My Mother’s Peasant Bread: The Best Easiest Bread You Will Ever Make
This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure policy.
This is the no-knead bread recipe my mother has been baking for 45 years. Start to finish, it can be ready in three hours. It bakes in well-buttered Pyrex bowls — no need to preheat a baking vessel for this recipe — and it emerges golden and crisp with a soft, tender crumb. 🍞🍞🍞🍞🍞
When I tell you that, if forced, I had to pick one and only one recipe to share with you that this — my mother’s peasant bread — would be it, I am serious. I would almost in fact be OK ending the blog after this very post, retiring altogether from the wonderful world of food blogging, resting assured that you all had this knowledge at hand. This bread might just change your life.
The reason I say this is simple. I whole-heartedly believe that if you know how to make bread you can throw one hell of a dinner party. And the reason for this is because people go insane over homemade bread. Not once have I served this bread to company without being asked, “Did you really make this?” And questioned: “You mean with a bread machine?” But always praised: “Is there anything more special than homemade bread?”
And upon tasting homemade bread, people act as if you’re some sort of culinary magician. I would even go so far as to say that with homemade bread on the table along with a few nice cheeses and a really good salad, the main course almost becomes superfluous. If you nail it, fantastic. If you don’t, you have more than enough treats to keep people happy all night long.
The Magic of the Peasant Bread
So what, you probably are wondering, makes this bread so special when there are so many wonderful bread recipes out there? Again, the answer is simple. For one, it’s a no-knead bread. I know, I know. There are two wildly popular no-knead bread recipes out there.
But unlike the others, this is a no-knead bread that can be started at 4:00pm and turned out onto the dinner table at 7:00pm. It bakes in well-buttered Pyrex bowls — there is no pre-heating of the baking vessels in this recipe — and it emerges golden and crisp without any steam pans or water spritzes. This is not artisan bread, nor is it trying to be. It is peasant bread, spongy and moist with a most-delectable buttery crust.
Genuinely, I would be proud to serve this bread at a dinner party attended by Jim Lahey, Mark Bittman, Peter Reinhart, Chad Robertson, Jeff Hertzberg and Zoe Francois. It is a bread I hope you will all give a go, too, and then proudly serve at your next dinner party to guests who might ask where you’ve stashed away your bread machine. And when this happens, I hope you will all just smile and say, “Don’t be silly. This is just a simple peasant bread. Easy as pie. I’ll show you how to make it some day.”
Peasant Bread Variations
Once you master the peasant bread, you can make any bread your heart desires — this simple no-knead bread recipe is the foundation of many of the other bread recipes on this site, namely this hugely popular overnight refrigerator focaccia and this simple homemade pizza dough. It’s even the inspiration behind this sourdough focaccia and this sourdough sandwich bread and this simple pita bread recipe.
The below post is organized as follows:
- How to Make Peasant Bread, Step by Step
- The Best Way to Store Bread
- Peasant Bread Dinner Rolls
- Peasant Bread Sandwich Bread
- How to Add Seeds and Nuts to Bread Dough
- How to Make Gluten-Free Peasant Bread
- How to Coat the Loaves in Seeds
- How to use Whole Wheat Flour
- How to Bake the Peasant Bread in a Dutch Oven
Many more variations on the peasant bread can be found in my cookbook, Bread Toast Crumbs:
Bread Toast Crumbs
Love the peasant bread? There’s now a book filled with 40 simple bread recipes plus 70 recipes to use up every crumb of every loaf you bake.
How to Make Peasant Bread, Step by Step
First: You need yeast.
This is the yeast I buy exclusively: SAF Instant Yeast. Instant yeast can be whisked into the flour directly without any blooming or proofing. If you want to stick to active-dry yeast, there are instructions in the recipe notes on how to do so. Red Star yeast is great.
Whisk together flour, salt, sugar, and instant yeast. Add lukewarm water.
Mix until you have a sticky dough ball. Let it rise for 1.5 to 2 hours…
… or until it looks like this:
Punch down the dough using two forks.
Then split the dough down the middle again using the two forks.
Because this is a very wet dough, it must be baked in an oven-proof bowl. I am partial to the Pyrex 1L 322 size, but any similarly sized oven-proof bowl will work.
