I used to make this all the time, but hadn’t in a while for various reasons. Then we ran out of white bread and I couldn’t fit a trip to the store in my schedule. No-knead bread to the rescue.
I learned how to make this years ago at a local skill exchange.
Ingredients
- 3 cups flour. For this batch, I used “Best for Bread” Robin Hood flour, but any wheat flour will work. Keep in mind if you use 100% whole wheat flour, you’ll need to put a bit more water in. I find the Robin Hood “Best for Bread” makes for a flufflier loaf.
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 3/4 teaspoon active yeast (I’ve used bread machine yeast as well as the little packets of yeast and they both work)
- 1.5 cups water
Method
Put all dry ingredients in a bowl and use a whisk to mix.
Pour the water over the dry ingredients and mix with a wooden spoon until it all comes together in a lump (it does not need to look like a uniform loaf at this point). If there’s still dry flour that isn’t coming together with the rest of the lump, add a little bit more water until it does.
Let rest for 4-5 hours (longer if your room is cold, shorter if your room is warm)
About 30 minutes before the resting period is done, put an empty dutch oven with the lid on inside a 450 F oven for 20 minutes.
When the 20 minutes are up, carefully remove the dutch oven from the oven, remove the lid, and very carefully place the dough inside, handling it as little as possible.
Bake for 30 minutes.
Let rest on a cooling rack before slicing.
Enjoy!
This recipe makes one loaf. If making more than one loaf, make them in separate bowls (e.g. don’t make one giant loaf or it’ll probably not bake very evenly.