I missed the the No-Knead bread phenomena in 2006 when Mark Bittman posted Jim Lahey’s recipe for No-Knead Bread in the New York Times. Lahey’s ridiculously easy method for mixing bread dough and his method for baking it in a pot went viral as people around the world discovered they could, too, bake beautiful crusty artisan rustic bread at home without the fuss. It wasn’t until a couple years ago I heard about No-Knead bread when my neighbor brought over a loaf and we ended up sharing slices of yummy white bread slathered in buter and jam.
When Sarah told me how easy it was to make bread at home I didn’t believe her. I thought she was joking because I believe in the saying, if it sounds too good to be true then it probably is. But it was gloriously true. And since then I have become a convert.
I’ve always hesitated to write about this bread because it’s already been done. What left can be said about this bread? However, I’ve been baking two loaves every other day the last couple months and I thought it would be a great idea to share with you how I like to make this bread because it is faster and easier than Lahey’s original way of doing it.
To make the bread is fairly simple. You mix luke warm water, flour, yeast, and salt in a bowl with a spoon unil the dry ingredients have been completed mixed with the water. It takes less than one minute. From there you cover the bowl with a wet kitchen towel, plastic wrap, or foil. You let the dough rest overnight. This is where I do things a little bit different than Lahey. The original recipe calls for folding the dough and letting it go a second rise in a cloth generously covered in flour. When it comes time to bake, you preheat a cast-iron pot with the lid on. When the oven is ready, you are suppose to carefully remove the lid and transfer the bread into the hot pot without burning yourself.
I had multiple issues with doing it this way. Often times my bread would stick to the cloth – a bread baking no-no. I hated having to pull dough from the cloth and then throwing the cloth away because I was always afraid to wash it with my other laundry. Then there was the whole issue I had with making sure I didn’t burn myself when transferring the dough to the hot pot. This was a source of some bread baking anxiety that often occured for me. Sometimes the bottom crust of the bread would burn but I still found baking this bread worth it. That is, until I discovered a few tips and tricks to make it so easy, it’s practically fail proof.
The way I make No-Bread is by mixing the ingredients like the original method and letting it rest overnight. The next day when I’m ready to bake, I line the bottom of my pots (1 cast iron and the other one a normal non-stick soup pot) with a small square of parchment paper. Instead of punching the dough down for a second rise, I add just enough flour to the bubbly looking dough (because I make two at a time) so I can scoop the dough from the bowl without it sticking too much to my hands. From there I place the loosely formed dough ball in the center of each pot. I cover the pots with lids and stick them both in my cold oven. I set the oven temperature to 450 degrees F. and my kitchen timer for 30 minutes. When my timer goes off I carefully open the oven door and remove both lids and close the oven door for the bread to continue to bake. I set my timer for another 30 minutes. When the timer rings, I carefully remove the pots from the oven.
Inside the pots are beautiful, rustic, artisan-like bread which can only be described as glorious. I grab clean kitchen towels and tongs carefully removing the loaves from the pots. The smell of warm yeasted bread wafting throughout the house is incredible. As far as the flavor and texture, I can only describe it as glorious. Beautiful, glorious bread with no burned bottom crust.
My mother has taken to making bread almost daily. I converted her. And trust me, if she can do it, you can do it, too. This easier way of baking this bread is a game changer. You’ll want to bake bread all the time and I don’t blame you one bit. You’ll never want to buy artisan bread again.
Tips: If you have two pots with oven safe lids that can fit in your oven, make two batchs of this at the same time and bake both loaves at the same time. The baking times are the same and you’ll be happy to have two loaves because the first one always disapears so quickly. Any leftover bread can be stored in a ziplock bag. The crust will soften a bit in a ziplock bag but it makes for excellent sandwich bread, toast, and for making croutons.
- 3 cups all purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons kosher salt
- ¼ teaspoon instant yeast
- 1½ cup luke warm water
- In a medium large bowl, mix the flour, salt, and yeast together. Pour the water over the flour mixture and mix with a spoon until the flour is absorbed and the mixture resembles wet sticky dough. Cover the bowl with either plastic wrap, foil, or a clean, wet, kitchen towel. Place thw bowl in a warm place.
