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 artisan bread before, you will LOVE this easy bread recipe. Bread lovers will appreciate the thick, chewy crust and soft open crumb, similar to Ciabatta and can be taken to the next level smothered with some of our easy garlic butter.
Have warm, homemade bread from scratch on your table in less than 3 hours! Make it sweet by trying our Nutella stuffed French toast, enjoy it savoury in a caprese grilled cheese or simply lather it in some rich, salty butter.
ARTISAN BREAD
It looks too good to be true, I know. Fluffy, crusty homemade bread with no effort? No way. But ever since we first saw this recipe a few years ago, we have been baking bread just about every week. Now you will too! Beginner bakers rejoice: NO KNEAD to feel intimidated!
Nothing beats homemade bread fresh out of the oven, tearing it apart like our cheesy pull apart pizza bread, to the steamy scent of warm, cosy carbs.
Dip crusty bread pieces into a hot bowl of chicken soup or chili for bread soaked in wholesome flavours or turn your freshly baked artisan bread into cheesy garlic bread.
HOW TO PREPARE BREAD AT HOME
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 works really well, only altering the texture slightly. If you’re substituting with wholewheat flour, use about ¼ cup less flour and add more as you go, if needed.
SUGAR: Yeast feeds on sugar and starch, the perfect pairing for 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 warm water and oil for a couple of minutes before adding the rest of your ingredients.
WHAT MAKES ARTISAN BREAD SOFT AND PILLOWY?
OIL is what makes our bread even softer. You need this sneaky little addition to create 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 it’s nice and warm, it’s perfect. If it burns, let it cool down until warm.
Mix all of your ingredients together until you get a wet, sloppy mess.
RISE BABY!
Cover with plastic wrap and place in a draft-free warm place for about two hours. The dough will double in size; the surface will become dotted with bubbles. The texture will look like jelly and will feel super sticky. Keep going, you’re on the right track!
PREHEAT YOUR OVEN AT THIS POINT! You want to place your 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 of flour. Scrape dough out of your bowl and onto your work surface, sprinkle with a little flour and fold inwards over itself about 5-6 times.
Don’t use too much flour! You still want it quite sticky for moist, fluffy 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 no knead dough recipe is truly life changing!
You can then lather your beautiful bread in creamy butter or use it to put together a steak fajita grilled cheese, caprese garlic bread or some shrimp avocado garlic bread for lunch!
FAQ’s
If you plan to eat the bread over the next few days, store the loaf in an airtight container and leave it out. If you don’t plan to consume the bread over the next few days, slice it up, pop it in an airtight container and store in the freezer.
When you are letting the dough rest before baking, leave it covered in the dutch oven pot for longer, which should help the bread to form air bubbles.
Unfortunately, you shouldn’t freeze the dough as it could kill the yeast.
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
- 1 tablespoon white granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoons dried yeast instant or rapid rise
- 1 ½ teaspoons salt
- 1 ½ cups warm water
- 1 tablespoon 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.
Brittany says
This recipe is *perfect*. I’m new to making bread and I love how fool proof this recipe is. I began adding other flavors but I will always use this recipe as my base. Seriously perfect thank you!
Tricia says
I made this bread for the first time yesterday. This recipe is perfection! It’s almost too good to be true. So so so easy and delicious! My little has food allergies, so I love that this has such simple ingredients, that I know are safe for him. Thank you for sharing!
Emily A says
I love this bread! I’ve made it upwards of 20 times now& it never fails! I have gotten a few requests from family members/friends more recently asking if I can make this gluten free. Any suggestions or alterations to be able to make this gluten free, other than just replacing the flour?
Karina says
Hi Emily, I haven’t made this with Gluten Free unfortunately, hopefully someone in the comments section can help X
Dan Phillips says
This recipe is so easy and so good. I use a large Corningware dish with a lid, I think it’s 5 1/2 quarts, and this bread has turned out perfectly every time. I’ve made a lot of no-knead breads, but those are generally a 2-day rise, this is excellent the same day, and the addition of the Olive oil gives a bit softer interior. Personally, I use all-purpose flour for this recipe, the crust is still very crisp but has slightly less chew. I made it tonight for the 4th time, and it’s just a great bread. Thanks for sharing your recipe.
Kelly says
I have made this bread at least a dozen times over the past few months. Simple and easy to make. And incredibly delicious!
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?