Description
This Easy Dutch Oven No Knead Bread recipe delivers a crusty, artisan-style loaf with minimal effort. Combining simple ingredients like flour, yeast, salt, and warm water, it relies on a long fermentation and baking in a preheated Dutch oven to achieve a beautiful golden crust and soft interior.
Ingredients
Scale
Dry Ingredients
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons active dry yeast
- 1 ½ teaspoons sea salt
Wet Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups warm water (105°F)
Instructions
- Mix Ingredients: In a large bowl, combine the all-purpose flour, active dry yeast, and sea salt thoroughly. Add the warm water and stir with a wooden spoon or spatula until a shaggy, sticky dough forms. There is no need to knead the dough.
- First Rise: Cover the bowl with plastic wrap or a clean kitchen towel. Let the dough rest at room temperature for 12 to 18 hours, allowing it to ferment and rise until bubbly and doubled in size.
- Preheat Dutch Oven: At least 30 minutes before baking, place a heavy Dutch oven with its lid inside your oven and preheat to 450°F (230°C). This ensures the pot is thoroughly heated for baking.
- Shape Dough: Lightly flour a work surface and carefully turn the dough out. Fold it over on itself a few times to shape it into a rough ball without deflating the air bubbles too much. Let it rest for 30 minutes.
- Bake the Bread: Remove the preheated Dutch oven from the oven carefully. Place the dough ball inside, cover it with the lid, and bake for 30 minutes. Then remove the lid and bake for an additional 15-20 minutes to develop a golden, crispy crust.
- Cool Before Slicing: Remove the loaf from the Dutch oven and let it cool completely on a wire rack to ensure the crumb sets properly before slicing and serving.
Notes
- The long fermentation is key to developing flavor and texture without kneading.
- Keep the warm water temperature around 105°F to activate the yeast but not kill it.
- Use a heavy cast iron Dutch oven with a lid for the best crust formation.
- If you don’t have a Dutch oven, use any heavy oven-safe pot with a tight-fitting lid.
- The bread is best eaten the day it’s baked but can be stored wrapped tightly at room temperature for 2 days.
Keywords: no knead bread, dutch oven bread, easy bread recipe, artisan bread, homemade bread