Butter the bowls well; then transfer half of the dough to each prepared bow.
Let the dough rise again until it crowns the rim of the bowl, about 30 minutes.
Transfer the bowls to the oven to bake:
This bread is irresistible when it’s freshly baked, but it also makes wonderful toast on subsequent mornings as well as the best grilled cheese. It’s also my favorite bread to use for these egg salad sandwiches and for this no-tuna “tuna” salad.
The Best Way to Store Bread
If you want to store the bread at room temperature for 3 to 4 days, I think the best method is in a ziplock bag. I’ve tried other eco-friendly options, but nothing seems to keep bread freshest — the crumb the softest — better than a ziplock bag. You can re-use the bags again and again.
If you intend to keep the bread for longer, I would freeze it. I often slice bread as soon as it cools completely, transfer the slices to a ziplock bag, then freeze. This way, I know the bread was frozen at its freshest.
A ziplock bag will not prevent the crust of bread from turning soft, which is why I suggest always reheating day-old bread. I use a toaster at breakfast for slices of bread, and I reheat half or quarter loaves in the oven at 350ºF for 15 to 20 minutes when serving for dinner.
Bread revives so beautifully in the oven or toaster.
No-Knead Dinner Rolls
To use the peasant bread dough to make rolls, simply divide the dough into smaller portions and place in a buttered muffin tin as in these No-Knead Thyme Dinner Rolls (pictured above). This recipe for no-knead buttermilk pull-apart rolls is also based on the peasant bread as are these brioche pull-apart rolls.
No-Knead Sandwich Bread
To make sandwich bread, multiply the recipe below by 1.5 and bake the bread in two buttered 8.5×4.5-inch loaf pans.
Made with half all-purpose flour and half King Arthur Sprouted Wheat Flour, these seed-coated sandwich loaves (pictured above) have a soft and light crumb. I really like KAF’s sprouted wheat flour, which is made from white whole wheat berries that, when sprouted, yield a creamy, sweet, milder-tasting flour. You can use 100% all-purpose or bread flour for an even lighter loaf or your favorite whole wheat flour in place of the sprouted wheat flour.
How to Add Nuts and Seeds to Bread Dough
To add seeds and nuts (or dried fruit and cheese), simply stir them into the dry ingredients. This recipe for Quinoa-and-Flax Toasting Bread will offer guidance on how much to add.
How to Make a Gluten-Free Peasant Bread
Making gluten-free peasant bread (pictured above) unfortunately isn’t as simple as swapping in gluten-free flour for the wheat flour. But the process and recipe is still super simple — in fact, because there’s only one rise, many people find the gluten-free peasant bread to be even simpler than the original. Find the recipe here: Gluten-Free Peasant Bread
How to Coat the Loaves in Seeds
To coat the peasant bread in seeds, as pictured above, simply coat the bowls with everything bagel seasoning or with dukkah or sesame seeds or whatever seed mix you wish. The seed-coated loaves look so beautiful, and it’s amazing how much the flavor of the coating permeates the loaves. Find the recipe here: Everything Bagel Seasoning Peasant Bread
How to Use Whole Wheat Flour
To use whole wheat flour in the peasant bread, simply replace as much as 50% of the all-purpose flour with your favorite whole wheat flour: I like KAF’s sprouted wheat flour, and I’ve been loving the Cairnsprings Mill Trailblazer stone-milled flour. With the Trailblazer, I can use up to 75% of it in the peasant bread, and it yields a beautiful, chewy texture as well as a lovely flavor and aroma.
When using whole wheat flour, you may have to use more or less water — there is no rule as to how much more or less, and it will take some trial and error to get right because all flours absorb water differently. When I use KAF sprouted wheat flour, for example, I don’t change the water amount at all. When I use the Trailblazer flour, on the other hand, I reduce the water by at least 50 grams.
If you’d like to learn more about whole wheat flour and stone-milled flours, read this: Easy Sourdough Bread (Whole Wheat-ish)
How to Bake the Peasant Bread in a Dutch Oven
If you’re looking for more of a crackling crusted boule (characteristic of a loaf of sourdough bread) as opposed to the buttery crispness of the peasant bread, you can bake the peasant bread dough in a preheated Dutch oven.
