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.
6,381 Comments on “My Mother’s Peasant Bread: The Best Easiest Bread You Will Ever Make”
For the Faux Focaccia variation, do you bake the bread for 15 minutes at the higher temperature, reduce the temp to 375, and continue baking for 17+ minutes OR are you giving two oven temp options? As in, bake at 425 for 15 minutes OR bake at 375 for 17+ minutes?
Hmm…perhaps I have answered my own question. So, just for confirmation, after re-reading the recipe, it appears there’s no difference in the baking time/temperature for the loaves versus the focaccia? It’s just how you shape the dough… {grin} Is that correct?
You got it! No difference in baking time, just shaping. Let me know if there is anything else. ALSO, just fyi, this is my favorite focaccia recipe: https://alexandracooks.com/2018/03/02/overnight-refrigerator-focaccia-best-focaccia/
It’s essentially the same proportions, but no sugar, and a long, overnight rise in the fridge. But if you want quick, try out the variation above!
Have you tried this with bread flour? Just wondering if it might have a more open rustic crumb…..
Yes. You can definitely use bread flour. You may get a slightly better rise with bread flour, but the crumb should be more or less the same. I suggest all-purpose because most people have it on hand, and I hate thinking about people having to run out to get one more ingredient or feeling deterred by a recipe because they don’t have an ingredient. In sum: go for it!
Hi…..do you think I could use my dutch oven to bake the bread? I don’t have any large glass baking bowls.
Thanks
Kathie
Yes! Just be sure to grease it well with butter. You may need to increase the baking time by 15 minutes to ensure it cooks all the way through.
How to do he recipe for half? Trying today. Wish me luck.
No tricks for halving — just cut the recipe in half. Works beautifully!
I made this with wholemeal flour and found that I needed another 3 tablespoons of water to get the same consistency as before. Worked really well. This recipe is the easiest I have ever followed- thank you!
Wonderful to hear! Great tip re adding more water when using wholemeal flour.
I bought your book and am taking advantage of the long weekend and wintry weather to try out the peasant bread. I tried to make a more “artisanal” loaf following your directions in the back of the book (put dough on floured work surface, pinch into ball, put in preheated Dutch oven). When it came to shaping the loaf, my dough was wayyyyy to wet and would immediately ooze into a flat footballish shape no matter how hard I pinched. Any tips for my next try?
Bread tasted good anyway–just think it will look nicer and maybe have a more open crumb if I manage to shape it properly!
Hi Jill! The dough is very wet. I do sort of a 4-fold method first, where I pull each side to the center, then I turn the whole thing over and use the pinky edges of my hands to shape it into a ball. I’ll have to upload a video — it’s hard to visualize unless you see it. The other thing that may help is if you let the dough rise overnight in the fridge. It will be colder and not as puffy when you shape it. Once you shape it place it on a piece of parchment paper and place the dough with parchment paper and all in a medium bowl (2-3 quarts) and let it rise for a few hours. When you’re ready to bake, transfer the parchment paper and all to the Dutch oven — use the edges of the parchment as handles.
I just made this bread for the first time. Im not very good at baking but this recipe was so easy to follow and the bread is so tasty! I just made grilled cheese with it. You were right. Its perfect.
Yay! So happy to hear this Fernando!
I noticed you are using a metal bowl and utensils in the pictures. I am a novice to this, but the few yeast rolls I have made with relatives they always instructed me never to use metal in any part of the bread making process. Is metal ok? I really don’t have to have all glass and plastic to make yeast breads?
It’s absolutely fine to use metal — I’ve used it for years. Go for it 🙂 🙂 🙂
Hi, Alexandra! I love the way this recipe sounds! Question: Can I use 2 glass Pyrex “loaf” pans instead of the Pyrex bowls? My glass bowls are ANCIENT and I’m not sure if they are oven proof or not.
Thank you,
Virginia
Yes! The loaves will be smallish, but you can use glass Pyrex loaf pans. I would bake 3/4 of the dough in one of the pans, and then find another small vessel such as a ramekin or muffin tin to bake off the rest of the dough. Or just use the two loaf pans knowing that the loaves will be a little short. You can also do 1.5 times the recipe, and bake the dough in the two loaf pans, which will give you two nice sized loaves. Happy baking!
Is there a brand of flour you usually use?
King Arthur Flour’s all-purpose flour is my favorite. If you can’t find KAF, look for unbleached and unbromated all-purpose or bread flour. Happy Baking!
Well, I made this today after meaning to forever! It rose really high, has a brown, ‘crusty’ crust, tastes really great, but I used 2 teaspoons of kosher salt and it just doesn’t taste like it has quite enough. I guess next time add a little more or use regular table salt…
Been making this for over a year,I upped the recipe 1 1/2 times and get two 9/5 nice loafs.also you can add anything to it,just put what ever you add in the water.
Could I let this sit overnight for the first rise? Would the bread have a different flavour if I did?
Thanks!
Yes, definitely! Cut the yeast back to 1/2 teaspoon. Follow the recipe exactly, leaving the dough to rise on the counter overnight. After you divide the dough, keep in mind that it may take as long as 2 hours in the bowls to complete the second rise — don’t put it in the oven till the dough crowns the rim.
The flavor is slightly different, but very subtle, and the texture is a bit different too — it gets that shiny, almost custardy texture. It’s really yummy. Give it a go!
I’m getting ready to try this for the first time…so excited! Is all the mixing done by hand, or do you mix with a mixer? Also can you use regular salt or sea salt? Thank you!!!
