Greatest No Knead Bread

December 25, 2025

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Make this no knead bread recipe for a crispy crust and tender crumb. Minimal hands-on time and an extended rise create huge taste with nearly no effort.

Need to bake straightforward home made bread? Attempt my perfect no knead bread recipe! My mother and father have been making recipe since I revealed it years in the past, and so they have confirmed: this bread is really life altering.

It’s obtained the very best taste: flippantly tangy and strong. The outside is the right crisp crust, and the inside has the right moist chewiness. For those who’ve ever been intimidated by bread baking, this recipe will fully change your perspective. It requires minimal gear, zero ability, and makes a loaf that tastes prefer it’s from a flowery bakery.

Why You’ll Love This No-Knead Bread Recipe

Minimal hands-on time: It simply requires 5 minutes to combine the dough and one other 5 minutes to form it: no kneading required!
Newbie-friendly: No want for particular abilities or bread making expertise!
Bakery-quality outcomes: It has a crispy, golden crust and an open, ethereal crumb like an expert artisan bread
Easy components: All you want are 4 fundamental components you may have already got in on-hand
Spectacular however straightforward: It appears and tastes such as you spent hours on it, but it surely’s easy to make

What You’ll Want

Making no knead bread requires a couple of instruments. It’s best to make with a Dutch oven, however it’s also possible to use a pizza stone. There are a number of non-obligatory instruments as effectively that make issues simpler, however should not required. Right here’s what you want!

All-purpose flour and wheat flour: This types the bottom of the dough and creates the right texture. Only a small quantity of entire wheat flour provides nutty taste and depth. I don’t advocate utilizing substitutes right here.
On the spot yeast, salt and water: The usual baking solid of characters.
Apple cider vinegar: It provides a delicate tang, making that attribute artisan bread taste. White vinegar or lemon juice work in a pinch.
Giant Dutch oven or pizza stone with steam: It is a heavy cooking pot with a lid used for making soups and stews, and it’s superb for getting a crispy crust when baking bread. I take advantage of this 6-quart forged iron Dutch oven. It’s also possible to use a pizza stone and add steam (see under).
Giant plastic bag: To cowl the dough throughout rises. I reuse the identical massive plastic bag each time.
Parchment paper: Makes transferring the bread to the recent Dutch oven straightforward.
Lame or sharp knife: For scoring the bread. A lame is the normal device: I take advantage of this lame.
Kitchen scale: Essentially the most correct technique to make bread is by weighing the flour. I take advantage of this kitchen scale for measuring.

The right way to Make No-Knead Bread: Overview

Right here’s the fundamental define of what you’re getting your self into with no knead bread. The method takes 5 minutes the evening earlier than, after which about 2 hours the day of. In comparison with my sourdough bread and artisan bread recipes, it’s the quickest and best bread recipe I’ve! Right here’s an outline what to do (or leap to the recipe to get began):

Combine the dough and relaxation in a single day (5 minutes + 12 to 18 hours): The evening earlier than you wish to bake the bread, mix all components in a bowl. Cowl the bowl with plastic and permit to relaxation at room temperature for 12 to 18 hours. The lengthy fermentation permits gluten to develop naturally with out kneading. After this rise, the dough ought to look bubbly and have doubled in measurement.
Form the dough (5 minutes): Flour a clear work floor and kind a ball form or boule. Watch this video tutorial for shaping the boule.
Second rise (1 hour): Place the boule on a bit of parchment paper, cowl with an inverted bowl and permit to relaxation for 1 hour at room temperature.
Preheat the Dutch oven (half-hour): About half-hour earlier than you’re able to bake, place your Dutch oven with its lid on into the oven and preheat to 475°F. That is what offers you the very best oven spring (the ultimate rise the bread will get within the oven) and crispy crust.
Rating the bread: Use a pointy knife, lame, or razor blade to make rapidly make a number of shallow slashes throughout the highest of the dough at a 45-degree angle.
Bake (half-hour): Bake for 16 minutes. Then sporting oven mitts, fastidiously take the bread out of the Dutch oven, place on the oven rack, cut back the temperature to 400°F, and bake for 25 to 27 minutes.
Cool (45 minutes): That is the toughest half! The bread remains to be cooking because it cools, and the crumb construction wants this time to set correctly.

