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.
6,405 Comments on “My Mother’s Peasant Bread: The Best Easiest Bread You Will Ever Make”
Sounds delicious. Will this recipe work in a bread machine?
Thanks, Kris
I don’t know, Kristie, but it’s worth a shot! Report back if you try it.
I have tried many bread recipes but this, my goodness, THIS recipe is the best of all! I tried it yesterday using half the portions in case I didn’t like it but I loved it and made the regular portion again today! Oh, to mention, I used whole wheat flour and wheat germ and it was fantastic! My brother also told me that this is the best bread i have ever made! 😀 Thank you and your mother for this recipe!
I just made it using 3 cups of whole wheat flour (pastry flour at that!) plus 1 cup barley meal. Worked out great! I took half the batch to make 12 rolls (cooked in muffin tins). I let the rolls in the muffin tins cook for only 15 minutes at 425° and they are perfect! Looking forward to try it again with a variety of flour combinations. It is so quick and easy, it suits my busy schedule! 🙂 Thank you!
I had difficulty with the amount of flour. 4 cups flour with 2 cups water was too dry, so I tried again and 3 cups flour with 2 cups water was a much stickier consistency. I’m wondering if anyone else had this issue? We love the bread, so good with butter and jam!
Doughs are often drier in the winter because the air is drier. Also, if you are measuring with a cup rather than by weight, there might be more flour in the mixture. When that happens I just add a little more water (usually a splash or two at a time) and keep mixing until it’s a nice, sticky dough.
Thanks for these tips, Heather!
Melissa, so happy to hear you loved the bread despite the measuring issues. May I make a suggestions? Buy a scale! They cost $12 or less now, and they eliminate all of these measuring questions. You will be so happy. I promise!
I just recently started on a bread baking frenzy and yours was the first recipes I tried and not only is it ridiculously easy but also very yummy. Of course, you already knew that. Also I started a blog challenging myself to bake a hundred breads by the end of the year and yours was the very first one blogged about which you can view if you want by following the link here:
https://bread584.wordpress.com/2016/10/04/an-introduction-and-my-first-loaf/
Anyway, just wanted to say thanks you for getting me started on my bread-baking journey and for the awesome recipe! Will definitely make again.
Wow, exciting, Amy! I wish you all the best! That sounds like a fun project.
I love your peasant bread! It was a hit the first time I tried it. So I baked it again! Thanks so much for sharing. It’s so easy to make and I am not sure if I am going to buy bread again.
So happy to hear this, April!
I just baked 2 loaves of bread and they came out great. Sat down with a cup of tea and enjoyed what I baked . I am 75 and enjoy baking. Keep up the good work thanks
So happy to hear this, Paul! Thanks for writing in and happy baking!
When using whole wheat flour in this or any whole wheat recipe, try adding 1 tablespoon gluten for every cup of whole wheat flour. This will avoid a too heavy and dense loaf, and add loft to the finished product. (1 tablespoon per loaf may not b enough for what you’re making; so experiment — ). Gluten can be had at most health-food stores, and many large groceries.
“Vital wheat gluten (or gluten flour) is flour that has been wet to activate the gluten-producing proteins, washed to to remove the starchy part of the flour, and then dried and milled back to a flour-like consistency. This not the same as high gluten flour. It can be added, about a tablespoon per loaf, to bread doughs that contain low protein flours or meals (ryes, oats, corn, etc.) or have a lot of extras (such as cheese, onions, dried fruit or nuts), to produce lighter loaves.”
[From The King Arthur Flour Baker’s Companion, Countryman Press, Woodstock VT, 2003]
Very interesting, Christopher! Thanks so much for sending all of this.
I had problems with my second rise. I used the proper bowls/sizes but I did use older yeast. While it bubbled and showed me it was still active, it just wasn’t quite the same so I knew my fist attempt wouldn’t be prerfect. SECOND time, I used fresh rapid yeast. I also used half wheat beer and half water. I did not weigh my flour and it wasn’t wet enough so I added a touch more beer. I also used honey my second time around and more salt. At the half way mark, I oiled the tops of my breads and sprinkled sea salt and fresh rosemary. DELISH! I busted my bread machine and this was the perfect recipe find while I save up another couple of hundred bucks to replace my machine. THANK you!