There are detailed instructions below the recipe in the notes section, but one thing to keep in mind before you begin is dough hydration. The peasant bread is a very high hydration dough, meaning there is a lot of water relative to flour. Because baking the peasant bread in a Dutch oven will require some handling of the dough — to shape it into a round and to create some tension — you may want to reduce the water from the start. Consider holding back 20-30 grams of water to make the process more manageable for you.
My Mother’s Peasant Bread: The Best Easiest Bread You Will Ever Make
- Total Time: 2 hours 27 minutes
- Yield: 2 loaves
Description
Notes:
The bread:
This is a sticky, no-knead dough, so, some sort of baking vessel, such as pyrex bowls (you need two 1-qt bowls) or ramekins for mini loaves is required to bake this bread. See notes below the recipe for sources. You can use a bowl that is about 2 qt or 2 L in size to bake off the whole batch of dough (versus splitting the dough in half) but do not use this size for baking half of the dough — it is too big.
Peasant Bread Fans! There is now a book: Bread Toast Crumbs, a loaf-to-crumb bread baking book, filled with tips and tricks and answers to the many questions that have been asked over the years. In the book you will find 40 variations of the master peasant bread recipe + 70 recipes for using up the many loaves you will bake. Learn more about the book here or buy it here.
Ingredients
- 4 cups (512 g) unbleached all-purpose or bread flour
- 2 teaspoons (10 g) kosher salt
- 2 cups (454 g) lukewarm water (made by mixing 1.5 cups cold water with 0.5 cup boiling water)
- 2 teaspoons (8 g) sugar
- 2 teaspoons (8 g) instant yeast, I love SAF Instant Yeast, see notes below
- room temperature butter, about 2 tablespoons
Instructions
- Mixing the dough: In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, sugar, and instant yeast (I love SAF Instant Yeast). Add the water. Mix until the flour is absorbed. (If you are using active dry yeast, see notes below.)
- Let it rise. Cover bowl with a tea towel or plastic wrap and set aside in a warm spot to rise for at least an hour. (In the winter or if you are letting the bread rise in a cool place, it might take as long as two hours to rise.) This is how to create a slightly warm spot for your bread to rise in: Turn the oven on at any temperature (350ºF or so) for one minute, then turn it off. Note: Do not allow the oven to get up to 300ºF, for example, and then heat at that setting for 1 minute — this will be too hot. Just let the oven preheat for a total of 1 minute — it likely won’t get above 100ºF. The goal is to just create a slightly warm environment for the bread.
- Preheat the oven to 425ºF. Grease two 1-qt or 1.5-qt oven-safe bowls (see notes below) with about a tablespoon of butter each. Using two forks, punch down your dough, scraping it from the sides of the bowl, which it will be clinging to. As you scrape it down try to pull the dough toward the center (see video below for guidance). You want to loosen the dough entirely from the sides of the bowl, and you want to make sure you’ve punched it down. Then, take your two forks and divide the dough into two equal portions — eye the center of the mass of dough, and starting from the center and working out, pull the dough apart with the two forks. Then scoop up each half and place into your prepared bowls. This part can be a little messy — the dough is very wet and will slip all over the place. Using small forks or forks with short tines makes this easier — my small salad forks work best; my dinner forks make it harder. It’s best to scoop it up fast and plop it in the bowl in one fell swoop. Some people like to use flexible, plastic dough scrapers for this step.
- Let the dough rise again for about 20 to 30 minutes on the countertop near the oven (or near a warm spot) or until it has risen to just below or above (depending on what size bowl you are using) the top of the bowls. (Note: Do not do the warm-oven trick for the second rise, and do not cover your bowls for the second rise. Simply set your bowls on top of your oven, so that they are in a warm spot. Twenty minutes in this spot usually is enough for my loaves.)
- Bake it. Bake for 15 minutes. Reduce the heat to 375º and bake for 15 to 17 minutes longer. Remove from the oven and turn the loaves onto cooling racks. If you’ve greased the bowls well, the loaves should fall right out onto the cooling racks. If the loaves look a little pale and soft when you’ve turned them out onto your cooling racks, place the loaves into the oven (outside of their bowls) and let them bake for about 5 minutes longer. Remove from oven and let cool for 10 minutes before cutting.
