Crusty Homemade Artisan Bread is so easy to make with NO KNEADING required. Soft on the inside with an irresistible chewy crust!
A no knead bread recipe without special equipment, stand mixers or dough hooks? YES! If you’ve never made bread before, you will LOVE how easy and forgiving this recipe is. Bread lovers will appreciate the thick, chewy crust and soft open crumb, similar to Ciabatta, perfect to smother with butter.
Have warm, homemade bread from scratch on your table in less than 3 hours!
ARTISAN BREAD
It looks too good to be true, I know. Fluffy, crusty bread with no effort? No way. But ever since we first saw this recipe a few years ago, we have been baking it just about every week. Now you will too! Beginner bakers rejoice: no intimidation needed!
Nothing beats fresh warm bread coming out of your oven, tearing it apart to see hot steam escape while the sweet carb smells make you dizzy. Dip chewy bread pieces into a hot bowl of chicken soup or chili for bread soaked in delicious flavours.
HOW TO MAKE NO KNEAD BREAD
All you need is:
FLOUR: Bread flour results in a softer, fluffier bread because of the higher protein content. Regular all purpose or plain flour also work really well, with the texture changing only a little. If using wholewheat flour, use about 1/4 cup less flour and add more as you go, if needed.
SUGAR: Yeast feeds on sugar and starch, the perfect pairing in bread dough. The mix releases carbon dioxide gas, causing the bread to rise while baking. The bubbles push the dough up and out, creating a soft and spongy texture.
YEAST: We have tried this recipe over the years with dried, instant and rapid-rise. We found the dried yeast did not need activating before mixing it through the dry ingredients. If hesitant, feel free to activate it first in the warm water and oil for a couple of minutes before adding the rest of your ingredients.
THE SECRET TO SOFT BREAD
OIL is what makes our bread even softer. You need this sneaky little addition for a silky, soft crumb.
WARM WATER: Not too hot or it will kill your yeast. 130°F or 55°C is the perfect temperature. You can also do the finger test: if you dip your finger in the water and its nice and warm, it’s perfect. If it burns, let it cool down slightly until warm.
MIX ALL OF YOUR INGREDIENTS TOGETHER UNTIL YOU GET A WET AND SLOPPY MESS
RISE BABY!
Cover with plastic wrap and place in a draft-free warm place for about 2 hours. The dough will double in size; the surface will possibly alarm you, becoming dotted with bubbles. The texture will be like jelly and super sticky. KEEP GOING You’re on the right track.
PREHEAT YOUR OVEN AT THIS POINT! You want to place you dutch oven in so it gets nice and hot!
SCRAPE OUT AND FOLD INWARDS
Lightly flour your work surface AND spatula with up to 1 tablespoon flour. Scrape dough out of bowl onto work surface, sprinkle with a little flour and fold it inwards over itself about 5-6 times.
Don’t use too much flour! You still want it quite sticky for moist, fluffy soft bread.
SHAPE DOUGH
Transfer dough onto a large piece of parchment paper and shape it into a rustic round shape with your spatula. You’re mainly doing this to get some of the air out of it!
Carefully remove your HOT pot using oven mitts. Then, grab the ends of your parchment paper to lift the dough into your pot.
BAKE!
Don’t forget to put the lid back on. This creates steam to bake your bread in before the crust sets in. To get that golden, crunchy crust, remove the lid and bake for a further 12-15 minutes.
You won’t believe how good it looks when it comes out of the oven. Cracks and all!
Let it cool before cutting into it to let the centre of the bread finish cooking. Slather with butter and prepare to have your mind blown! If you love bread, this homemade bread recipe is truly life changing!
MORE BREAD RECIPES
Easy Soft Dinner Rolls (NO MIXER + EGG FREE)
Easy Cheesy Garlic Bread
Soft Cinnamon Rolls
Hot Cross Buns
No Knead Artisan Bread
Ingredients
- 3 cups bread flour, or plain/all purpose (15.8 oz. or 450g)
- 1 tablespoon white granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoons dried, instant or rapid rise yeast
- 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
- 1 1/2 cups (375 ml) warm water
- 1 tablespoon (15 ml) olive oil
Instructions
- Combine flour, sugar, yeast and salt in a large bowl. Add water and oil, mixing to incorporate all of the ingredients together. Dough will be wet, sticky and shaggy.
- Lightly spray the top with cooking oil spray. Cover with plastic wrap and place a dry tea towel over the top.
- Leave in a warm, draft-free place for 2-3 hours, until doubled in size. Dough will have a lot of little holes or bubbles and be wobbly like jelly.
- Place a large (10-inch or 26cm) dutch oven or heavy based pot in the oven with a lid. Preheat oven to 450°F (230°C) 30 minutes before baking.
- Lightly flour work surface and plastic spatula with up to 1 tablespoon flour. Scrape dough out of bowl onto work surface with spatula. Sprinkle the top of dough with a large pinch of flour and fold it over on itself with the spatula (about 5-6 folds). Roughly form a round shape.
