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No Knead Bread

Easy No Knead Bread

A light and fluffy no-knead bread that's full of flavor and takes no effort at all to make!

Prep Time 10 hours
Cook Time 1 hour
Total Time 11 hours
YIELD 1 loaf

Ingredients

  • 3 cups (400g) all-purpose flour
  • ¼ teaspoon instant yeast
  • ½ tablespoon salt
  • 1 ½ cups (360 ml) room temperature water

Instructions

  1. In a large bowl mix together the flour, yeast, and salt. Add the water and mix with a wooden spoon until you have a shaggy, sticky dough. You want it to be quite sticky, it will be OK, trust me.

  2. Cover the bowl with a plastic wrap and set aside to rest at room temperature (but not in direct sunlight) for 12-18 hours - it’s best if you just let it rest overnight. After 12-18 hours the surface should be dotted with bubbles.

  3. After rising, the dough will be quite loose and sticky. This is OK. Don’t add more flour. Don’t knead the dough. Instead transfer the dough to a floured surface and use floured hands to gently and quickly lift the edges of the dough in toward the center, folding the dough over onto itself. Tuck in the edges of the dough to make it round. Place the dough, seam side down, on a large piece of parchment paper. Cover the dough loosely with a towel or plastic wrap and let it rise at room temperature for 1.5-2 hours until it doubles in size (in cold weather rising will be slower).

  4. ***A half hour before the dough is done with its second rise, preheat the oven to 450°F/230°C. Adjust the oven rack to the lower third position and place a large (6-8-quart) heavy pot and its lid.

  5. When the dough is done with its second rise, carefully remove the pot from the oven and uncover it (be careful, it will be very hot). Quickly but gently transfer the dough with the parchment paper into the pot, being very careful not to touch the pot. Dust the top of the dough with a little flour and make a shallow cut lengthwise with a knife to allow it to expand during baking (the purpose is primarily to control the direction in which the bread will expand - note that for the bread I shot for these photos I skipped this step and you’ll see that it expanded to the side instead of the top. That’s ok too, it’s mostly for appearance). It may look like a mess, but it will turn out beautifully. Cover with the lid and bake for 30 minutes. Carefully remove the lid and bake until the loaf has a deep brown color, 15 to 30 minutes more. Use pot holders to carefully lift the bread out of the pot and place it on a wire rack. Allow it to cool at room temperature for at least one hour before slicing.

  6. The bread is best the same day it's made, but it can be frozen for up to 2 months (I recommend cutting the bread to slices before freezing).

Recipe Notes

***This recipe uses the Dutch oven/heavy pot method, but it’s possible to bake the bread in a loaf pan or a baking sheet instead. Read the above post to learn how to make these adjustments (its simple, I promise).