- Allow the dough to rest overnight.
- Cut a piece of parchment paper slightly smaller than the base of the pot. Place the parchment paper inside the pot.
- Sprinkle just enough flour on the dough to be able to scoop the dough out with your hand without being too sticky. Place the loosely form dough ball in the center of the pot, on top of the parchment paper. Place a oven-safe lid on top of the pot and place it in the cold oven.
- Turn the oven on to 450 degrees F and set a kitchen timer for 30 minutes.
- After 30 minutes, carefully remove the lid from the pot and bake for an additional 30 minutes. Remove the pot from the oven and carefully remove loaf from the pot.
- Allow the bread to rest for 5 minutes before cutting into slices.
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Wow, so simple, teh crust is what I’ve been looking for. Thanks.
Try breaking the dough down into multiple loaves. I break mine into four min-loaves. More crust is just what I was looking for. Unfortunately, my dutch oven will only accommodate two loaves at a time, but so be it!! I get the enjoyment of all that additional crust. Dunking is for real bread lovers!!!
Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU from the bottom of my heart. I have been baking bread off an on for a couple of years and I have baked very good loaves, but couldn’t master baking very wet (70%+) doughs in my convection oven, even with the closed environment of a Dutch oven. Your single instruction of starting with a cold oven has solved my wet dough challenge. My first post-instruction loaf (the Tartine Baguette recipe from wild year starter and poolish, only 64% hydration but I’ve had issues with it) is singing on my counter as I type, a gorgeous, amber-crusted loaf that sounds as hollow as a cheap pine door.
I love that you described the sound as a cheap pine door. Love!!
Could you divide this amount of dough and bake two small loaves instead of one big one? Would the baking time be the same? Thank you.
I just posted below a pice concerning smaller loaves. I actually divide the dough into fourths so I get smaller loaves. I love the smaller loaves, as it gives me more crust to munch on. My cast iron dutch oven will only accommodate two at a time, but so be it!!
Can I use active dry yeast instead? I don’t have instant yeast.
Found I had instant yeast (saf-yeast). Two tsp of salt was too much. Only use 1 tsp and it was better. I also made this with gluten free bread. Cut salt down to 1/2 tsp for gluten free or it is like eating a salt lick.
Also, 60 minutes was too long for this bread. I baked it 30 with lid, 15 without and it was still burnt. Last night did it 15 and 15, and it was not burnt, and still had good loaves.
I have not baked bread for many years. My daughter shared this recipe with me over the holidays and now I bake bread once or even twice a week.i’m hooked and have experimented with different variaitons, whole wheat flour, herbs, raisens are next. I even used my old corning ware dish as well as a cast iron pot. No difference in results, both came out perfect! Keep the hints comimg……..
I love this recipe and now make it almost daily but although the proportions are a bit forgiving, you actually get quite different results therefore I think it is useful to note quantities by measurement. In Laheys book “My Bread” he gives these as :
Flour 3 cups (400g)
Salt 1+1/2 teaspoons (8g)
Yeast 1/4 tsp (1g)
Cool water 1+1/3 cup (300g)
Like you, I was using 1+1/2 cup water but I actually find this Lahey update of his recipe superior in structure. I sometime add 1/4 cup sourdough starter to the recipe to boost the sour flavour.
Sorry, that was 1+1/4 tsp salt (8g).
PS. In his book he also avocates using bread flour. That makes a difference too.
I made this bread for dinner tonight…HOLY SNAP. It was by far the most delicious bread I have ever made. When my husband saw the golden brown loaf, he said “wow, that looks really pro.” Then we ate the entire thing in one sitting.
I have been making this awesome bread fro about 8months now for my wife and I. We sometimes do not finish the loaf for health reasons before it goes bad. What I have learned to do, is once I have the finished dough ready for the pot, I cut and seal the dough in 4 equal parts. I now bake 4 small loaves that come out scrumptious, and I never have to throw any away. Besides, I love the crust best anyway!!! Enjoy!! I hope this helps some others out there.
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