- Measure out a large piece of parchment paper, large enough to transfer the dough into the pot. Place paper next to the dough and roll dough onto the paper, smooth side up. Carefully move it to the centre of the paper and reshape if needed, or shake pan a couple of times to evenly distribute dough. (It will even out while baking.)
- Loosely cover with plastic wrap and let rest while oven is preheating.
- Use oven mitts to carefully remove hot dutch oven from oven. Grab the parchment paper from each end to pick up the dough and transfer it into the pot.
- Cover with lid and bake for 30 minutes, then remove lid and bake for an additional 12-15 minutes, until loaf is beautifully golden browned.
- Transfer to a wire rack to cool for 10 minutes before slicing.
Che says
Hi Ms. Karina,
Thank you very much for this beautiful and yummy homemade artisan bread. I don’t bake but since everything is very expensive nowadays, I was thinking to make a homemade bread instead of buying…until I found your recipe and gave it a try… and boom! It was perfect. Everybody loves it. I even brought it for bake sale. Thank you very much. God bless.
Phillip McSorley says
Couldn’t even begin to guess how many times I’ve made this recipe. It’s perfect. My family loves it and always asks for it. Thanks a ton for the recipe.
Ragi Lee says
This bread & your firecracker salmon are in our weekly rotation; the bread is absolutely perfect every time. I add rosemary & salt flakes on top before I bake it. Thank you so much for sharing your recipes with us!
Natalie says
5 stars without a doubt!
The rise and flavour is just brilliant. I just found the parchment paper sticking and in some part baking into the bread so will try non-stick spray before putting the bread on the paper and in the dutch over. Just with butter and a sprinkle of salt – yumm!
Gayla says
I l love to cook, but never cared for baking until I tried your artesian bread recipe. Since then, I now make homemade hamburger buns, rolls, flatbread, tortillas, and pizza dough. I don’t even like bread from the store anymore. I also made your butter chicken and flatbread recipe and it was wonderful. I found a recipe for tortillas that said “the best tortillas ever” but came back to your tortilla recipe and am not even going to try that other one. Thank you for sharing your great recipes with everyone.
Karina says
Hi Gayla, I’m absolutely delighted to hear that you’ve found joy in baking, especially with the artisan bread recipe! It’s fantastic that it inspired you to explore and create a variety of homemade delights. I’m honored that you’ve enjoyed the butter chicken and flatbread too. Your kind words mean a lot, and I’m thrilled to be a part of your culinary adventures. If you ever have more cooking or baking experiments, feel free to share. Happy cooking!
Linda says
I love this recipe and have made it several times. Can it be made with whole wheat flour?
Sharon says
I’ve made this 3 times, and looove! I use all-purpose flour and substitute: for 1/4 cup of flour, I use 1/4 cup fine corn meal, AND, for 3 Tbl of the flour, I use Gluten flour. Bread comes out with a crispy (noisy! 🙂 crust that isn’t thick and hard to chew. The best and so easy!
Karina says
Hi Sharon, I’m thrilled to hear that you’ve made the bread three times and love it! Your creative substitutions with all-purpose flour, fine cornmeal, and gluten flour sound fantastic, especially with the crispy crust! I’m glad it’s the best for you, and I appreciate you sharing your modification. If you ever try more variations or have questions, feel free to reach out. Happy baking!
B-L says
This bread was excellent! I was a bit worried watching the dough rise because it didn’t really seem like it had doubled, but I formed it into a ball 3 hours after mixing and it turned out perfect!
Jay Francis says
What is interesting about this recipe is the large amount of yeast that it calls for. Historically, a no knead bread recipe would call for 1/4 rapid rise yeast, no sugar, 3 cups bread flour, 1 5/8 cup of water and 1 1/2 tsp salt. And a very long ferment. The reasoning behind the long ferment is that it allows the yeast to grow and spread, releasing alchohols and other flavenoids , resulting in a very flavorful bread. A lot of yeast for a fast rise prevents these from occurring. But I am excited to try this as there are so many times when I don’t want to do a 12 -18 hour ferment. Thanks for this variation on the classic.
Sharon Marie Allie says
Delicious, moist, chewy… and came out great on the first try! Great directions! It cooked quickly and browned nicely without needing the final cooking stage where the lid is supposed to be off.
Karina says
Hi Sharon, I’m happy to hear that the dish turned out delicious, moist, and chewy on your first try! It’s wonderful that the directions were helpful and that it cooked quickly and browned nicely.
Carmen says
I have been trying for a long while now, to find a bread that I really love for toasts or sandwhiches, This bread is really the best. I don’t have to try others at this point. It turns out great each time.
thanks
Karina says
Hi Carmen, this is fantastic to hear! It’s great to know that this is your go-to recipe for artisan bread!