Notes
- The bowls: The cheapest, most widely available 1-qt bowl is the Pyrex 322. Update: These bowls are becoming harder to find and more expensive. As a result, I’m suggesting this cheaper option: the Pyrex 3-piece set. You can split the dough in half as always (see recipe) and bake half in the 1-quart bowl and half in the 1.5 quart bowl. The loaves will not be the same shape, but they will be delicious nonetheless.
- Yeast: I buy SAF Instant Yeast in bulk from Amazon I store it in my fridge or freezer, and it lasts forever. If you are using the packets of yeast (the kind that come in the 3-fold packets), just go ahead and use a whole packet — It’s 2.25 teaspoons. I have made the bread with active dry, rapid rise, and instant yeast, and all varieties work. The beauty of instant yeast is that there is no need to “proof” it — you can add the yeast directly to the flour. I never use active-dry yeast anymore.
- If you have active-dry yeast on hand and want to use it, here’s how: In a small mixing bowl, dissolve the sugar into the water. Sprinkle the yeast over top. There is no need to stir it up. Let it stand for about 10 to 15 minutes or until the mixture is foamy and/or bubbling just a bit — this step will ensure that the yeast is active. Meanwhile, in a large bowl, whisk together the flour and salt. When the yeast-water-sugar mixture is foamy, stir it up, and add it to the flour bowl. Mix until the flour is absorbed.
- Troubleshooting: You can find step-by-step video instruction here.
- Several commenters have had trouble with the second rise, and this seems to be caused by the shape of the bowl they are letting the dough rise in the second time around. Two hours for the second rise is too long. If you don’t have a 1-qt bowl, bake 3/4 of the dough in a loaf pan and bake the rest off in muffin tins or a popover pan. The second rise should take no more than 30 minutes.
- Also, you can use as many as 3 cups of whole wheat flour, but the texture changes considerably. I suggest trying with all all-purpose or bread flour to start and once you get the hang of it, start trying various combinations of whole wheat flour and/or other flours.
- The single most important step you can take to make this bread truly foolproof is to invest in a digital scale. This one costs under $10. If you are not measuring by weight, do this: scoop flour into the measuring cup using a separate spoon or measuring cup; level off with a knife. The flour should be below the rim of the measuring cup.
- Here’s a printable version of this recipes that’s less wordy: Peasant Bread Recipe, Simplified
- How to Bake the Peasant Bread in a Dutch Oven: Preheat a Dutch Oven for 45 minutes at 450ºF. Dust a clean work surface with flour. After the first rise, turn the dough out onto the floured surface and shape it into a ball: I like to fold it envelope style from top to bottom, then side to side; then I flip it over and use the pinkie edges of my hands to pinch the dough underneath and create some tension. Transfer the dough to a sheet of parchment paper. Let rest for 20 minutes. If you feel your dough is spreading too much you can lift up the sheet of parchment paper, dough and all, and place it in a bowl of a similar size. After the 20 minutes, transfer the dough, parchment paper and all to the Dutch oven. Carefully cover it. Bake 30 minutes. Uncover. Bake 15 minutes more.
- To bake the peasant bread in a loaf pan: If you are using an 8.5×4.5-inch loaf pan or a 9×5-inch loaf pan, you can bake 3/4 of the dough in it; bake off the rest of the dough in ramekins or other small vessels … the mini loaves are so cute. You can also make 1.5x the recipe, and bake the bread in 2 loaf pans. If you have a large loaf pan, such as a 10×6-inch loaf pan, you can bake off the entire batch of dough in it. For loaf pans, bake at 375ºF for 45 minutes.
- How to Bake at Hight Altitude:
- First try the original recipe as written (preferably with a scale). You may not need to make any adjustments. One commenter, who lives at 9200 ft finds the original recipe to work just fine as is.
- If the original recipe doesn’t work, try adding a little bit more water because it rises fast and it is so dry: about a quarter cup for every 512 g of flour.
