No Knead Bread

 No Knead Bread, can you believe you can make the best bread without any kneading. 

It looks like an artisan bread and friends and family will think you spent hours making it. But it literally takes a few minutes, about 3 minutes to be be precise, to make the dough.

I personally have never made a bread that’s this easy. It has a chewy crust and some large holes, you could swear I got it from a gourmet bakery.

Patience is required for the bread to rise and that’s about it. My hubby was in heaven.

I mean who has a wife that makes you fresh bread as you wake up. He had a slice with some scrambled eggs and he couldn’t believe I made bread so quickly.

My laziness did allow me to use a stand mixer, however this bread doesn’t need one.  You can pop all the ingredients in a bowl and be done.

The ingredients are all mixed together. You then allow the dough to rest in a warm place to rise. 

My dough took an hour to rise. I did warm my oven just enough so I could feel the cold disappearing and the warmth just appearing. Do not heat your oven.

This little trick does allow your dough to rise quickly. 

There are many recipes for this bread, if you google you will see. However, the amount of liquid can differ.

Nagi from RecipeTinEats seems to have perfected the baking times so I tried the times she suggested and it worked perfectly.

The amount of liquid can be determined by so many factors, one of it being the season. So you may need to adjust the liquid accordingly.

That is the only tricky bit about this recipe. Otherwise it is a no fail bake. And absolutely anyone can bake this bread.

This bread is ideally baked in a dutch oven, which is a cast iron pot with a tight fitting lid so steam can’t escape.

If you don’t have on you can bake the bread on a tray and place some hot water in a pan, in the oven.

I have also used bread flour in this recipe, which is what creates larger holes in the bread. The high temperature, less flour and preheating the pot allows the yeast to  give the bread a rise boost which then also creates big air pockets. 

Although I have only allowed my bread to rise for an hour. I have seen recipes where they suggest the dough should be refrigerated overnight, after it rises. Apparently this creates a more flavourful bread.

 

I clearly have no patience for that but you can try it, if you wish. This bread was still perfectly delicious with the 1 hour resting.

Whoever created this recipe is genius. I don’t know the original source of this recipe, I just took inspiration from a whole lot of recipes.

This is a forgiving recipe so don’t stress too much. 

More Recipes to try:

Easy White Bread

Perfect Soft Dinner Rolls

Soft Fluffy Hotdog Rolls

No Knead Recipe

5 from 2 votes

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Prep Time 5 minutes mins

Cook Time 37 minutes mins

Resting Time 2 hours hrs

Course Bread, Sides

Cuisine Western

Ingredients

  

1x2x3x

• 3 cups bread flour plus a little extra for dusting
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoon instant dry yeast
• 2 cups warm water (not hot)

Instructions

 

• Place the flour, salt and yeast in a large bowl. Slowly add in the water and use a wooden spoon to mix until all the flour is incorporated. You may not require all of the water. You should have a wet and sloppy dough but not runny.
• Once everything is mixed together, place the covered bowl in a warm place and to allow it to rise. Should take between 1-2 hours. It will be wobbly, once it rises and there will be bubbles on top
• Preheat the oven to 220 degrees Celsius. Place the empty dutch oven/cast iron pot into the oven with the lid on (26cm or slightly larger).
• Sprinkle a flat work surface with a little flour, scrape the dough out of the bowl. Sprinkle a little flour on top of the dough
• Using a dough scraper or a large knife and fold the sides of the dough inwards. It may take a few folds to get a rough round sort of shape. Doesn't have to be perfect. This is a rustic bread.
• Place a large piece of baking paper on the surface next to the dough. Using the dough scraper to lift the dough and place it onto the paper. Place it in the middle of the paper and shape again if you need to. Don't make it too neat
• Remove the cast iron pot from the oven. Lift the dough with the paper and place into the pot. Cover with the lid.
• Bake for 30 minutes covered, then another 12 minutes uncovered or until the bread is a deep golden colour and crispy.
• Allow to cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes before slicing

Notes

1. I use the Anchor Yeast in the purple packet. That works best for me.
2. If you do not have a cast iron pot you can use a regular baking tray. Steam is key for making a crusty bread so you can place a pan with freshly boiled water in the lowest rack of the oven. And bake the bread in the middle rack for 40 minutes.
3. Bread flour is best for this bread, it will give the bread a more chewy, fluffy texture like bakery Artisan bread due to the higher protein. The bread will also stay fresher for longer. All purpose flour can work, however the texture will not be the same

Keyword no knead bread, sandwich bread

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