Is there any greater smell in your home than fresh homemade bread? If you haven’t experienced this, my no knead dutch oven bread is for you. This recipe requires no kneading, no starter, no special equipment {other than a cast iron pot}, and little knowledge of bread making. Really it only requires a few minutes of actual hands on time working with the dough. Bonus… its pretty forgiving too.
The loaf has a rustic outside that is not chewy, and an airy, moist and sponge-like interior. A perfect home baked bread that pairs well with soups, can be used for sandwiches, served solo slathered with butter or after a few days, can be transformed into the tastiest croutons.
Lets get started:
First dissolve the honey in some water and sprinkle the yeast. Let set 5 minutes until foaming. Mix in the flour and salt until its a shaggy dough. I needed to add another 1/4 cup flour to this as it was still too wet.
Cover and let rise in a warm place. I turn my oven on for only a couple minutes to get it warm, then place the dough in there to rise.
Tip the dough out on a floured surface. Work your way around the dough bringing the dough up to form a ball. Then I fold in half a couple times. Place the dough, seam side up in a banneton or towel lined bowl. Let rise 20-30 minutes, until its not quite doubled.
Flip the dough out onto some parchment paper and gently lift it into your warm dutch oven. Place the lid on and bake for 30 minutes. Remove lid and bake another 10 minutes.
Look at that crusty top!
And the airy center! At this point your home smells heavenly.
Dip in some olive oil, herbs, and parmesan cheese.
If you’re looking for the how-to video,
check out my Instagram reel for this recipe.
No Knead Dutch Oven Bread
Ingredients
- 1 tsp honey or sugar
- 1 1/2 cups warm water
- 2 1/4 tsp yeast
- 360 grams or 3 cups flour 1/4 cup more may be needed if dough is too wet, more for dusting & shaping
- 1 1/4 tsp salt
Instructions
- Mix warm water and honey in a large bowl, add the yeast. Give a quick stir and let sit 5-10 minutes until foamy.
- Meanwhile mix the flour and salt. When yeast is ready, add flour mixture to the yeast. Stir gently with a wooden spoon until a shaggy dough appears. You may need to add up to 1/4 cup flour if too wet.
- Once incorporated, cover and rest in a warm spot for an hour or until doubled.
- Meanwhile preheat oven to 460 degrees with dutch oven inside. (Minimum of 30 minutes.)
- Flour a workspace liberally and gently tip out the dough, preserving as much air as possible in the dough. Sprinkle flour on top of the dough and start forming in to a ball. I use a small scraper tool to start folding the dough up from the bottom to the top center. Then lightly pinch and work your way around the entire loaf. I then fold the dough in half a couple times and form a ball.
- In a banneton or towel lined bowl, sprinkle flour or rice flour. Then gently drop in your dough, seam side up. Cover and let set for 20-30 minutes. You want this to rise, but not double.
- Place a piece of parchment paper on top of the dough, then hold with your palm and flip over releasing the bread from the bowl. Then lift the dough by the parchment paper and place in the hot dutch oven. Cover with the lid and bake for 30 minutes with the lid on. Then remove lid and bake additional 10 minutes. If it's getting too dark, remove a few minutes early.
- Let loaf cool at least 15 minutes. Slice and enjoy the easiest homemade bread ever!
Product Links:
Staub Dutch Oven
Parchment paper
Banneton
Scraper tool
Plastic Covers
Bread Bowl Scraper
