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.
6,427 Comments on “My Mother’s Peasant Bread: The Best Easiest Bread You Will Ever Make”
Thank you so much for this recipe! I was very intimidated by the process of kneading flour and such, so I never got the courage to try making bread! My 8 x 8 in glass baking pan were perfect at 30mins. Do you have any suggestions if i were to use metal muffin pans? Thanks in advanced!
If you tap on her link for thyme muffins using this recipe you’ll see how she divides and cooks it.
2nd time making bread. This is way easier and tastier. Great addition tomy table and to my freezer. Thanks for making it easy for a novice.
Exellent! I’ve made this several times for my family and guest and they rave, rave, rave!
I used to make bread with homemade bread machine but since last week it was broken so i was looking for the recipe in the pinterest and found yours. I used half and half white flour and whole wheat and it turned great. My hubby loves so much the bread that i made from your recipe. Thank you so juch for sharing the best recipe ever. It was easy to make and so delicious.
This was the first time I had made bread and it turned out great! I was so happy and proud! thanks for the great recipe!
I made this bread tonight and was extremely pleased at how it looked and tasted. Delicious and wonderful! My husband was also impressed. Thank you!
This is without a doubt the best no knead bread ever. I have made the many times and appreciate your great directions and photos. Thank you for sharing
This recipe is great. It is easy and comes out perfect every time. My husband and son ate the two loaves in 2 days. So good and easy!! Thank you so much. I made the gluten free for myself and it was wonderful too!!
Hi, I buttered the heck out of my bowls but the bread won’t come out! Any tips?
Oh no! My only thought is that the bowls were either too cold or the butter wasn’t room temperature enough. I find in the winter, the butter needs a quick blast in the microwave (which I don’t own) or a brief stay in a warm oven to soften up, otherwise it just doesn’t do the job. Were you using Pyrex bowls?
Me too….I didn’t butter enough, but forewarned is forearmed for the next batch!!
Did you try turning hem out of the bowls as soon as they csme out of the oven? The only time I had the loaf stick to the bowl was the time I let it sit in the bowl too long but even then a slight tug on the loaf got it free.
Amazing. I make this a couple times a month. I bought the bowls that were recommended. Super easy and my husband loves it for EVERYTHING. SandwicheS, toast w eggs, French toast, kids love it too. Nice to have homemade bread without the junk. Thank you!
So happy to hear this, Mindy!
I love love love this recipe! I’m so glad I found it again! I was making this once a week for like 2 months a couple years ago then life happened and got really crazy busy and I lost track of the recipe. Remembered the name was Peasant bread finally tonight, googled it and there you were! Bread is on the cooling rack now and house smells great!
How long would you bake in a 2 qt Pyrex bowl? I would love to use this bread for a dip recipe!
I would bake it at 425 for 15 minutes, then 375 for 25 to 30 minutes. That should do it. It should be golden all around. If you have an instant read thermometer, it should be about 210F.
How long for a 4 qt. bowl?
Thanks!
I would say at least 45 minutes, but err on the side of over-baking. If you have an instant read thermometer, it should register 207º-210ºF.
Just made this, most amazing bread i’ve tasted <3 live in a remote country in asia and i've always missed the bread in Europe. So happy I can make this !
So happy to hear this, KW!
Can I bake all the dough in a 4 qt Pyrex bowl?
I don’t see why not! I’ve never tried. The shape of the dough might be a little different than the photos, but the flavor should still be great. Be sure to bake it long enough: 15 minutes at 425F; at least 30 minutes at 375F.
Love this bread! I have been making it for over a year using the Pyrex bowls – with a mix of wheat and white flour.
Recently I have begun using a 2-loaf baguette mold and it works beautifully! I don’t butter the mold – bread comes out with a great crust and is wonderfully chewy inside. Loaves also freeze well.
Thank you for this simple and delicious recipe!
Wow, so wonderful to hear this! Can you share a source for your baguette bold?
I bought this one from Amazon:
https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=Chicago+Metallic+Commercial+II+Non-Stick+Perforated+French+Bread+Pan
Thank you again for sharing this recipe – I love how flexible it is!
Thanks so much for sending!! I’m so excited to try 🙂 🙂 🙂
Janie, no butter, no oil, just the dough on your baguette pans?
Hi Perla – correct. I don’t butter or oil my baguette pan. When I take them out of the oven, I turn the pan over and hit the bottom of the pan if either loaf doesn’t come right off.
