I think I discovered the perfect recipe to make bread from scratch. Not having to knead the dough convinced me to try the recipe. Since then, we cannot get enough of it.
There is nothing better than a slice of good bread with butter. Or a slice of good bread that you dip in your favorite sauce. And it makes the perfect sandwich. Delicious and addicting, if you love bread. And I do love bread! Boy, do I love it! The perfect comfort food that brings happiness to your soul…
I love the color of the crust, golden brown deliciousness.
Making this No Knead Bread is a no brainer and there is no way you can go wrong with it. I am not inventing the wheel and this recipe is not mine, but I wanted to share it with you hoping that you will try and make it at home at least one time to see what I am talking about.
I found the recipe on numerous websites and nobody had something bad to say about it. It is simple, no fuss, no work, perfect for me, as I love easy recipes that are feeding not only the body but also the soul. The recipe requires just flour, salt, yeast, and water. Cold water. Like it should be. No sugar, no additives, no corn syrup, no ingredients you cannot pronounce. Simple and beautiful.
After you make the dough, which actually takes no more than 5 minutes, you let it rise on the counter in the kitchen for 12-18 hours. The bread is baked in a cast iron pot covered with a lid.
The result?
This!
And you will not believe the sounds this bread makes when it comes out of the oven….crackling sounds. I think it was singing to me!
HOW TO MAKE THE NO KNEAD BREAD:
I started by combining the dry ingredients in a bowl. Flour, yeast, salt. Nothing else.
Then, I added some water and mixed it in with a spoon to incorporate it into the dry ingredients. You will have a wet dough.
This is how it should be. Do not add more flour.
I covered the bowl with plastic wrap to keep the moisture inside. Then, I left it on the counter to sit at room temperature for the next 12-18 hours. 18 hours is better than 12.
You will need a cast iron pot with a lid. Make sure the pot and the lid are safe to be in the oven at 450F. If you don’t have a cast iron pot, any pot will work as long as you have a safe lid to cover it.
The covered pot will keep the steam/moisture inside and the bread will bake like in a professional oven creating that beautiful crust.
So, after 12-18 hours of rising, the dough was almost ready to be baked. It had bubbles on the surface and doubled in size.
This is the moment when I finally preheated the oven to 450F and placed the pot inside the oven. We need that pot to be super blazing hot. An oven thermometer would be a good idea to check the actual temperature as not all ovens are the same.
While the oven and the pot were warming up, I placed the dough on a floured work surface.
I flattened the dough and wrapped it like an envelope, bringing the sides toward the middle.
I covered the bottom of a bowl with parchment paper and placed the dough on it. While the oven was heating up, the dough rose again. I grabbed the parchment paper with the dough on it and placed it in the hot cast iron pot. Cover with the lid and place the pot in the oven.
Only thinking that I am going to eat THIS and I cannot wait for the next step, the baking part.
Bake for 30 minutes.
Just so you know, your kitchen and the entire house will smell like a professional bakery, but this is what we want, right? After 30 minutes, I removed the lid and let the bread bake for another 20 minutes, until the crust was golden brown on top. As every oven is unique, just keep an eye on it and remove the bread when it has the desirable color.(15-20 minutes should be enough)
I usually bake my bread uncovered for about 20 minutes.
NOTE: These are pictures from different batches I made. I wanted you to see that each time, the bread looked awesome.
Take the bread out and let it cool on a rack.
I recommend to let the bread cool down before you slice it.
The crust is thick and delicious. While cooling down, I am sure it will sing to you the same it did to me. I usually keep it wrapped in parchment paper, on the kitchen counter. It is good for 2-3 days, unless you eat it on the first day, as we sometimes do. Perfect for sandwiches.
SECRET: If you want to bake the bread the same day, instead of adding cold water to the flour, add warm water at about 96-100F temperature. Follow the same process and let it rise for about 3 hours. The warm water will speed up the process of rising.
Enjoy the easiest and THE MOST DELICIOUS BREAD YOU WILL EVER TASTE!
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1½ tsp salt
- ¼ tsp dry yeast
- 1½ cups cold water
- flour for dusting
- cast iron pot with a lid
- Grab a bowl and place the flour, salt and yeast together.
- Stir them together.
- Add the water and mix with a spoon or by hand to incorporate it into the flour.
- Do not overmix and do not add more flour because the dough is supposed to be wet.
- Cover the bowl with plastic wrap.
- Let it rise at room temperature for 12-18 hours. More time, better results.
- The next day, preheat the oven to 450F and place the cast iron pot inside the oven.
- Dust the work surface with flour and place the dough on it.
- Flatten the dough and wrap it like an envelope by bringing the sides toward the middle.
- Cover the bottom of a bowl with parchment paper.
- Place the dough on the parchment paper and let it rise again, covered, until the oven reaches 450F.
- Grab the parchment paper with the dough and place it in the hot cast iron pot.
- Cover with the lid and place the pot in the oven.
- Bake for 30 minutes at 450F.
- Remove the lid(carefully) and bake the bread uncovered for another 15-20 minutes until the surface of the bread reaches the desirable color(golden brown or dark brown)
- Let it cool on a rack.
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