In this instructable, I will show you how to make a no knead bread. This easy no knead bread recipe has very few ingredients and is baked in a dutch oven. The dutch oven style of baking creates a super nice hard crust on the outside and leaves a nice soft middle on the inside. Go out there and make your own! If I can do it, you can do it! :) Let's get baking!

If you have any questions or comments, put them down below and I will get back to you as soon as I can.

Follow the easy steps below or watch the video tutorial or do both!

Step 1: Ingredients/Tools

You can print the recipe here if you want.

Ingredients:

3 cups of all-purpose flour (360g)
1 1/2 cups of water (355ml)
1 1/2 tsp. of salt (8g)
1/8 tsp. of sugar or a pinch (less then 1 g)
1/2 tsp. of active dry yeast or instant yeast (1.5g)

Helpful Tools:

Dutch Oven
Whisk
Wooden
Spoon
Plastic wrap
Parchment Paper
Oven Mitts
Fork

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Step 2: Proof the Yeast

First let's proof the yeast. To do this, we take our water and heat it up in the microwave or on the stove and get it to 105 to 115 degrees F., about 40 seconds in the microwave. Then we add our sugar which will provide a bit of food for the yeast. Next add our yeast and stir a bit with a fork. Let the mixture sit for 5 to 10 minutes until the yeast gets foamy. If it doesn't get foamy, start over! It means the yeast is bad, or the water was not hot enough or too hot.

Step 3: Prepare the Dough

Next we prepare the dough. Add our salt to the flour and whisk it well. Then add the yeast mixture to our flour. Next stir the mixture with a wooden spoon until it all comes together and forms a dough, you won't need to stir very long. The dough will be kinda sticky and look like a mess. That is perfect! Cover it with plastic wrap and let it sit on a counter somewhere at room temperature for 12 to 18 hours.

Step 4: Check Dough

After 12 to 18 hours you will see little tiny bubbles on the top of the dough, and it will have risen quite a bit. Remove the plastic wrap and then take a bit of flour and dust your counter or table.

Step 5: Shape Dough

Now we pour the dough out of the bowl, you will probably need to use your fingers to get the dough out. Dust the top of the dough with some flour, then fold the dough over on itself once or twice, then shape it into a ball. Use your hand and fingers and kind of tuck the dough underneath itself while turning, this is a good method for shaping the dough. It is easier to see on the video.

Step 6: Let Dough Rise

Now take a bowl and add a big piece of parchment paper to it, then dust the bottom of it with some flour. Next place the dough in the bowl and then re-cover it with plastic wrap and then let the dough rise for 2 hours.

Step 7: Preheat the Oven and Dutch Oven

Now we need to preheat our oven to 450 degrees F. or 232 C. We also place our dutch oven in the oven and let it heat up along with the oven. We want our dutch oven hot before putting our dough in it. Dutch ovens are awesome and super versatile. I have the Le Creuset brand, which is a pretty high end and expensive brand, but there are other cheaper ones out there. The Lodge I hear is a decent one as well. If you wind up getting one, make sure the handle can withstand temps up to 500 degrees. It will say in the description if it can.

Step 8: First Baking Phase

Once our oven is preheated and our dutch oven is also hot, use oven mitts to grab the dutch oven and place it on top of your stove. Then take the lid off, be careful it is hot!! Then grab the parchment paper and carry the dough over and lower it into the dutch oven. Then place the lid back on top. Again, be careful the lid and dutch oven will be super hot! Now place it in the oven and bake for 30 minutes.

Step 9: Second Baking Phase

After 30 minutes take the dutch oven out of the oven and remove the lid, then put it back in the oven and bake for another 15 to 20 minutes, until it gets nice an golden brown on the top.

Step 10: Remove and Cool

Now we remove our bread from the dutch oven by grabbing ahold of the parchment paper, then carrying it over to a rack to cool. The paper might break, so you may need to grab a little lower, again use oven mitts! Then let your bread cool until you are ready to eat it! Yummy! It will have a nice crispy outer crust with a nice soft middle.