- Try decreasing the yeast to 1.5 teaspoons.
- If your dough is especially gooey, try decreasing the water by 1/4 cup. But, if you aren’t using a scale, my first suggestion would be to buy a scale and weigh the flour, and make the bread once as directed with the 2 cups water and 512 grams flour, etc.
- Punch the dough down twice before transferring it to the buttered Pyrex bowls. In other words, let it rise for 1-1.5 hours, punch it down, let it rise again for about an hour, punch it down, then transfer it to the buttered bowls.
- Variations:
- #1. Cornmeal. Substitute 1 cup of the flour with 1 cup of cornmeal. Proceed with the recipe as directed.
- #2. Faux focaccia. Instead of spreading butter in two Pyrex bowls in preparation for baking, butter one 9×9-inch glass baking dish and one Pyrex bowl or just butter one large 9×13-inch Pyrex baking dish. If using two vessels, divide the dough in half and place each half in prepared baking pan. If using only one large baking dish, place all of the dough in the dish. Drizzle dough with 1 tablespoon of olive oil (if using the small square pan) and 2 tablespoons of olive oil (if using the large one). Using your fingers, gently spread the dough out so that it fits the shape of the pan. Use your fingers to create dimples in the surface of the dough. Sprinkle surface with chopped rosemary and sea salt. Let rise for 20 to 30 minutes. Bake for 15 minutes at 425ºF and 17 minutes (or longer) at 375ºF. Remove from pan and let cool on cooling rack.
- #3. Thyme Dinner Rolls
- #4 Gluten-free
- #5. Everything Bagel Seasoning Bread. Simply coat the buttered bowls with Everything Bagel Seasoning. Watch a how-to on Instagram Stories here.
- #6: Whole Wheat Peasant Bread. Use as much as 50% whole wheat flour. I like King Arthur Flour’s white whole wheat flour (see this post) or sprouted wheat flour (see this post).
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 32 minutes
- Category: Bread
- Method: Baked
- Cuisine: American
This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure policy.
6,428 Comments on “My Mother’s Peasant Bread: The Best Easiest Bread You Will Ever Make”
Hi! Thank you for this really easy recipe♥
I made the focaccia with rosemary, garlic & parmesan. One large loaf. It’s beautiful!
Yay!! So happy to hear this! Your focaccia sounds delicious.
didn’t really cut but so far going good
we love this bread here the holland 🙂
Yay!
Can this bread be made in a bread machine? Thank you
Not sure, I’ve never tried! But it’s so easy without a machine … That said, people do ask this question, so if you give it a go, report back. I’d love to know how it turns out.
Look at you …. still answering questions and helping out after all the years this post has been on here…. kudos Alexandra..
Just to let you know that this is the first time I have seen the recipe and your blog and am printing it out to give it a go.. thanks so much for the recipe and the videos… should be an easy task to replicate your loaves.
Thanks
Vee
You are too kind Vee!
I’m back to say I made your Mom’s bread yesterday afternoon, and it was huge hit…. with us and the neighbours. I made some mini loaves in my giant muffin tin…. because I only have one bowl the correct size… and, definitely had to give them away quickly…. before I ate them all !!!!
… thanks so much for a great recipe and all the extra info on how to attain the same loaf as you get……
Vee
So happy to hear this, Vee! Thanks for reporting back!
Finally! this is a fantastic recipe and the very first that has ever worked for me! My very first successful bread!! thank you!
So happy to hear this!
Yay!!
Just made this today and it was DELICIOUS!!! Just made it in regular white corning ware dishes and turned out perfectly. Thanks for sharing such a fantastic recipe. The bread was just like from a bakery ! AAAAAAAA+++++++++
Yay!! So happy to hear this, Katrina!
Good Morning from Kansas Alexandra! I am SOOOOOO VERY GRATEFUL for your generosity in sharing this recipe with the world!!! You truly have the patience of a Saint, by continuing to respond to our questions for almost 5 years now!
