My Mother’s Peasant Bread: The Best Easiest Bread You Will Ever Make
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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.
6,417 Comments on “My Mother’s Peasant Bread: The Best Easiest Bread You Will Ever Make”
I’ve just pulled my first loaf out of the oven – it smells wonderful! Now to wait for my husband to get home so we can eat some (hard, hard, hard… LOL)
I bought some new oven-proof bowls that are supposed to be good up to 450 degrees (I think they’re Pyrex) but seeing the comments about exploding Pyrex has me concerned for next time.
thanks for the recipe! can’t wait to try it.
Fun! I hope you were able to wait…I never can 🙂 I have never had an issue with exploding pyrex, and I have a few of the newer bowls, but I suppose it is something to be aware of.
Saw this on pinterest. I’ve had the same bowl with flowers on it for 20 years – I didn’t know it would go in the oven! I’ll have to try the bread.
So fun! Yes, it makes a beautiful loaf!
Has anyone used loaf tins to bake this bread in please??? I have dodgy grip and would most probably drop glass bowls.
Thanks for reading and I eagerly await your replies.
YEs! You can bake the dough in loaf pans but just don’t try to cram the whole batch in one pan. Either bake 3/4 of the dough in a standard loaf pan and make mini loaves in a muffin tin or ramekins; or split the dough between two standard loaf pans; or double the recipe and split the dough between 3 loaf pans. Hope that helps!
I bake buns and bread quite often…however this recipe looks so interesting I will definitely try it!!! I have the colored Pyrex bowls that I received for wedding gifts in 1967 as well as white ones with the chickens painted around the rim….will these work for the bread. I see you have clear Pyrex..do you think the colored bowls will impede the color of the bread?
Fun! What are the numbers on the bottom of the bowls? I think the colored ones will be perfect — that is what I have been using most recently, #441 and #443 specifically.
Awesome recipe!
What a wonderful way to start a Saturday morning! Thank you, Alexandra. This is an absolute win all around 🙂
Wonderful to hear this, Tasha! You are so welcome!
I’m in the process of my third time making this. First time was PERFECT! My whole family loved it and everything went just as supposed to. Second time I put the dough in too warm a place to rise and it cooked before it rose. I’m afraid that has happened this time as well. So disappointing because I know how perfect and delicious it is when baked correctly!
Oh no! are you letting it rise in the barely warm oven? Or was that the trouble — did the oven get too hot?
Hi! can you make this bread with whole wheat flour? it really is the best!!
Yes, it definitely does not turn out as well when all whole wheat flour is used, but you can definitely use whole wheat flour. I would suggest starting with 2 cups whole wheat and 2 cups white flour, and then do a batch with 3 cups whole wheat, 1 cup white, and then go for the 4 cups whole wheat flour … or just go for it knowing that the texture won’t be quite as nice. Good luck with it!
Can I use size 323 1.5 qts pyrex bowl?
yes, you can, but I would suggest baking off about 3/4 of the dough in that #323 and then baking off the remaining dough in buttered ramekins or muffin tins. I think you will be happier with the size of the finished loaf if you bake 3/4 of the dough versus 1/2 of the dough in that bowl. Hope that helps!
Can’t wait to try this!
Can this be made in a breadmaker machine?
Put that breadmachine away! 🙂 There is no need. This bread is so simple, and it’s so much more fun when you see the bread in action start to finish, right?
I can’t decide whether I’m thrilled that I discovered this recipe.. or horrified.. as I have now made it 4 times in the last month… Perfectly .. every time.. I started with plain AP flour, then tried Focaccia (perfect), then went with Whole wheat… (maybe my favorite for making great sandwichs) then last night with Cornmeal to complement some soup we had for dinner…
Worked perfectly every time.
The Whole wheat flour was slightly less wet and easier to work with…
This has to be the easiest no fuss bread I have ever made.. and I have made probably 6 or 7 loaves of no-knead bread that was all the rage last year…
This is way simpler. Thanks!
Haha, I love it. I am so happy to hear all of this! You are inspiring me to use the whole wheat flours I have stashed in my freezer. I love the cornmeal variation, too. So happy you find the process to be no-fuss. Thanks for writing in!
It looks delicious! Can you use table salt instead of kosher?
Yes! Just cut it back a teensy bit. Maybe use, 1.75 tsp versus 2?
I’ve been baking bread weekly for decades(ouch baby). Yeast,soda,sweet,sourdough,you name it. This makes a wonderful loaf and is as no brainer as it gets. Thanks for sharing it. Oh and don’t spare the butter!
Wonderful to hear this! couldn’t agree more about the butter — it is the key to the crust, the flavor, the no sticking. Thanks for writing in!
what flour can you sub if gluten intolerant? i see that 1/4 can be cornmeal…any other subs for the balance? looks yummy!
Tom, unfortunately, I have not found a gluten-free variation of this bread worth sharing. I will report back when I do. I just bought some King Arthur gluten-free flour. Hoping to experiment with that soon.
Your recipe sounds amazing, I have tried to make bread soooo many times and was never happy with the results. I am going to try your recipe, just wondering if my Pyrex bowl # 403 would work. I have never baked anything in Pyrex before so I thought I would check with you first before I did. I can hardly wait to try this.
Hi, so sorry for this delayed response…just seeing it! OK, I just googled #403 and it looks as though it is 2.5 qts, so I would suggest baking the whole loaf in the bowl. Be sure to grease well with butter, and you might have to bake a little bit longer — just 2 or 3 minutes. Good luck with it!