Wow, amazing! Love the sound of all of these adaptations!
I am a die hard bread baker, and this is definetly my favorite bread recipe of all time!! Thank you so much for sharing it! I was wondering if you have ever frozen the dough and then later thawed it with success?? I have seen in the comments that you can freeze the cooked loaves….just wondered if you’ve tried freezing the dough?
Suzanna, I have! I like to freeze the dough in quart containers. The only tricky/annoying part is waiting for the dough to thaw — first enough to transfer from container to buttered bowl, second enough so that it’s ready for the oven. But it works!
Any thoughts on adjusting rise times and and amounts of yeast if we are trying to bake this recipe with a live starter? Or if such a quick rising bread is even possible with live starters?
I just started baking a few months ago. I’ve made some successful sourdough and crusty artisan breads with my live starter (named Audrey) but I’m looking for some recipes for softer and quicker rising breads like this one.
Tried this recipe twice with my live starter. Both times the interior was gooey and undeveloped. My guess is if I want to use a live starter I’ll have to let it rise much much longer…but wanted to hear your thoughts…
Hi Jason!
Thanks for writing in. I was on a sourdough kick earlier this fall, and I did experiment a little bit with using the starter in my dough. First, are you using a scale? That is sort of essential for what I was doing, which was this: Every day, while I was in the process of making my starter, I would use what I discarded from the starter in my peasant bread dough. So, I would scoop out 90% of my starter and put it in a bowl and weigh it. Because my starter was equal parts flour and water, I would then divide this number in half, and subtract it first from 512 g — this would then give me the amount of flour I would add — and then from 468 g — this would give me the amount of water I would add. I then would cut the amount of yeast I used by half, so I would use 1 teaspoon instant yeast. The result was a loaf with just a slightly sour taste, and I really really liked it. I have yet to try using exclusively a natural starter with this dough, but I would imagine you would need to extend the rise time quite a bit. Hope that helps! Let me know if you need anything clarified.
I was just looking at http://www.kingarthurflour.com/learn/ingredient-weight-chart.html webpage, which says 1 cup of flour weighs 120 grams (so 480 for 4 cups). But I assume that 512g should be used in this recipe, right?
Hi Phil,
Yes, I use 512. For me, a cup of flour usually ways about 128 g, which is where the 512 figure comes from. If you did 480, it would still come out well — the dough will be wetter/soupier. This dough/bread is very forgiving. Sometimes in the winter, I do cut back the amount of flour, so I think if you used anywhere from 485 g to 512 g, you will have success.
My first time baking bread and this came out great. I only wanted a couple of dinner rolls, but wanted them hot out of the oven so I did 1/4 of the recipe and baked in a couple of ramekins. Used 128 g unbleached flour and 114 g water and sized the bowl accordingly. My dough consistency looked just like your videos. Both risings were perfect. I let them rise sitting in the microwave oven with a bowl of hot water. Apparently that was a good environment for rising. Loved the bread and will bake it again, with confidence.
So happy to hear this Phil! Great job scaling back the recipe — that’s not always easy to do, but it sounds as though you did it perfectly. Thanks so much for writing in. So happy this worked out well for you.
Thank you so much for sharing this recipe. Using it I baked my very first loaf of bread ever tonight. To say it was a hit is a bit of an underestimate. My wife, daughter, and I ate the first loaf in about 15 minutes and my wife made me promise to bake more tomorrow. Absolutely delicious and so incredibly easy. I see lots of fresh bread in our future.
Oh David, I am so incredibly happy to hear this! Truly. Isn’t it fun when everyone is happy? Thanks for writing in.
I have made this a few times and it is perfect every time – even the first! I have always been hesitant to try making bread because I’ve never worked with yeast before. Your instructions were spot on and SO appreciated!
Do you have any suggestions on how to add additional flavor? I feel like it would be delicious with roasted garlic, or like as a jalapeno/cheddar bread. Have you ever added additional ingredients? I don’t want to mess anything up with the rise by adding it too early but I want to get in throughout the dough… your experienced advice would be appreciated again. Thanks again for such an easy and clear recipe!