For me, the elusive loaf of homemade bread is like a unicorn, a fairy or winning the lottery! I am 60 years old, and have not even attempted to make bread again, since I kept killing the yeast every time I tried in my 20’s…until now!!! I had permanently crossed homemade bread off of my Bucket List, until you made it sound and look easy enough, that even I could make it! So, I just finished making your 1 qt. bowl and I even had a glass 1 qt. loaf pan…and Thanks to your detailed instructions, as well as your excellent videos…for the first time in 40 years…MY HOMEMADE BREAD MIRACULOUSLY TURNED OUT PERFECT!!! I AM BESIDE MYSELF HOW FULL OF JOY I AM ABOUT THIS!!! I can’t wait to make LOTS more and give it to the neighbors, family and everyone I know!!! My goal is to figure out the appropriate ratio, so I can make whole wheat bread for my husband’s lunch every day, and never buy store bread again! I can’t wait to try your dinner rolls also!
I am ECSTATIC about your new book coming out in a few days? Where can I buy it, and how much will it cost?
I realize you have been “Thanked” for this recipe and tutorial hundreds of times over the years…but THANK YOU yet again for teaching us this priceless baking lesson!!! Homemade bread is truly a beloved treasure!!!
Your Biggest Fan Ever!!!
Diana!! Thank you for writing in. Nothing could make me happier than to read this. And thank you for the kind words about the book, too. I saw your other comment, too, and I grateful for your purchase —thank you!
If you want to experiment making bread with whole wheat flour, I recently discovered King Arthur Flour’s sprouted wheat flour, and I use half all-purpose and half whole wheat, and it turns out well. I also make it in sandwich loaf form. Here’s a post on that, and don’t feel you have to do the seed part: https://alexandracooks.com/2017/02/24/seedy-sandwich-bread-sprouted-wheat/
Ooops…never mind…I just saw, your new cookbook releases on April 4, 2017! So, of course, I pre-ordered one from Amazon! IT’S LIKE CHRISTMAS COMING EARLY!!! I CAN’T WAIT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Oh Diana, thank you thank you thank you!!
Hello Again Alexandra!
I just HAD to tell you, I ended up pre-ordering 2 of your new books instead of just one…that way not only will I have one, but I will also have a beautiful House Warming or Wedding gift on hand all ready to go for someone in the future! What a lovely gift your book will make…along with a freshly baked loaf of your bread!!!
I made even more of your bread yesterday…it’s just SO FUN!!! I have been buttering my vessels with UNSALTED butter…do you, or salted? Also, I MUST ATTEST to the importance of the EXACT measurement of the flour…I TRULY believe that is the secret, and the only reason some of your fans may have difficulty! My daughter bought me a digital scale a few years ago…and I thought I would never use it…when in fact, I use it constantly! The WEIGHT of 4 cups of flour is different than 1 pound 2 ounces! So I would strongly encourage your fans to invest in some digital scales (they start at only $20)…well worth it!!!
Diana, so sorry for the delay here!! Somehow your comment got lost in the mix. First: THANK YOU!! It means the world that you ordered not one, but two books … thank you!!
And yes, you’ve touched on what I consider to be the most important key to consistent success: using a scale! They’re cheap, and they make all the difference in the world. xoxo
I love this bread. I bake it every week for my husband and 2 year old!
Alisha, yay!! xo
Hey Alexandra,
This is the perfect recipe, it really is! I had given up on my skills as a baker, but this one brought me back in business 😀
Here’s a link to my blog post about it, with pingbacks to your blog, hope you enjoy reading about it!
https://sunnydistrict.wordpress.com/2017/04/03/look-i-baked-my-own-bread/
//Bipasha
Thank you!!
I discovered a great way to proof any dough. I heat a cast iron skillet on the stove for about 10 minutes on high and I put the pan on the bottom of my oven, off to the side and I put my dough on the top shelf of the oven off to the opposite side of the pan. The skillet will radiate heat for quite awhile and keep it nice and warm in there for proofing.
Awesome tip!! Love this. Thank you!!
Hi Alexandra!
Thank you for the awesome recipe! I use this almost weekly…tonight I used 1 cup of Rye Flour in my mix and added the caraway, dill pickle juice and cocoa powder for a pumpernickel no-knead! If I could share a picture with you I would!
Thanks for the awesome recipes!
Yay!! So happy to hear this!
Alexandra, thanks for the great family recipe!