I’ve made this bread 4 times in the last 2 weeks. I made 2 loaves and took to party with all my lady friends. They all fell in love with the bread. It was a hit. Thank you for this simple yet wonderful recipe!
Yay! Makes me so happy to hear this! Thanks for writing in.
Trying it as i type, on second rise and almost ready for the oven, will let you know what’s up
Success? I am curious 🙂
I have been trying to find an easy bread recipe without using flour. Any help would be most appreciated. I will have to try this with a combination of potato starch, tapioca, coconut and almond flour sifted and see how this may work. I understand you need xantham gum to for bread wheat-free recipes. I’m excited to try your version but change up the ingredients.
I will let you know as soon as I find a gluten-free variation of this bread that works. It is hard! Many have tried. No one has been successful thus far.
Ali, I have been baking bread since I came across your “My Mother’s Peasant Bread” recipe.(mid Jan) It is the best! This last week-end alone, I made 10 loaves! Can’t stop. Of course, family & friends like that. I have even mailed bread to my sister. Made for the first time this am…..some wheat bread….really good!
Oh my gosh, you are too funny. I love it. This makes me so happy! LOVE that you mailed bread to your sister….I think that is a first?!
FABULOUS! Just made it with one cup graham flour… amazing and SO easy! DH loved it (:
Yay! Wonderful to hear this.
I made your recipe yesterday morning and it was so easy and came out so great I decided to try again in the afternoon with my own experiment. I used 150 grams rye flour and the rest unbleached all purpose and added a tablespoon of caraway seeds. I had to add a little extra water, but the rest of the recipe was the same. It was soooo good! I think next time I might use a teaspoon or so more caraway and try a little ww flour too. I’m excited to try experimenting with other flours and adding other herbs, spices & ingredients to the mix.
Wonderful to hear this! I love a good rye bread. You are inspiring me to start experimenting, too…and to make pastrami this weekend. Yum! Report back with any other variations you make. I would love to hear about them! Thanks so much for writing in.
WOW So good!!Just made this today!Question can I freeze or should I refrigerate? How long will it stay fresh? Made 2 small loaves only 2 of us so do not want to let it get hard or spoil.Thanks
SF
You can do either! When I make a lot of these loaves at one time, I slice and freeze about 6 slices in a bundle wrapped in plastic wrap then tucked in a ziplock. But if I know we will go through it quickly for toast, sandwiches, etc, I just leave it at room temperature in a ziplock bag. In the summer, I’ll stick it in the fridge but right now, it keeps fine in a ziplock on the counter. Hope that helps! So happy to hear you like the bread!
How can you take a recipe you claim to be so easy and complicate it with all the commentary and micro-instructions. A good recipe should be simple, short, and printable.
George, I would normally agree with you but my experience with bread is that people are so afraid of working with yeast and dough and anything that requires rising, which is why with this recipe I made a serious effort to explain things clearly. Most people have been appreciative of the careful instructions as well as the recipe — it has made bread bakers out of people who were terrified of baking. Also, there is a print icon to the right of the title.
Amen!
To George.
I have made it many times and I thank Alexandra for her detailed instructions as it has made it super easy to follow. I never made bread before, and thanks to Alexandra, my friend and family think I’m and professional bread maker! It is so easy, my 16 year old son takes it upon himself to make it.
I’m so happy to hear this, Valerie, and I so appreciate you chiming in to this thread. Thank you. Wonderful to hear that your son is making it, too. Fun!
Dear Ale.ur recipe is wonderful.. i tried today but my dough did not come as wet as yours!!!!
All I have on hand is bread machine yeast will that work?
All I have on hand is bread machine yeast (still in date) Will that work?
Diane, I don’t know. I’ve never used bread machine yeast. I don’t want to lead you astray by telling you to use it because if it doesn’t work out, you’ll be frustrated that you wasted 4 cups of flour, plus the time you spent making it. Maybe wait to try this till you get to the store again? Sorry 🙁
I don’t quite understand using the oven for the bread rising. I know this may be a silly question, but do you put the bread in the oven or sit on top? Does this include using a tea towel-that goes in the oven or can you still use the wrap? Also, do you do this for both rising, or just one? I appreciate your detailed instructions! ~Thanks 🙂
Not silly at all. OK, bread rises better when it is in a draft-free, slightly warm spot. So, the goal of preheating the oven very briefly is just to create a slightly warm spot to place your bread while it makes that first rise. It’s not necessary, but it will help. And yes, you put the bread in the oven. The oven should be barely hot — you’ll preheat it for a minute total. Yes, cover bread with tea towel or plastic wrap. For second rise, I just rest the bread on top of the oven, and I do not cover it with a towel or plastic wrap. Let me know if there is anything else!
Thank you very much Alexandra. I’ve tried your recipe last evening. It was exactly as you described it. Thanks to your careful instructions.
This morning my daughter had half a loaf for breakfast. I had to stop her. This is a miracle as she is not big on breakfast.
I foresee myself baking lots of peasant bread!
Yay! Makes me so happy to hear this. I know, my daughter would eat bread all day long if she had her way.
This recipe sounded pretty easy, but I think I did something wrong as it did not rise like yours did. I used instant yeast with the same instructions with the warm water. Maybe I didn’t punch it down enough, how important is that? I also live at 7k feet, do I need to adjust anything? I’m going to try again in a few days and see if it turns out different. Thanks for posting.
You know, I am not experience with baking at high elevation, so that could be playing a role. Have you had issues with other bread recipes? Did the bread rise well on the first rise?
This bread is not only DELICIOUS, it is super easy to make!! I’m done pinning bread recipes….this one is IT!!!
Yay! So happy to hear this, Toni!