No Knead Artisan Bread

A loaf of Artisan Bread with an easy recipe for baking

5 from 116 votes

A SUPER EASY homemade bread recipe! Soft on the inside with a a chewy, crunchy crust! A no knead bread with no special ingredients needed, just a pot and your oven. This recipe has been adapted from Jim Lahey of Sullivan Street Bakery, published by The New York Times.

Prep Time10

Cook Time42

Rising:2

Total Time2 52

Course: Bread

Cuisine: Worldwide

Keyword: bread

Servings: slices

Calories: 140kcal

Author: Karina

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.

Notes

FLOUR: Bread flour results in a softer, fluffier bread because of the higher protein content. All purpose or plain flour also work really well, with the texture being only slightly different.

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.

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.

RISING TIME can vary according to a couple of elements: humidity levels, room temperature, different flours, different yeast, etc. Let the bubbly surface be your guide. As long as the dough rises to double its size, it's ready to continue as per the recipe above. Just remember, yeast thrives in warmer temps.

DON'T FORGET TO PREHEAT YOUR OVEN WITH THE POT!

The very first time I saw this recipe was on Pinch of Yum and The New York Times.

Nutrition