I’m a big fan of freshly baked bread, and this is the easiest and best recipe I’ve found (was published on flipboard).
It was a big hit with my family. The crust was nice and the bread itself was soft with a loose crumb. Excellent for sandwiches, but I just ate it plain.
I make french bread at least once a week, but this recipe might make that more uncommon. The french bread recipe is more work and much more picky about moisture and kneading.
Thanks again!
Mike,
So happy to hear all of this. I love this bread for sandwiches, too, but for me, there’s no greater treat than when it’s spread with butter and sprinkled with salt. Glad you like it plain! Thanks for writing in!
I PROMISE this is the last time I will take up space on this page…but I wanted to say first of all…CONGRATULATIONS on your new cookbook!!! I just received my 2 copies today, and they are not only beautiful, but well written and mouth-watering!!! I already have at least a dozen recipes flagged in it to try out! Your book also answered my previous question of using unsalted butter for the vessels. Please THANK your Mother for deciding to finally share her 40 year secret with us!!! I think we are all dying to know where your Mother originally got this recipe from…now that the book discloses her “little white lie”??? LOL! THANK YOU ALEXANDRA AND YOUR MOTHER, LIZA LOWERY!!!
PLEASE DON’T MAKE IT THE LAST!! Love your comments. Thank you so much for ordering Bread Toast Crumbs and thank you for the kind words — truly, it means the world! I will thank my mother as well. My mother had adapted the recipe from an old French bread recipe, and it wasn’t until this past week that I asked her why she decided to forgo the kneading and French bread technique and bake it in buttered bowls, and she told it was because she has always hated the feeling of flour on her hands and flour on a board (sand on her feet, too). Also, she didn’t have any counter space when she first started making the bread, so when she baked the dough in buttered Pyrex bowls one day and it worked, she never looked back. Anyway, thank YOU for your enthusiasm and comments. Happy Baking!!
Hi,
I don’t have pyrtex bowls either. But i do have 2 stoneware loaf pans from Pampered Chef. they’re 9″x5″. Wopuld they work?
Thank you, Nick
Hi Nick! Sorry for the delay here. You can use loaf pans, but if you divide the dough in half and bake it in your two loaf pans, the loaves will come out, but they’ll be small. I recommend doing 1.5 times the recipe for loaf pans. Or bake off 3/4 of the dough in one of the loaf pans, and bake off the remaining dough in some other small vessel. Hope this makes sense! Let me know if there is anything else.
Hi! I just got your cookbook out from the library and now it’s on my Amazon wishlist. 😉 I’ve made the pizza dough and the peasant bread. Since I’ve been just dumping active dry yeast into various recipes in the bread machine and not proofing it or mixing with water first, I tried that with these recipes and they both came out great! Looking forward to trying more of your bread recipes and some of the others as well!
So happy to hear this Ellen! I think, though I don’t have substantial evidence, that instant and active dry yeast are becoming more and more the same product … something to investigate 🙂 Glad to hear active dry worked out. Thanks so much for writing in!
I made this bread for the first time a couple days ago. We loved it. I took a loaf to work with me and shared with all the gals there, and they all loved it. I had to share the recipe with them. I have another batch rising right now. So anxious for it to be ready to eat. 🙂 Thanks for sharing the recipe!!!!
Yay!! so happy to hear this! Thanks for writing in 🙂
So happy to hear this, Brenda!
Hi Alexandra, I just read about this bread recipe on Food52. I bake a lot of bread already, but I am intrigued by your recipe! One question that you may have already answered in the thousands of questions asked by others (sorry I couldn’t go through them all to find out) – What happens if you omit the sugar? I try to avoid using sugar, so I was wondering. Often in bread it is used to proof the yeast, but that is not really necessary if you know your yeast is good. Does it have another purpose in this bread? Thanks!!
Hi Andrea, thanks for visiting! Loved the Food52 article. I think you are right. The sugar is really only there to help along the yeast, in particular when using active-dry yeast. You can definitely omit the sugar. The rises may take a little longer, so just be patient. My mom has a theory, too, that the bread browns better with a little sugar in it, which may be true, but I’m not sure this is totally accurate — I think if you bake it long enough, it will get nice and golden.
