This easy no-knead bread recipe only requires four simple ingredients, is perfect for beginners and creates a bakery worthy loaf of bread. No fancy equipment or techniques needed.

Click here to see a demonstration of the recipe. 

Servings: 1 loaf

Ingredients

3 cups all-purpose flour
¼ tsp. instant or bread machine yeast
1 ½ tsp. salt
1 ½ to 1 ¾ cups room temperature water

Procedure

Day Before Baking

1. Combine the flour, yeast and salt in a large bowl and stir until they’re well combined.
2. Stir in water until a shaggy, sticky ball of dough forms and there is no dry flour left on the bottom of the bowl. The dough should be wet and sticky, but not so wet that it appears glossy.
3. Cover the bowl loosely with plastic and let it sit at room temperature for 12 to 18 hours.

Day of Baking

1. The next day, the dough should be fluffy and very bubbly. When you’re ready to bake, sprinkle a little flour on top of the fermented dough and scrape it out of the bowl. With well-floured hands, shape the dough into a ball and place it on a piece of parchment paper. Let the dough rise for 30 to 60 minutes.
2. While the dough is rising, preheat the oven to 425, or the highest recommended temperature listed on the packaging for your parchment paper. Place the Dutch oven inside the oven as it preheats and make sure it sits in the full heated oven for at least 15 minutes before baking the bread.
3. Once the bread has risen and the Dutch oven is fully heated, carefully remove the Dutch oven from the oven (it will be EXTREMELY hot). Lift the parchment with the dough straight into the Dutch oven and cover it with the lid.
4. Return the Dutch oven to the oven and bake for 30 minutes. Carefully remove the lid and bake for another 15-20 minutes or until the crust is a deep golden brown. Remove the Dutch oven from the oven, lift the bread out by using the parchment paper and allow it to cool before cutting oven and serving.

Alternate Sheet Pan Method

1. Ferment and shape the dough as described above, then place it on a parchment-lined sheet pan to rise for an additional 30 minutes.
2. Place a baking pan with about an inch of water on the bottom rack of the oven, then preheat the oven to 425 while the dough rises.
3. Once the loaf has risen for 30 minutes and the oven in fully preheated, carefully score the top of the dough with a sharp knife (use horizontal motions with no downward pressure). Transfer the sheet pan to the oven and bake for 40 minutes, or until the crust is deeply golden brown and the loaf sounds hollow when tapped.