Hi Angela! Sorry for the delay here. First, and I’ll be announcing this soon, but I’ve written a cookbook all about the peasant bread: Bread. Toast. Crumbs. soooo, if you can be patient, there will be lots of ideas for making substitutions in the cookbook. But yes, add roasted garlic! I make a paste with it, and add it to the flour along with the water. Add a cup of so of grated cheese to start, then add more next time if you want more cheese flavor. Diced or sliced jalapeno is delicious! You can’t mess it up. I would just caution about adding too many more ingredients at once. Start with a little, then make notes about how you like it, and add more next time. Hope that helps!
Congrats on the book! Thanks for the tips – so excited to try it this weekend!
Thanks, Angela!!
Hi, Alexandra! I wanted to comment finally because I’ve actually been using this recipe since my daughter was born! She’s five now so I figured I’d tell you. 🙂
She LOVES this bread and so do I. I’m actually making it right now! 🙂 it’s soooo easy and I’ve never had any problems with it when it comes to pan sizes or rising when I use the yeast. Your fool proof water works every time and so does the oven part. Really love this and the rest of your site!
Oh my goodness this makes me so happy! Thanks so much for writing in. So glad the bread has been a hit with your daughter. Thank you for your kind words.
Hi! My recipe for this bread met with destruction and I can’t seem to print another one. Is this your intent or is something wrong?
I love the bread! Thanks!
No, not at all! There is a print icon beside the “Pin Recipe” – Do you see it? It’s there for future reference.
Your Peasant bread recipe is fantastic, I have shared it with several others and have given the bread as gifts. It is simple, easy and turns out great. I tried to use 1 c. coconut flour and 1 cup of oat flour in place of white, plus 1 egg, this did not rise very well and seemed to wet. Any ideas on what I can do to help it out? Thank you so much for sharing. sue
Hi Sue.
So happy to hear all of this! What is your goal? Are you looking to add more healthful flours? Both coconut and oat flour are gluten free, so, without the gluten, they probably didn’t provide enough structure, which is why you likely had difficulty with the rise and wetness. If you’re looking for a more healthful flour, I would suggest looking for a local, stone-milled flour, which behaves sort of like a whole wheat flour, but offers a lot more nutritionally than standard roller-milled whole wheat flour. Where do you live? I might be able to help you find something. If you don’t want to go that route, you could use whole wheat flour or white whole wheat flour—I like King Arthur brand.
Can I make dinner rolls with this recipe?
Yes, what kind exactly? Pull apart? or individual? You can use this post as a guide but divide the dough into smaller pieces: https://alexandracooks.com/2016/08/18/eggplant-arugula-sandwich/ I also made this video to help with the shaping: https://alexandracooks.com/2016/08/18/eggplant-arugula-sandwich/
Heyyyy!!
I made this bread last night after looking at this recipe for forever. I cook almost every day but I only bake maayybbee 3 or 4 times a year from scratch. I make a foccacia for the holidays but I have never made a legit bread before. This was amazing, I still have half a loaf waiting for me to make grilled cheeses with at home but fresh out of the oven easily one of the best breads I ever ate. ONLY VARIATION, I only have a 2.5 qt pyrex so I just did some quick math and used 5 cups of flour, 2.5 yeast, sugar, salt and 2 1/2ish cups of water, to make one big loaf. I was skeptic with it being so heavy that it would rise but holy crap did it rise (even used your oven prewarm trick) and came out so buoyant and with the best crust. Thanks for this recipe.
So happy to hear this Nick!! Thanks for the details on the proportions — that’s so helpful for people. And, it makes the best grilled cheese. I’m excited for you!!
I’ve used Nick’s proportions for my large bowl and it’s perfect! I add finely shredded cheddar cheese. My neighbors love it and I have some rising now. This is delicious! Thank you!
So happy to hear this, Judy!!
This is THE BEST BREAD!! I cannot wait to make it! Yay!!!
Yay!!! So fun to see your name here, Kim!
I make this as faux facoccia with sauted onion. rosemary and thyme. Soooooo good!!
