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.
6,396 Comments on “My Mother’s Peasant Bread: The Best Easiest Bread You Will Ever Make”
Mine didn’t rise as high as the photos you have (I live in the mountains, close to a mile high) but the bread came out wonderful! I added sauteed onions and herbs to the dough mixture, what a delicious treat. Thank you for this incredible recipe.
Wow! I love the sound of those additions. I have never gotten so creative with this bread recipe. Yum. So happy this came out well for you. What size bowl did you use? That might have also played a part in the rising issue.
Baked two loaves today using 2 Pyrex 8″ loaf pans …. Turned out perfectly …. Wish I could post a pic for you all to see ….. I’m impressed …. THANKS Alexandra for a winner!
yay! So happy to hear this! I wish there were a post-a-photo-in-the-comments option too 🙂 Thanks so much for emailing me the picture. Beautiful loaves!
Could I use a baking dish or a cast iron skillet, I rather enjoy backing breads in a cast iron skillet. Just wondering because we dont have any oven bowls.
Yes! Definitely. Use any vessel you have. A few people recently wrote in with their successes using cast iron.
I have made this before and it IS wonderful. Next time you buy bulk yeast, try SAF. Diff yeast=diff taste. I think you will like this yeast better.
I love SAF yeast! I use both Red Star and SAF. Love them both.
Looks like a great recipe. not good at making bread but want to learn and was wondering if I can use a cast iron pan for this? My new husband likes his food cooked in cast iron. Thank you
Yes! I haven’t tried, but just a few weeks ago, a guy wrote in saying he had successfully baked the whole batch in his cast iron dutch oven. So, I say go for it!
I used to store my extra yeast in the freezer, but was told the cold kills the yeast. Just there out a whole bag! Please advise! I’ll be trying your recipe. the loaves look divine!
Thank you!
Janice — I have been storing my active dry yeast (Red Star) in the freezer for years, and the yeast has never failed me. I store my instant yeast (SAF) in the fridge because it says so on the package, but I suspect it would be fine in the freezer, too. Hope that helps!
Oh my goodness, this sounds wonderful! I am an old bread maker. Been doing it, non-professionally for probably 55 years. It’s one of my favorite things to bake and eat. i can’t wait to do this. I am glad for your videos. They are a great help, especially for the knocking down of the dough and the dividing.
I also loved it that your children popped in to visit while you were preparing the bread. So sweet. 🙂
Thank you for sharing your Mom’s recipe and for the videos.
You are nice to say so…it’s kind of impossible to get anything done peacefully with them around 🙂 I hope the bread turns out well for you!
Hi! Great recipe, i have made this a few times at home and it was a hit! I have since moved out of my family’s home and into an apartment and do not have pyrex bowls but i DO have a 10″inch loaf pan. I was wondering if this recipe would still be possible using the loaf pan or is it a round-only bread? Thanks!
Definitely works in a loaf pan, but don’t bake the whole batch in a single loaf pan. 3/4 of the dough works well in a standard-sized loaf pan, and you can bake off the remaining dough in ramekins or muffins tins to make mini loaves — so yummy!
Just a hint – it should be airs about it, not heirs. I am going to make this recipe this weekend. Very excited about trying it.
strange, where does it say that?
Wonderful bread! I’ve been baking bread for 30 years. My family’s favorite has always been French. This bread is very similar but quicker and less work. Can’t wait to experiment with heartier versions with buttermilk rather than water, or maybe beer, cheddar and caraway. Possibilities are endless if the structure of the bread will hold up without the kneading process which stretches the glutton to hold the structure formed by gas bubbles.
Yay! So happy to hear this. You can also use whey (if you have leftover from making ricotta for example), which offers a nice texture and flavor. Love the idea of using buttermilk. Trying that tonight. Thanks!
I wonder how this recipe would work with an alternate flour (Ie: Coconut Flour, Almond Flour, etc) … I’m trying to be completely grain free as I’m having issues with grains.
Angela, I wish I had more guidance here. This just doesn’t seem to be a bread that holds up in gluten-free variations. Several commenters have tried. Nobody has reported back with great success 🙁
This bums me out to hear this about the gluten free versions! I have one member of my family that can’t do gluten and I was looking forward to trying this recipe. I still might do it though in hopes of maybe having just enough success for us to at least like it somewhat, haha. Maybe I’ll have the magic flour for it to work. Wish me luck!
