No Knead Crusty Bread
This quick no knead crusty bread tastes like an artisan loaf from your local bakery, but with only 5 minutes of hands on time, it’s all the taste without any of the effort!
Is there anything better than the smell of freshly baked bread? Well, actually the smell of the bread while baking is even better!
If you’ve never tried your hand at baking your own bread, this is the perfect recipe to start with.
I’m not going to lie – I love baking. But bread has intimidated me for years. About a year ago, I finally got over my fear and just went for it. And it didn’t turn out horribly! My first attempt was these soft dinner rolls.
Then I tried my hand at this delicious no knead crusty bread after reading this recipe from The New York Times.
It looks fancy with its beautiful golden color and crusty top, and it tastes like an artisanal loaf. I bet you’re thinking it was rising all day, required so much kneading and was just generally a massive undertaking.
But you would be wrong! In fact, all the ingredients went into one bowl, got mixed and then set aside for 18 hours. There was ZERO KNEADING involved! Then, the dough went into a dutch oven and was baked for 45 minutes until it looked like this. THAT IS IT!
If you are not a natural baker, you can bake this bread and trick everyone into thinking you are the world’s best baker!
I really couldn’t believe how easy this bread was.
Besides having a wonderfully crusty exterior, the bread is flavorful, moist and perfectly chewy. It’s delicious slathered in butter or served with some fresh soup, a stew or to mop up pasta sauce.
The dough requires five simple ingredients – all purpose flour, yeast, salt warm water and olive oil.
I have modified the original recipe a bit and I like my version better. But feel free to try both and see which you prefer!
After making this bread countless times, I’ve realized that the quality of the water is important to the flavor of the bread. Using a high quality filtered water, like what you get using a Berkey Water Filter, makes a big difference.
Several of my friends own a Berkey Filter and rave about it. I haven’t made the leap and purchased one yet, but it’s on my to-do list.
I’m sick of spending a fortune on bottled water and always running out, especially now, since we try to avoid the supermarket as much as possible.
Plus, I just feel better about using water that I know is free of all the nasties that can be in tap water.
Sea salt is also preferable to regular table salt, although both work. Sea salt just has a better flavor.
And while I use olive oil as my non-stick method in the dutch oven, you can use parchment paper or cooking spray, too. Again, the olive oil just adds another layer of flavor that works really well with this bread.
If you don’t have a dutch oven, you don’t need to spend a fortune to get one. I have this Amazon Basics Dutch Oven and it’s amazing quality for less than $50.
I’m going to try add some herbs to this loaf next time and see how it turns out. I’ll keep you updated!
By the way, if you make this recipe, please leave a comment and rate it in the recipe card below!
No Knead Crusty Bread
Ingredients
- 3 cups all purpose flour plus more for dusting
- 2 teaspoons active dry yeast
- 1 ½ teaspoons sea salt
- 1 ½ cups warm water 105°F (I just microwave it for 1 minute)
- olive oil
Instructions
- Combine the flour, yeast, and salt in a large bowl and stir to combine.
- Add the water and mix until the dough forms a ball.
- Cover the bowl with plastic wrap (sprayed with cooking spray) and a damp tea towel.Let dough sit covered at room temperature for 18-24 hours.
- After 24 hours (or at least 1 hour before you want to serve) preheat the oven to 450 degrees F.
- Place a 2 3/4 quart dutch oven (or a 2.4L baking dish) with a lid in the oven while it is preheating. (Note: A 5 qt. dutch oven also works, that's the size I own).
- While oven is preheating, transfer the dough from the bowl onto a floured surface. It will be loose and floppy.
- Form the dough into a ball by tucking the sides underneath it, adding more flour if needed to stop it sticking. The dough should still be slightly loose and the ball will be not be firm, but a bit flat.
- Cover the dough with a floured towel while the oven is preheating.
- Carefully remove the hot baking dish from the oven. Remove the lid and drizzle some olive oil in it ( or spray with cooking spray/ line it with parchment paper).
- Gently put the dough ball into the baking dish so it’s evenly distributed.
- Cover and bake for 30 minutes.
- Remove the lid and bake for an additional 15 – 20 minutes, or until the loaf is golden brown.
- Remove the loaf from the baking dish and let it cool on a rack before slicing.