All by hand. You can use kosher, regular, or sea salt. The difference in each is subtle.
I have been working on my cooking skills the past few years but had not done any bread making. You said this was an easy bread to make so I decided to try it. It was pretty easy to make. The hardest part was trying to split the dough and put into buttered bowls. I used a 322 pyrex bowl, a one pint pyrex bowl, and two ramekins. They came out great. I removed the bread in the ramekins from the oven a couple of minutes before the larger bowls. They all have a nice hint of butter in the crust. I’ll have to try some variations.
So happy to hear this Terry! Two tips for splitting the dough: use forks with shorter tines. OR, if you happen to be at a cookware shop, look for flexible plastic bench scrapers. They help!
I am so happy to have finally made/baked bread that I could actually eat! OMG, we are in heaven. This bread is so easy to make and so delicious that it will surely be made weekly. Thanks so much for sharing.
So happy to hear this, Debra!!
Hi,
We tried splitting the recipe in half and adding one cup of water but the dough was very wet and didn’t rise 🙁 How many ml of water do you recommend adding (as equivalent to one cup?) Finding different measurement online.
Thanks!
Hi! Did you weigh the flour? For half a recipe (1 cup water), I would use 234 ml water.
I’m not clear on the size of the Pyrex bowl. How many ounces should it be? Thank you!
Hi Carla: You can use various sizes. Originally I suggested people make the bread in two 1-quart Pyrex bowls, which at the time were very affordable and readily available. Now I point people to the three-bowl set on Amazon, which includes a 1-qt and a 1.5-qt bowl, both of which you can use for the bread. What size bowls do you have at home?
We love this bread!! Easy and tasty! When I want to start one day but bake next day, I use 1/2 t yeast, let it sit on counter overnight, then bake as usual. I also found that the whole amount of dough will fit perfectly in a 9X 5 loaf pan. Makes great sandwich bread. Thank you so much for the recipe!
So happy to hear this, Sophia!
Just made this bread. My loaves turned out wonderfully! It’s the first bread I’ve ever attempted
So happy to hear this, Amber!
This is my go to recipe for yummy easy bread. Over the years I have gotten friends hooked!
So happy to hear this, Melanie!
This bread is seriously delicious and so easy to make! I was a little worried after the first rise as the dough is very wet but I plopped it into my pans and it baked perfectly – crusty outside and soft on the inside. The second batch I made I ended up putting all of the dough in a Dutch oven and upped the bake time around 10 minutes, turned out perfect. If you’re a newbie to bread baking, try this recipe!
All I have is the Pyrex 2.5 bowl. Would that be too large?? Just trying to see if I can use what I already have before buying.
Is it 2.5 L? If so, go for it! Bake the entire amount of dough in it. Butter it very well. Bake it for 15 minutes more than the recipe suggests.
I made this today. I didn’t have the bowls so I used a 9 by 5 loaf pan & it turned out beautifully. My husband has it more than half gone already. Lol
Will definitely be making this again…probably tomorrow. Lol
Thanks so much for the recipe. 🙏 😊
What brand salt do you use?
Diamond Crystal kosher salt.
So about 6.5 g if using a different salt?
You can actually use as much as 10 g salt. If you are sensitive to salt, I would use 8 g.
Hello Alexandra, I have just discovered your wonderful bread techniques and recipes in your book, Bread, Toast, Crumbs. I posted something similar on Amazon for my 5-star review. I am a home baker and have been baking bread for a bunch of years (let’s just say decades and leave it at that!) and I am completely sold on your approach. The crumb, texture, and crust is absolutely perfect! The simplicity and ease of your no-knead breads have put fresh baked breads on our table every week, and I have found how forgiving your recipes are when adding something like dried fruit or swapping sesame seeds for flax. The loaves continue to come out perfectly. Thank you!
Hi Laura! I am so happy to hear all of this. Truly, nothing makes me happier than hearing that the peasant bread recipe has facilitated getting homemade bread on the table regularly. Thank you for taking the time to write in here, and thank you for taking the time to write a review on Amazon … means the world!
my first response to an online recipe because your bread comes out perfect every time I add some roasted sesame and 2 tablespoons vital wheat protein
I have also made bread for decades and I always have something not quite right
NICE, as I slip into my senior years I can finally say yayyy!
thank you!
So happy to hear this, Mitch! Love the sound of toasted sesame seeds here. Thanks for taking the time to write. Happy baking!
I made this for the first time over the weekend and oh my goodness it was amazing! I put it in a glass 1.5 quart loaf pan (made 3/4 the recipe) and it turned into a wonderful loaf with a perfect top. I’ve been trying to make bread for half a year now and this is the first one that turned out moist and full of air pockets. Definitely a keeper!
So happy to hear this, Katie!
Does the baking time change if I’m baking the entire batch in a larger bowl instead of splitting it in two?
I would bake it for at least 10-15 minutes longer … better to err on the side of over-baking than under-baking.
Made today and love it! It’s got just the right elastic texture inside and has a wonderful crispy top. The flavor is perfect – doesn’t have the sweetness some homemade breads have. I think it’s the perfect amount of sugar and salt. My first attempt a few weeks ago was a flop – don’t think the yeast was fresh enough. I also used the warm oven trick this time.
I baked the loaves in the Pyrex 1 liter and the 1.5 liter size glass bowls like the photo above.
Thanks for sharing what I know will become my go-to recipe for bread!
Wonderful to hear this, Bread Head!