So happy to hear this!
hi…i want to add rosemary and onions also..when did you add this ?
I would add the rosemary right into flour, and I would do the same with the onions, too.
I made this to go along with our chili for dinner…ya know, since it dropped down to 60 degrees this morning in Houston! It’s almost like winter right?!
I have never made any kind of bread before! It’s always been intimidating, seemingly complicated, but this recipe gave me a new confidence. It was simple and uncomplicated and best of all, delicious! It was a hit here and we’re using the remainder for grilled cheeses tomorrow!
So happy to hear this Kate! Truly. I’m excited for you to make grilled cheese — it’s so good!
This is a family favorite now. I’ve made it many many times and it always turns out great!
This does work as loaves also. My husband broke the Pyrex bowl (and promptly asked me to replace it!), but I had two glass loaf pans, and they worked great.
Trying to figure out oven space for thanksgiving though and no way to have hot bread and hot turkey with the temp change needed for the bread. (My second oven is a small one and won’t fit this as bread – only rolls.) How long would you cook these in roll form, and would you still need to adjust the temp during cooking? Or do you think it could be cooked longer at the lower temp?
Glad to hear your loaf pans are working out! Here’s a variation of the recipe that makes dinner rolls. It might offer some guidance re timing/temperature: https://alexandracooks.com/2013/11/26/thyme-dinner-rolls/ Let me know if there is anything else. Happy Thanksgiving!
I didn’t have any kind of bowl that could go in the oven, so I used two 8″x4″x2 1/2″ loaf pans ( the volume is similar to the 1 quart bowls). Worked great.
So happy to hear this, Sally!
I’ve made this bread many times and it’s very good but seems too moist even after being baked. It looks different than the picture you have of your cut, baked loaf.
I even add extra flour because my dough seems too wet when I’m mixing. I know it’s supposed to be very sticky but it’s really wet .. doesn’t hold a ball shape at all and falls into the shape of the bowl. Is this correct?
I think maybe you just need to bake it longer or let it cool longer before cutting it. The dough is super wet and sticky. Reference this photo: https://alexandracooks.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/9571516488_ca8d3e41d1_o.jpg The dough should hold a ball briefly, but will eventually spread out/relax as it sits/rises. Hope that helps! Also reference the videos at the end of the post.
Thank you so much! Do you use a liquid measuring cup for the water, or standard measuring cup? I was using a liquid one and I think mine might be slightly off. I tried with a standard cup just now and the mixed dough seemed more like the picture. Hopefully the texture seems a bit drier once it’s baked off!
I use both, but I would agree, the dry measuring cup is more accurate! Glad to hear the batter is looking more as it does in the photos. Good luck! Let me know if there is anything else.
Any ideas for turning this recipe into cheese bread?
Yes! Add as much as a 1.5 cups grated or a mix of grated and cubed cheese in with the flour/dry ingredients. Toss it to coat. Then add the water.
Amazingly, I made this bread twice at my last house – after the first failure, I blamed the yeast and got new yeast, but the second batch came out just as bad. A year or two later, at a new house, I made the gluten-free version during my trials with elimination diet, and it came out amazing! Since then I’ve gotten gluten back, and this recipe for whatever reason works perfectly now. Maybe I learned something since then… but hey, I think I’ll blame the house!
Tonight I’m making a batch and substituting half the water and flour each for 16 oz of unfed sourdough starter, and swapping the APF for bread flour. I’m looking forward to sharing the results!!!
The house! So funny. Did you live in a super humid climate in the first house? In any case, I’m so happy to hear you’ve had success with both the gluten-free and the original peasant bread recipes now.
Please do report back on your sourdough experiments. I was on a kick earlier this year where I was tossing in some of my starter, which otherwise would have been discarded before a feeding, and I was cutting the yeast in half and using some local stone-milled flour — it was really good/fun.
I made this bread and it’s amazing. I even completely messed it up; I forgot to add salt until after the first rise. I took the risk to bake it anyway and it still came out delicious. Going to try to add some rosemary to my next batch. YUM.
Yay!! So happy to hear this, Jocelyn!!
