This is the no-knead bread recipe I started with. It’s the jumping off point for all the other no-knead recipes I’ve since tried and experimented with, including honey whole wheat, seedy whole wheat, roasted garlic and rosemary, cinnamon raisin and several others.
So often, when we look at what’s in our food, there is a long list of hard to pronounce ingredients. That was the motivation to start making my own bread. This recipe is four simple ingredients – water, flour, salt and yeast. I love how easy this recipe is. I mix everything up one night and bake it the next. I typically make one loaf a week. I probably shouldn’t eat so much bread but it’s hard to resist when it’s this good. My favorite way to enjoy it is pulling it straight out of the oven and eating it fresh with breakfast or with a soup for dinner.
No-Knead White Bread
Prep Time: 10 minutes + rest time
Cook Time: 45 minutes
Yields: 1 loaf
Ingredients
4 cups all-purpose white flour
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon dry active yeast
2 cups luke warm water
Instructions
In a large bowl, mix flour, salt and yeast together. Pour water into the bowl. Using a spatula or wooden spoon, mix until it is all incorporated. The dough should be sticky with no visible dry spots or flour. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let it sit on your counter for 12 to 18 hours. If it sits a little longer it’s not a big deal.
After your dough has risen, place your cast iron pot into a cold oven. Preheat the oven and the cast iron pot to 450°F. Preheating the pot ensures that the bread will not stick and will create a nice crust on the bottom.
While the pot and oven are preheating, flour your work surface and hands. With your floured hands, gently remove the dough from the bowl and roughly shape it into a ball. Remove the pot from oven and place the ball of dough into it. Put the lid on the pot and place it back in the oven.
Bake for 30 minutes with the lid on, after which, remove the lid and bake for another 15 minutes until golden brown. When the bread is done, remove it from the pot and allow it to cool on a wire rack. Allow the bread to full cool before placing it into a container.
I finally made this and I will be making this regularly as long as I can find yeast at the store. So delicious and so easy! This loaf is not going to last us long at the rate we’re going 🙂
Enjoy!
I finally got a cast iron dutch oven and so I was able to try out this recipe. This was my first time making bread. You are right, this recipe is super easy and turned out delicious. I will definitely make more!
So glad you enjoyed it Randy!
I just made this. I made a few changes. I split my dough in half and baked each half separately. I also only did about 8 minutes without the lid instead of 15 minutes. I wanted a bit lighter top. Overall, pretty yummy!
Thank you for posting this. I’m looking forward to reading about your “seedy whole wheat, roasted garlic and rosemary, cinnamon raisin and several others”, as well (especially the first two)!
Thanks Lynn. The seedy whole wheat will be up on the blog soon! Keep an eye out for it.