No Knead Crusty Artisan Bread: Easy, Delicious and Soft, Only 4 Ingredients
Artisan Bread seems to be all the rage now, and after making it for a couple of years, I know why…
It is incredibly easy, like laughably so, and tastes soooo good.
It is soft inside and crusty on the outside, and is a dream when lightly toasted and buttered!
It’s one of those things, that you feel very accomplished, when you see how it turns out!
And I haven’t run into anyone, who doesn’t love eating it fresh out of the oven.
I usually bake regular whole wheat bread using stone ground flour ground by my Retsel Grain Grinder,
But on days when I don’t want to spend time kneading and mixing the dough and shaping it into loaves, I throw together the four ingredients for No knead artisan bread, and 5 hours later, bake it up, for a fresh loaf at dinner time, or lunch time, if I get it started right away in the morning!
The physical effort that has to go into this bread is so minimal.
The thing to consider the most here, is the time it takes for the yeast to ferment and for the loaves to bake.
But as long as you are aware of that, and get the dough started when you need to, and anticipate the baking time it will take, you will be golden!
I have linked a quality Dutch oven here, if you really want to go the most official route…but I have managed to bake my artisan loaves successfully in other pans, as long as they have covers.
Don’t let not owning a Dutch Oven, keep you from making this incredibly easy bread!
Disclosure: Some of the links in this post are ‘affiliate links’. This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission.
It took me a long time to attempt making it, because I thought that I had to have a Dutch Oven…sigh…I really wish I had tried it using the other pans sooner!!
You do not have to use a Dutch oven to make Artisan Bread.
I have used my small enamel roasting pan, and a corning ware baking pan with a glass lid.
Both work great.
Do not let the number of steps scare you away…I only put those there to help you to keep track of where you are on the page. 🙂
No Knead Crusty Artisan Bread Recipe
3 Cups of All-Purpose Flour
1-2 Tsp. Sea Salt (We love to use the full amount for full bodied flavor)
½-1 Tsp. Yeast (I tend to use the full amount)
1 ½ Cups of lukewarm Water
- Combine Flour, salt, and yeast in a large bowl, add warm water and stir together into a shaggy looking dough using a wooden spoon (Avoid using a metal spoon, I don’t know why, but that is what I was told when I first started making this bread).
2. Cover with plastic wrap, or cover of your choice and let sit for 5 or more hours.
The longer it sits, the more the yeast will develop.
It gets bubbly and rises.
I personally prefer to have less of a yeast taste to my bread, so I only do five hours.
Time wise, this usually just works best for me, just enough time for the yeast to do it’s thing, but not add it’s taste and I am usually in a hurry to get the bread baked and on the table.
The original recipe that I have used, said that it can sit up to 18 hours.
It’s really up to you.
If you don’t mind it sitting longer, this is a great bread to mix up just before bedtime and then it’s ready to bake in the morning.
3. After letting the dough rest for at least 5 hours, scrape down the sides of the bowl and turn the dough out onto a floured surface.
I like to put flour onto a large dinner plate so that I don’t dirty up a counter or table top surface and I can just pop the plate into the sink or dishwasher when I’m done.
4. Gently shape the dough into a ball, cover again and let sit for 30 minutes. I like to just flip the original bowl over it for this part.
5. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit with the pan and cover that you will be using in the oven to heat up as well.
6. When the 30 minutes are up, take the pan and cover out of the oven (be careful! It is extremely hot!) And put a piece of parchment paper in the bottom.
7. With floured hands, gently transfer the ball of dough into the pan, cover with the hot lid, and put back into the oven.
7. Bake for 30 minutes, then remove pan lid.
8. Bake uncovered, for an additional 8-10 minutes. My original recipe called for 15 minutes, but over time, I have come down to 8 minutes as being the best for us.
We love to eat this as soon as we can manage to cut pieces off of it. It is so delicious.
I have experimented with different ratios of white to whole wheat flour and you can pretty much do whatever ratios you want, though the more whole wheat that it has in it, the more dense and smaller the loaf will be.
I most often do a ratio of 2 parts white to 1 part whole wheat. It’s healthier that way, but still light and soft.
It is still very edible, especially for those who are more used to eating whole wheat.
I usually do a double batch, just dividing the dough before turning it out onto the floured surface to shape and rest, then use both of the pans that work for me and bake them at the same time. Then when one loaf is eaten straight out of the oven, I still have another loaf for the next day.
Once you start making this and realize that it doesn’t take any fancy tools or skills, but still looks so bakery worthy, you will want to make it more and more often! Happy Baking!!