The pan I use is perforated which is why I originally didn’t put any butter or oil on it. Now I don’t miss it and the loaves are wonderful. I just took another batch out of the oven! ????
I made this like a year ago and it was fantastic, so I made the thyme rolls with fresh rosemary from my garden, heavenly! Then it kind of went by the wayside, until today! I found the #322 Pyrex bowl at goodwill (the EXACT white floral one as in your picture!) for like $3, and I remembered your recipe, so I made it again today! It came out of the oven less than an hour ago, and we’ll be lucky to have any left for dinner with our broccoli cheese soup tonight! Delicious!
My 6 year old son also brought home butter-in-a-bag that he made at school, which was perfect for fresh bread 🙂
Making this recipe and any kind of bread for the first time today…it’s a grey, wet, cold, snowy day..yesterday I made some turkey vegetable soup and hoping the bread will turn out great..easy dinner!
Made the bread today..one plain and one with everything seasoning…out of this world ..I will make again and again!
It’s a snow day today and I was craving fresh, warm bread so I got this recipe going (one of my favorites!) and we just lost power! It was near the end of the first rise. Can I leave it be for a while or pop it into the fridge? Or chalk it up to a loss and start over later?
I made this today, and it came out fantastic! I was jumping around the kitchen in surprise that I actually made bread ???? Thank you for sharing!
Yay yay yay!!!
Love this! Super easy. Made it a lot. Recipe can be cut in half and still work great. I pop mine in bread machine to mix and rise, then into casserole dish to bake. I add whatever herbs sounds good at the moment. Give it a try.
Nice! Love all of this!
Today is the 2nd time I made this. My family loves this bread! Great recipe, thanks for sharing!
Wonderful to hear this!
Alexandra, today I made your PB recipe. Used White Lily bread flour. I was drawn to this vs. the ‘other’ no-knead breads as 1) I was always nervous handling pre-warmed red-hot dutch ovens, and 2) the idea of the buttered crust was wayyyy enticing.
BTW, the prompt for 1/2 cup boiling water to 1.5 cups cold tap water yielded exactly 100-degrees, perfect for the instant yeast. Bravo.
Baked step-by-step from your posted recipe, and it turned out beautifully. Wonderful, the 15 minutes waiting for it to cool after it came out of the oven seemed like 15 hours.
I can’t THANK YOU enough, and my best to you and yours for this Holiday Season.
J Wilson
Nashville
So happy to hear all of this J. Thanks so much for taking the time to write. Wishing you a happy happy holiday season as well! Happy baking 🙂
I wish I could post a picture of what I just took out of my oven, I really do. Being a single guy I was looking for a great, simple recipe to make bread and came across this one today and it was beyond easy. I’ve only recently gotten into making my own pizza at home from scratch and it gave me the itch to try baking other things. I tried a no knead recipe I found on Youtube that required an overnight rise and forgot to butter or grease my pan and it ended up sticking and making a mess once I was finally able to remove it. Ended up giving it to a friend who said it was not bad but he may have just been being kind. 🙂
So I gave this one a shot today and to say I am pleased would not come close. It turned out amazing! As I am alone, I reduced the recipe to fit in a loaf pan, my Pyrex 1.5 liter, by cutting the flour to 3 cups from 4 and reducing everything else by an equal measure. I mixed it all up in an aluminum mixing bowl with my usual mixing tool, a sturdy bamboo chopstick. Amazing how it works just like a dough hook on a blender for smaller amounts.
Followed the rest of the instructions, and this time remembered to LIBERALLY grease the loaf pan with butter LOL, and after the first rise just folded the dough into the 9X5 loaf pan for the second rise while the oven came to temperature. After about 20 minutes or so, the dough had risen over the top of the loaf pan and it was time to go in the oven.
15 minutes at 425 followed by another 20 or so at 375 and thanks to the pan being transparent it was easy to see the loaf was ready to take out of the oven. It slipped out onto a small cooling rack as easy as I could have possibly wished and is as golden and beautiful as I could ever want a fresh baked loaf to be. So I decided to write this little review as it cooled down and now it is time to go and slice it to see how it has turned out.
A little tip for the first rise… when you start prepping your ingredients, turn on the light in your oven. By the time you have mixed everything together, your oven will be at the perfect temperature for the first rise. No need to turn the oven on and risk forgetting it and having to wait for it to cool down again. This is my standard procedure for proofing Pizza dough and it has never failed me and it will not fail you either.
Merry Christmas everyone and thank you Alexandra for sharing this great recipe!