Oh my goodness, thank you for such a wonderful recipe. I have just baked 2 loaves and from start to finish they worked perfectly. The only problem is they are not going to last very long, with a permanently hungry teenage boy and an equally hungry 9 year old. The house smells amazing and I am astonished at how quick it was -2 1/2 hours. I followed your instructions carefully and am looking forward to baking some more.
Yessssss. I absolutely love hearing all of this. Love the image of the permanently hungry teenage boy.
How does this work for rolls if at all possible?
Thanks for posting this recipe! I have had several failed attempts at bread/rolls. I am crossing fibers this turns out well.
well, I have never tried with rolls, but one commenter did not too long ago (if you feel like scrolling back through the comments…no fun) with great success, which still amazes me because it is really not a dough that is meant to be made into rolls — it is really wet and needs the support of a bowl or muffin cup or ramekin to help it bake. My suggestion for rolls is to bake off mini loaves in ramekins or popover pans or muffin tins. It works beautifully.
I made this today, very excited btw, and while I had it in the oven proofing, it half way baked :/ What a total waste of supplies and I am not happy. I mixed everything like it said, had the oven on below 200 degrees for about 2 hours and when I saw it rose I was elated! When I began with the forks to punch it down, I was unhappy as it baked about half way through. I did leave the oven on under 200 cuz I figured leaving it in the oven that low with the temp off would just cool off the oven and it wouldn’t rise. I’m sticking with my bread machine from now on
I made this tonight also. I did like the instructions said and turned the oven on for about 1 min. It kept warm enough for the hour to make it rise perfectly. Maybe try it that way.
Thanks, Rachael.
By leaving the oven on you did start to cook it. You need to turn it on for 1 minute and then turn it off. It is just to make a warm environment, not to have a hot place.
Thanks, Katie 🙂
Jeni, hey, I’m bummed to hear all of this. The thing is that 200 degrees is way too hot — that is why the instructions say to turn off the oven after a minute. You just want to create a slightly warm spot for the bread to rise. Hope you give the bread another shot. It’s so much better than bread machine bread.
A trick my grandma used for proofing in the oven was don’t turn the oven on but just turn the oven light on. She would turn the light on close the door (obviously) and leave it on the whole time the dough was proofing.
Great tip! I’ve been doing that with my homemade yogurt. Works like a charm!
can you make this bread in a bread maker?
I have never tried, but it’s such an easy recipe that I suggest trying it in pyrex bowls or loaf pans if you’ve got them on hand.
I made this as the faux focaccia with the suggested sauted onions and herbs and it came out sooo good! The family loved it! Thanks for the recipe!!
Yay! So happy to hear this. Sauteed onions and herbs sound amazing.
Mine came out a little dense and a bit sour. I did the whole batch in a big loaf pan. What else might I have done wrong?
I think the issue is that you crammed too much into the loaf pan. Was it a standard size loaf pan? I suggest baking 3/4 of the dough off in the loaf pan and then baking off the rest in muffin tins or ramekins.
I’ve kept my SAF Instant yeast in the freezer for years and it always works. Going to try this recipe this afternoon.
Oh good, I might just tuck mine in there too. Thanks!
I just made this for the first time today and I had to write to thank you! It was so easy and so delicious! I may never buy store bought bread again. Again, many thanks for the recipes and the instructions.
You are so welcome! So happy to hear this!
I was a bit leery making bread without kneading it…..but OMG I am thrilled. Followed your very clear instructions and they came out beautiful. I will try with the onions next time. Thank you very much.
Yay!
Thank you so much for sharing your recipe, and including such great instructions. I love to cook – and I do most things well – but I would have thought that bread would be something totally beyond my ability. But this is supurb, and it’s so simple even I can pull it off. This is wonderful.
You are so welcome! I know, isn’t making bread so easy? And delicious? 🙂
Tried the bread today. Thinking it was a bit too humid here. The loaves taste great and have a very nice texture, just not as big as in the photos others have posted. I’ve seen this before down here in SE Texas when the weather is very humid.