Going to try this by adding 1cup sharp cheddar cheese into the mixture
Perfect!
You have changed my life with this bread. I’m a long time reader of your blog, but have never commented. I have been so intimidated by bread making so I’ve never made this bread. Since your book is coming out and I want to buy it, I thought that I better get over my fear of bread making. I tried your peasant bread tonight and it was so easy and so delicious. My husband asked me twice if it was difficult to make and then proceeded to ask me to make it again tomorrow. 😉 Thank you so much for posting delicious food with beautiful images. Happy holidays from Portland!
Kellie, thank you for all of this!! I’m so happy to hear from a long-time reader, and I’m so happy you’ve conquered your fear of bread making. Thank you for your kind words. Means a lot. Happy husband approves of bread, too 🙂
I’ve NEVER made a good loaf of bread. The first loaves I made using your recipe tasted to yeasty but I tried again and now it turns out perfect every time. I do agree that it does seem a bit to moist but my husband just gobbles it up. I usually just make half a recipe and that works great for us. Anyway I could make this into a cinnamon raisin bread? Also if I use a regular loaf pan do I still bake it for 15 mins at 425 and the 15-17 minutes at 375. Thanks again for posting this recipe.
Hi Rita,
There will be a cinnamon-raisin bread in the book, which comes out in April!! https://www.amazon.com/Bread-Toast-Crumbs-Recipes-No-Knead/dp/055345983X
As for the loaf pan, I would make 1.5 x the recipe and bake it in two loaf pans. Or make the regular recipe, but don’t try to bake the whole thing in a single loaf pan — it’s too much dough. You can do 3/4 of the recipe in the loaf pan, and bake off the remaining dough in muffin cups or ramekins. For loaf pans, I bake them at 375 for 40 minutes. Hope that helps!
Thanks for the reply will definetly give it a try
Sure thing!
So I made 3/4 of the recipe and did it in a loaf pan and it turned out awesome. Thanks for the help
Yay! So happy to hear this, Rita!
I make this recipe nearly every week, for my husband’s lunches. He didn’t like the round loaves for making sandwiches so he asked me to try the loaf pan. I just a regular pyrex loaf pan and make one loaf, it’s quite large but it works out very well. The idea to make 1.5 times the recipe and using two loaf pans sounds great, I might do that next week but this week, I have the regular recipe in the kitchen raising and I will bake in one loaf pan. The only thing I had to change was to bake it for about 5 minutes longer or the middle came put too moist. We love this recipe, it’s a staple in our house since I first made it. I really love how easy it is and how extraordinarily delicious it is! It truly is a great tasting bread with a wonderful crumb and perfect crust. Like I said earlier, I make it almost every week now. Next week, I will half again the recipe and make two loaves to see how that works out. Then, I will be able to eat some of it too! I’m just kidding, the loaf makes enough for him to have sandwiches through the week and then enough for us to both have a lunch out of it on my day off.
You are too sweet… I love it — glad there is some bread left for you, too! 🙂 OK, first, yay!! I’m so happy to hear this! Second, definitely try 1.5 times the recipe and baking it in two loaf pans. I usually bake the loaf pan loaves at 375 for 40 minutes. Third, do this and report back 🙂 Fourth, do you know about my book, Bread Toast Crumbs? It comes out in April and there are 1 million variations of the peasant bread in it. Kidding, but lots of variations and lots of ways to use/cook with the bread. Happy Happy New Year.
Ali! I am not sure why I waited so long to make this but made it 4x over the thanksgiving holiday to rave reviews. I also experimented with sprouted spelt and wheat flours and equally delicious! Hi to Ben and love to kids! Please come visit Neil and I in Philly soon! xoxoxo Katie
Katie!! Nothing makes me happier to read this. I’m so happy the bread was a hit, and I’m so happy it worked well with the more whole grain flours. I’ve been using a local flour, and while I can’t use 100% without it being super dense, I really like the flavor when I use 50% or even more. Anyway, yay!! Thanks so much for writing in. Hi to Neil and your kiddies!! We must have a reunion soon. Would LOVE to come down to Philly to see you. xoxoxo