loaf on parchment paper makes adding and taking out the bread from the Dutch Oven easier.
- Slashing the dough – I do prefer to cut the dough. Use a sharp knife and gentle pressure.
- Adjust the Oven temperature – Depending on your oven, you may need to adjust the temperature. For example, I bake my no-knead bread at @450 degrees F.
- Please give it a long rise. A long rise is required for no-knead bread. Ensure the dough is covered and in a relatively warm, room-temperature area. I place mine in the microwave(turned off) on cold winter days.
- This post is updated with new pics, originally published in May 2017.
Nutrition
Warm Regards,
Dhwani.
No knead bread looks so good with perfectly baked crust.Looks like I need to buy a Dutch oven soon.Lovely Share Dhwani.
Beautiful bake!
Thanks dear. 🙂
I use instant yeast also &quantity please
Hi Sweta!!
You can use Instant yeast instead of Active dry yeast. Use 1 tsp Instant yeast in this recipe. Hope this helps. Happy baking!! 🙂
It’s cold in Pittsburgh pa. The bread is in the oven now, heating up the kitchen , it looks great. Making spaghetti to go with the warm bread. Thank you😻
Awesome!! Let me know how it turned out once you try. Thanks for trying. Enjoy!
This recipe is great. I’m a beginner bread maker and this recipe was easy to follow and turned out delicious!
So glad to know. Thank you! 🙂
The dough is supposed to be sticky & shaggy according to your instruction. So, how can I shape the dough into a “tight round loaf”? Mine just spreads and I cannot make it tight enough to be a round ball shape!
Hi,
Thats completely all right if you cannot make tight ball. Just shape it into a ball and bake. Dont forget to dust your work surface/parchment paper with flour before shaping the dough. That will also help in shaping the dough. Hope this helps.
I follow these directions and when I add fresh garlic and cheese it doesn’t tend to rise in the oven as well as I’d like it what am I doing wrong and # 2 why is the bottom of the crust so tough it’s very hard. Thank you .
The reasons could be
1. Your pot was too close to the heat. Try raising the oven rack, so the bottom is not as close to the heat.
2. Your oven may be hotter than you think. Use an oven thermometer to ensure your range is at the proper temperature.
3. or Not enough moisture in the dough typically causes this issue.
I have been baking Dutch oven bread for a couple of years. First rise is 1 hour and second rise is 30 minutes. It is perfect every time. I make cinnamon and raisin which is delicious, also garlic and Parmesan , jalapeño and cheddar and sometimes just plain.
I put a pan of boiling water in bottom of cold oven to rise, as my kitchen at this time of year is very cold.