Still overall an easy recipe with good tasting results. Will post when I try this when it’s much less humid. Though that may be a couple of months yet 😉
Lisa — I think the photos are deceiving. What size bowls are you using?
Has anyone tried this recipe with sourdough starter? I’ve seen other no-knead recipes similar to this one and they have been pretty good with the starter. I’d really like to know as I’m a huge sourdough fan.
Lisa, I think someone did, but you’d have to scroll back through the comments…no fun. Unfortunately, I don’t have much to offer re sourdough starters, but I am a huge fan too. Must learn soon.
Can you use regular salt or sea salt? I don’t have Kosher salt and live 32 miles from nearest grocery store. We only go to town once a month and just went yesterday:( Can you also please email me the answer? I am on my phone and don’t know how to save this page to see your answer. I Had to take pictures of your whole recipe as well as the pictures you posted.
Thanks so much.
Susan
I looked this one up earlier and was told to substitute Kosher salt with 1 teaspoon of regular salt which I did and mine turned out great!
Great, thanks for sharing!
Hi Susan, we emailed, but in case anyone else is reading this thread, the answer is yes: use about 1.5 or 1.75 teaspoons of tables salt in place of the two teaspoons of kosher salt.
I have been waiting (quite impatiently) for mine to cool, and having just tried it, I must say it’s amazingly delicious. Thanks for such a wonderful recipe!
Hooray! So happy to hear this.
Hello,
Just pulled these loaves of bread from the oven, cooled them for a bit and wow its just amazing I cant get over how simple/ basic the ingredients were, how easy it was to make and how non time consuming it really was! Most importantly its very tasty for my first attempt. I used a rapid rising yeast packet, all purpose flour(bleached), and let it rise for 2 hrs in oven did the heat for 1 min and shut off. I cant wait to get more creative with this bread. Seriously this is now my go to bread for Sunday dinners thanks so much for sharing.
Also I found the step by step videos very helpful!
Yay, so happy to hear this Michelle. I know, it is the most comforting addition to any meal. Love a good Sunday dinner 🙂
I just made two loaves and they turned out perfectly! By chance can you freeze this bread? I don’t need two loaves for dinner:)
Yay! Yes on the freezing. If you foresee yourself using it for toast, I would slice it before you freeze it. Wrap it in plastic wrap, then place in a ziplock — 6 slices or so in a bundle. It freezes beautifully. We have it in the freezer at all times for toast and for paninis. If you foresee yourself wanting it for dinner bread, I suggest cutting it into thirds or quarters, wrapping each in plastic wrap, then sticking the wrapped hunks of bread into a ziplock bag. Hope that helps. Let me know if there is anything else!
My first try at this and I’m so excited to try it out on my family! So many possibilities here lol.I’m on the 2nd rise now and it’s looking good. will let you know soon how it turns out. I have made beer bread before in the iron skillet (@David) and it turned out delicious.I used about 2 Tbl of bacon grease in my skillet.
Oh, yay! I hope it finished off successfully. Also beer bread + bacon grease sounds amazing.
Question: how would you alter this recipe for Gluten Free and High Altitude (over 8,000 ft) baking? I do have an all purpose GF flour..that’s a blend of 6 different flours.
Oh Adelina, if only I knew! I have yet to make a successful gluten-free variation of this bread. I will report back when I do. And I don’t have any experience with high-altitude baking either. How do you typically adjust recipes for high altitude?
I have great news! I made this recipe, and after a first fail back in March, I decided to give it a go. I followed the directions better this time too =) What I did to make my bread unique was- I mixed in 1/2 tsp nutmeg and 1/2 tsp cinnamon into the salt and flour mixture. After the second rise, I mixed in 1/3 cup pumpkin butter into the dough (VERY GENTLY). The smell of the pumpkin butter flavored bread cooking should be bottled up and sold for lots of money! It turned out so amazing, that I cut it up into slices and made french toast out of it the next morning. There is no photo that can capture how delicious this was! Thank you, once again!
oh my gosh this sounds amazing! I am so happy to hear that you gave the recipe another go, and your variation sounds absolutely scrumptious! Do you have a favorite brand of pumpkin butter? Would love to try this sometime this fall. Thanks!