If you’re keen to jump on the bread baking bandwagon during quarantine, then this easy, no-knead bread recipe is the perfect excuse. Just like the rest of our simple recipes, anyone can make this. It’s designed with first time bakers in mind, so you don’t have to be an expert. With just 5-10 minutes of actual effort, you’ll end up with a crusty, light and fluffy loaf.
Keep in mind time-wise that you have to let the dough rise for 2 hours, but apart from that there’s not much else you have to do. Well, apart from rip warm chunks off your homemade bread and slather with butter or jam of your choice…
No-Knead Homemade Bread Recipe: Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon coarse salt (eg. sea salt)
- 1 tablespoon dry yeast ((active dry, instant, quick rise, or bread machine)
- 7 cups flour (we used 00 Italian flour, but brown or plain will also work)
- 3 cups water
Start off by adding the tablespoons of yeast and salt to 3 cups of warm (around body temperature to the touch) water in a mixing bowl.
Tip in all the 7 cups of flour at once!
Use a spoon to mix up the dough until it is all mixed well, with no dry flour bits visible.
If you find the dough is too watery, add a 1/2 cup of flour at a time until the dough resembles a sticky, gloopy mix. When you dip the spoon in you should be able to lift some of the dough out to stretch before it falls back into the bowl.
Lightly cover the bowl with clingfilm, and leave to rest on the countertop (or somewhere else that’s room temperature) for 2 hours.
After 2 hours, you can either use your. dough straight away or refrigerate it. If refrigerated, the dough will last up to 2 weeks. To shape and bake, sprinkle flour onto a flat surface.
Add some flour to a bowl so you can easily dip your hands into it – this dough is wet and sticky, so it will get stuck to your hands! This is what makes for those beautiful air bubbles in the bread though.
Carefully shape the dough into a flat ball, making sure you only add flour on the outside of the ball. You don’t want to press any flour into the dough or get any inside the middle of it. Fold the edges of the dough over into the middle so you are left with a round, smooth top.
Leave the dough ball to rest for 30 minutes, and at this stage preheat the oven to 450°F (230°C). Place a baking sheet inside so that it gets nice and hot.
When the oven is piping hot, dust the dough liberally with flour and slice 3 lines into the bread using a bread knife.
Carefully place the bread onto the hot baking tray and into the oven on the middle shelf.
Now, this is the trick to a crunchy crust! In a shallow casserole dish or ovenproof pan, add one cup of boiling hot water. Place this immediately in the oven on the shelf underneath the bread. This creates steam that will result in a beautiful crust.
Bake the bread for 25-35 minutes (check it after 20 minutes, as all ovens differ) until golden brown with a solid crust. Take out of the oven and transfer to a cooling rack to cool down.
Let the bread cool for at least one hour before slicing.
Slice up into thick slices and enjoy your freshly made artisan bread!