Alexandra,
I baked this bread last night, and it was gone by noon today! I just took 2 more bowls out of the oven. It was the most delicious bread and so easy. What a hit!! My whole family is really enjoying it. Thank you so much for sharing this with us!!
So happy to hear this, Lynne!!
Love it! Delicious and easy! I’m used to making my mom’s homemade bread recipe which, although delicious, is pretty much a day long process. Also, there’s no recipe because she learned from her mother who learned from her mother and their method is more of a “dump some flour in till it feels right” method.
One question…what is the best way to store the bread from day to day to keep it from going stale?
Thanks so much for posting this recipe. I can see our family making this a couple times a week!
So happy to hear this, Max! And so sorry for the delay here. I love my bread box for storage. Got mine on King Arthur Flour. For 3-4 day storage, it’s perfect. Any longer, I wrap slices in foil and freeze the bundles in ziplock bags. You can freeze chunks of the bread, too, if you anticipate using it more for dinner bread.
That bread looks super delicious!
Thanks for all the videos. Going to give making some a go!
Do it!!
Fantastic! I’ve been trying a number of different bread recipes and doing the water pan, etc. but hubby was never pleased with the crust. I made this first time today and, super easy, but greatest was that he loves the crust. Crispy and soft in the middle. Trying to separate the two was difficult so I just tipped the bowl and scooped out about half into the bowl and the rest in the other one. Works fine and not so messy. Thank you so much for the great recipe! It’s a keeper!
So happy to hear this, Linda!!
Thanks for sharing your family recipe. I baked it in a loaf tin and it came out beautifully. This may well become my go to bread recipe now. It is fast, no fuss with great flavour and a nice crumb. And it is even better toasted! Can’t wait to try some variations on the recipe.
So happy to hear this, Michele!!
I LOVE this recipe and have made it many times over the past year. I like to add shredded cheese minced garlic and Jalapenos…YUM. Here’s a trick I use to make moving it from the first bowl to the two smaller bowls. I just take some of the dough out using a spatula and sort of pouring it out from one bowl to the next…approx. half then I ‘pour’ the rest into the second bowl. I then get my scale out and weigh the bowls until they are equal. It’s a lot easier than doing the fork routine…
You ever think of getting pretty small bowls and making sandwich/hamburger buns? Bet they’d be the bomb and put you in the history books…remember you heard it here first…lol
I wanted to thank you for this recipe. I have used it a lot and it is excellent each time! Today I made it with a mixture of flours and seeds! It was exceptional! I would love to send you a picture!
Send me a picture!! alexandra@alexandracooks.com I’d love to see it. So happy to hear all of this.
Made this today, pretty much no fail as I forgot to punch down before separating. Will make this often, thanks so much. What is the best way to store this bread and does it freeze well?
Yay!! The bread freezes beautifully. I’ve become a big fan of a bread box for storage, for short term storage at least: 3 to 4 days. The bread freezes beautifully both in sliced form and in chunks.
Holy smokes, I love this! You are correct in claiming that this will be the easiest and best bread recipe you’ll ever make.
I had guests last night and luckily stumbled upon this recipe the same day. I cut the recipe in half, used a Corning ware 1.5 quart pan and it came out perfectly- everyone loved it! Too bad I didn’t make more.
So happy to hear this, Debra!! Too bad is right … note to self for next time 🙂
Made your bread yesterday and it was fabulous! I had to order the bowls from Amazon. All the dry ingredient were measured out and as soon as l and heard the Amazon truck I was ready to go! Thank you for the videos. I think it helped me a lot. Any way, great recipe and my family has requested me to make it again. No complaints here!
LOVE this — so funny. So happy to hear all of this, Nancy!
Thank you very much for the thorough explanation on the yeast and the videos. For a newbie, it’s very helpful. I would like to know if I can freeze the baked bread or a portion of it. Will attempt to make it soon!
Yes, absolutely! This bread freezes beautifully. It makes great toast straight from the freezer. I like to freeze it in slices (wrapped in bundles of 5 or 6 in plastic wrap or foil) for toast, but you can also freeze in chunks if you want to thaw them and use them for dinner bread.