Ideas for Greatest Outcomes

Don’t add extra flour throughout shaping: The dough will probably be sticky, and also you may wish to add extra flour. Use simply sufficient flour to stop sticking. An excessive amount of flour throughout this stage will create a dense, heavy loaf!
Alter proof occasions as needed: In a heat kitchen (over 75°F), the primary rise may be achieved in 12 hours. In a cooler kitchen (65°F), it’d take the complete 18 hours or perhaps a bit longer. Search for the bubbly, doubled look.
Don’t skip preheating the Dutch oven: The blast of warmth when the dough hits the pot is important for the very best rise and crust improvement (although I’ve had one reader inform me it nonetheless labored!).
Pay attention for the hole sound or measure temperature: When the bread is finished, tapping the underside ought to make a hole sound. It’s also possible to measure the inner temperature with a meals thermometer, which needs to be 205 to 207°F.
Be light when shaping the bread: Mild actions protect the the air bubbles that developed in the course of the proofing.
Rating the bread confidently: Make shallow cuts into the highest of the dough. You wish to lower simply the floor — if it’s too deep it collapses, if it’s too shallow it bursts. Alex did this cross sample for the bread scoring for these pictures.

Variations & Add-Ins

With out a Dutch oven: For those who don’t have a Dutch oven, you need to use a pizza stone (right here’s the pizza stone I take advantage of). Place the pizza stone on the center rack and a forged iron skillet or heavy baking sheet on the underside rack, and preheat the oven to 475°F. Switch the bread on parchment to the preheated pizza stone. Instantly pour 1 cup of boiling water fastidiously into the preheated skillet or baking sheet, then rapidly shut the oven door to lure the steam.
Herb bread: When mixing the dough, add 2-3 tablespoons of chopped recent rosemary, thyme, or sage.
Olive bread: When mixing the dough, add 1 cup of chopped pitted olives (Kalamata, inexperienced, or a mixture): see my Olive Bread recipe.
Cheese Bread: When mixing the dough, add ½ cup of shredded sharp cheddar or Parmesan cheese.
Seed-Crusted Bread: Earlier than the second proof, brush the loaf with water and sprinkle on a combination of sesame seeds, poppy seeds, or the whole lot bagel seasoning.

Serving Concepts

This rustic no knead bread actually is unbelievable! As I discussed, my mother and father have made it each week for six years and it’s develop into a complete household favourite. Listed below are a couple of methods to serve it:

Function a fast aspect on your favourite soup recipes, like lentil soup or bean soup.
Slices of this loaf make the right toast, like avocado toast or whipped ricotta and honey.
Use it for next-level sandwiches like connoisseur grilled cheese or a fried egg sandwich.
Serve it with pasta like pasta puttanesca, or eggplant lasagna.
Make it into garlic bread by brushing slices with garlic butter or compound butter

Storage Ideas

This no knead bread has no preservatives, so the storage suggestions are totally different from a bread you may purchase from the shop. Right here’s what to do:

Room temperature storage (2 days): When you’ve baked your home made bread, it’s best eaten inside 48 hours. We retailer ours wrapped in fabric at room temperature. Use a clear dish towel or a bread bag.
Frozen (3 months): Or, you possibly can freeze it! It’s straightforward to chop your bread in half and freeze half of it! Let it cool to room temperature, then lower it into slices and place it right into a sealed bag or container.

Dietary Notes

This no knead bread recipe is vegetarian, vegan, plant-based, and dairy free.

Regularly Requested Questions

What are widespread issues with no-knead bread?

Flat bread normally means the dough over-proofed (rose too lengthy) or your oven wasn’t sizzling sufficient. Be sure that to preheat your Dutch oven totally.
Dense texture usually comes from not sufficient rise time or including an excessive amount of flour throughout shaping.
Gummy inside means the bread was lower too quickly: at all times let it cool for at the least 45 minutes.
Pale crust means the baking time was too brief.

What’s the purpose of no-knead bread?

The purpose of no-knead bread is to make artisan-quality bread straightforward to make by any residence baker by taking out the work of kneading. As a substitute of working the dough by hand for 10 minutes, time does the give you the results you want. The prolonged fermentation (12-18 hours) lets the gluten strands to kind naturally via a course of referred to as autolysis, whereas the yeast slowly ferments the flour, creating complicated flavors and that attribute tangy style. This methodology additionally matches simply right into a busy schedule since more often than not is hands-off.

Is parchment paper secure to make use of at excessive temperatures?

Most parchment paper is secure as much as 420-450°F, which is why I like to recommend eradicating the bread from the Dutch oven after the preliminary 16-minute coated bake and inserting it straight on the oven rack for the remaining time at 400°F.

Can I take advantage of a loaf pan for this bread?

This recipe is designed for a spherical boule baked in a Dutch oven. I like to recommend attempting my Sandwich Bread Recipe for a loaf pan.

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