I made this tonight in 2 loaf pans and they came out amazing! I’ve only tried to make bread once before without any success.
Thank you so much for sharing this recipe and all the tips in it.
I will make this from now on. Love knowing exactly what’s in my bread!
Me, too!
Which brand of kosher salt are you using? (The two most common ones are not equivalent at all.)
I use Diamond Crystal kosher salt.
Thanks. You might want to note that in the recipe, because Morton’s makes the bread super salty.
http://smittenkitchen.com/2010/06/not-all-salts-are-created-equally/
Just took this out of the oven, looks great. Not a bit of trouble making it-everything went according to the recipe. I haven’t tasted it yet, but I don’t even care if it’s not good-it was so easy to make!
Wonderful to hear this M!
I made half the recipe and baked it in a small white square pyrex dish. Came out really good. Thank you for the recipe!
Can I use my kitchen aid with the dough hook to mix it up?
No. It doesn’t take much to mix dough and it’s quick. If you over mix it the bread will be dense and not as light and tender.
Hi Yvonne, you can definitely use it, but you really don’t need to, because it’s such a wet dough — it whisks up pretty quickly by hand. But, if you prefer using your mixer, go for it! Know there is no need to keep the mixer going for 5-7 minutes or for however long you would typically “knead” dough for. As soon as the flour is incorporated, it’s done!
Thank you!
I’ve made this bread several times…..it is so yummy! My family loves it. It takes a bit of time, but it’s easy. Follow directions and it will be perfect!
Thanks for sharing it with the world!
So happy to hear this, Christine!
This recipe is not good at all. It’s way too wet and it doesn’t bake well-after 45 minutes the inside was still a wet mess. I bake bread all the time, seriously, so I know what’s what.
I have the same problem and I promise, I make bread all the time. I dutifully bought the 441 pyrex bowl, I proofed the yeast (I always proof my yeast), followed recipe exactly and twice, I have made two hockey pucks!!! I ended up using the ‘bread’ for toast but I could just as easily make English Muffin bread if I wanted that. Is it the yeast? Maybe oven temp? I don’t know…I did see in a youtube video that someone used 2 1/4 cups of white flour. Ideas? HELP!??
Hi Dina,
Sorry to hear about the trouble. Question: are you using a scale to measure your flour? It sounds as though you are using too much. Is your dough wet and sticky like the photos after you mix it up? The best tip I can give for bread baking is to invest in a scale. This one costs $10 and it will change how you bake — consistent results every time. If you and I and everyone in this thread put 4 cups of flour on a scale, the weight would vary from person to person. If we each put 512 g of flour into a bowl, there will be no variance. Once you start baking by weight, it’s hard to go back.
The tip to use instant yeast is for simplicity. So many people fear yeast, and I’ve found over the years that when people start using instant yeast and whisking it right into the flour/dry ingredients, the fear is overcome. SAF instant yeast is my preference. Like the scale, once you start using instant yeast in your breads, it’s hard to go back to active dry and the process of proofing.
Also, what type of flour are you using?
Alexandra! Success! So happy…it was the flour! I weighed it as directed and this time, it was simply beautiful…fact of the matter is that the first two times, there was not ENOUGH floor, this time there was! I am so used to making kneaded breads and kneading dough, adding a bit more flour until the dough is as smooth and silky as a baby’s bottom, that this is truly a whole new ballgame for me. I also happened to have a package of fast rise yeast from Hodgson Mill and used that as well. Now, if only I could stop eating it! Thank you so much for your responsiveness…from one bread baker to another.
So happy to hear this, Dina! Thanks so much for reporting back. You’re right: this super-hydrated, no-knead dough is a whole different animal than kneaded doughs. So glad it worked out. Happy Baking!
Shelley, hi! Just seeing your comment. I’m copying and pasting what I wrote to Dina:
Sorry to hear about the trouble. Question: are you using a scale to measure your flour? It sounds as though you aren’t using enough. The dough should be wet and sticky — it’s not something you would want to knead or handle — but it shouldn’t be pourable or overly wet. The best tip I can give for bread baking is to invest in a scale. This one costs $10 and it will change how you bake — consistent results every time. If you and I and everyone in this thread put 4 cups of flour on a scale, the weight would vary from person to person. If we each put 512 g of flour into a bowl, there will be no variance. Once you start baking by weight, it’s hard to go back.
Also, what type of flour are you using? And what bowls are you baking it in?
My dough was not wet at all and I used 4 cups of flour like your recipe calls for
Hi Jacquie, how did it turn out?
Fabulous receipe