This easy no knead bread recipe is a tasty homemade 4 ingredient bread you and your family will love! The simple recipe is perfect for first time or experienced bread makers.
Who doesn’t love homemade bread? Especially rustic artisan bread! Some bread recipes are complicated and difficult top make, but this no knead bread recipe is both easy and delicious! It turns out a wonderful rustic bread with a firmer crunchy outside, but is delightfully soft on the inside!
If you don’t know how to make homemade bread, try this easy recipe! And if you already know how to make bread, this recipe is a basic no-nonsense recipe that won’t take all of your time so you can move on to other things!
Easy No Knead Bread Recipe – Homemade 4 Ingredient Bread
This no-knead bread recipe makes an easy homemade rustic artisan bread. With just 4 ingredients,
2 cups warm water (110°)
1 Tbsp. salt
1 Tbsp. or 1 pkg. yeast
4 cups all purpose flour
Mix salt, yeast and water. Stir until dissolved. Add flour. Mix until well blended. Cover in a bowl with plastic wrap, leaving a small hole in the plastic wrap. Let rise 2 hours.
Sprinkle a small amount of flour on top and punch down. Divide dough in half to make two balls, using just enough flour so you can make each into a ball. It will be sticky. Fold the edges under to form a smooth top. Let rise on parchment paper on a cookie sheet for 40-50 minutes until doubled.
Optional: Put melted butter on top with some sesame seeds. Score the top of the bread with a knife. Place an oven-safe pan with 1 cup of water in oven. (The steam this creates will give the bread a chewy, crispy crust.)
Preheat oven to 450° and bake 30 minutes.
No Knead Bread In A Dutch Oven
If you like, you can make this easy no knead bread in a Dutch oven with a few easy modifications. Instead of rising the dough as in the main recipe, simply follow these instructions:
To rise, place dough in a parchment paper lined bowl (not wax paper) and cover with a towel. Let stand on countertop for about 35 minutes.
Place Dutch oven with lid into a cold oven and preheat to 450°. When oven reaches 450°, carefully lift the parchment paper and dough and place gently into the hot pot. (Parchment paper goes in the pot too.) Cover and bake 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, remove lid and parchment paper. Return, uncovered, to oven and bake 10-15 more minutes. Let it cool at least 15 minutes before slicing.
For more recipes like this no knead artisan bread, check out our cookbook:
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OMG! This bread is SO good! I doubled it and used the hot water in the oven method for baking. Delicious! My whole family loved the bread!
I’m confused. How is this sourdough when there’s no sourdough starter.
Sheila here is what I think you are looking for read the first part above the recipe and I think it will explain it Easy No Knead Sourdough Bread
Thanks. I was looking at the wrong one. Sorry.
No problem Sheila- we have so much stuff on the website it is easy to do. Just holler if you have more questions. : )
Made it tonight. My family loved it and it was so easy!!!
I’ve never made bread before and would love to try it. It sounds delicious, but I’m confused about one thing.
You said to mix it. Do you have to have a mixer with a bread hook? If so, are there any bread recipes that you
can make without one? I only have a hand mixer. Thanks!
No Pat you don’t. I am a cookbook author and have never owned any kind of stand mixer with a hook because they take me more work to clean than a little hand mixer. You can if you need to do it all by hand. What I do though is I mix up up most of the ingredients with a hand mixer including part (about 2 cups) of the flour. Then I hand stir the last 2 cups of flour in just because it is easier. The dough hooks on a stand mixer are usually for kneading the bread so since this is no knead you don’t need one for sure. Relax and have fun with it and if you have any questions just holler.
You are a sweetheart for answering me so soon. Thank you! I can’t tell you how excited I am to give
your bread a try. Wish me luck! And again, thank you very much. Pat
Loving the comments of how good this bread is and can’t wait to try it! Can it be made with whole wheat flour or any other flour besides white?
It is not always really easy to just trade whole wheat flour for all purpose white flour in many recipes. You could maybe try to do half whole wheat and half white.
What type of cup to use in an oven.
You place 1 cup of water into a separate pan – it is the measurement of 1 cup and not a drinking cup. Hope that makes sense.
Another method that works(because I’m lazy when it comes to kneading bread lol) take any basic bread recipe and for the first rise, only add 1/2 – 3/4 the flour. Should be like thick stew consistency. After an hour….. or two if you forget, mix in the last of the flour. Now at this point, I usually bake a batch of rolls for dinner and refrigerate the rest of the dough for later. Or you can let rise a second time and go from there. My kids usually spend the next few days pulling off a chunk from the fridge to make a quick fry bread for a fast meal or snack. Works for our busy family!
Thanks for the great ideas Lisa.
Thanks, Lisa. That’s a great tip. Now I just need someone to ‘remind’ me to add it. HA! Thanks for
answering. Appreciate it.
I didn’t realize you could refrigerate dough. This is a great hack. I am single and love the idea of being able to have the dough for making small batches. How long does it keep in the fridge?
It can last around 3 days but it usually is best if you can use within 2 days
Jill, I’d like to try this bread tonight, but I only have Rapid-Rise yeast. Will that work? Thanks!
Yes it will sorry Patty I was sleeping when this came in : )
I’m diabetic doctor told me not to eat bread, can I use any other kind of flour other than regular flour?
I think there are Patricia (maybe buckwheat and oat) but you may have to just google it.
I’ve been making bread for years but would like to try this recipe. However I don’t have parchment paper. What can I use instead?
Melodie
We suggested parchment paper because the dough is very sticky. You could try greasing a piece of wax paper really good or place it on a very well greased and floured pan. Be sure to grease it out around the edges because it will spread as it rises.
Thanks Jill, I will try that.
Melodie
Could I use a bread maker on the dough cycle to mix and for the first rise then make divide and form for the second rise?
I am not sure Ann because I don’t use a bread maker but I don’t know why you couldn’t
Hello Jill.
Try mixing this dough with the wooden end of a French whisk; until the flour is incorperated. I do that when I make quick or no knead bread. It works like a charm.
Birdie
p.s. I’ve also baked this type of bread in the parchment/tin bowl that I let rise. Nifty and neat.
My oven only goes to 400 how do I adjust this to make this bread?
Melissa just bake it at the highest your oven will go. The crust of the bread may be just a little softer but not by much and should be fine.
What size Dutch oven is used to make this bread ? And is it a cast iron dutch oven?
A Dutch oven is usually that 5-6 qt. size pan that comes with most pan sets. It doesn’t have to be cast iron.