Finally a simple bread recipe for tasty every day bread! This bread is so simple! 5 mins of prep, leave to rise overnight and bake the next day. Easy! Who needs store bought bread ever again?!
This bread came from a need for fresh non-store bought bread, especially after the luxury of avoiding horrible Tesco sliced bread during lockdown! In our household I am the bread eater and D is the bread baker. He regularly goes through an annual sourdough making stage which I love. Sadly this glorious sourdough baking stage only lasts around 2 months, usually in Spring and ends abruptly with me sadly going back to sad but convenient store bought sliced bread. But never again! After finding this super easy no knead bread from Pinch of Yum my approach to bread has now completely changed. I have now become a bread maker and a bread eater!
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This is honestly the easiest bread recipe ever! 4 ingredients and go!
Flour: Plain flour to provide the structure. No need for fancy artisan bread flour here! However, you can substitute the flour to your heart's content, try wholemeal flour if you want a brown bread loaf or use gluten free flour if your allergic to gluten.
Yeast: Dried yeast to allow the bread to rise. The original recipe said instant yeast but I am pretty sure this does not exist in the UK but simple dried yeast works fine instead. You don't even need to proof the yeast before making this bread. Ultimate time win!
Salt: To flavour the bread. I am always surprised by how much salt goes into bread baking but it makes sense as it is so damn tasty
Water: Room temperature water to activate the yeast and get this simple bread rising. The temperature is important here as it is warm enough to activate the yeast but not too hot to kill it.
Step by step
Step 1: Add all the dry ingredients (flour, yeast and salt) in a large bowl and mix well.
Step 2: Slowly add the water to the dry ingredients and mix to create a dough. You want to get to the point where you dough is only slightly wet. So you might not need all the water to do this. Once you have a combined dough with all the flour incorporated, cover with a tea towel, a plate or cling fling and leave for 12-16 hours to rise.
Step 3: You will see that after this time the dough has seriously risen and has tons of air bubbles. This is not your typical bread dough and will be fairly sticky. While 12-18 hours is the recipe recommendation I have found that I can still produce good bread after only 9 hours of waiting, so I will obviously experiment to figure out what the minimum rise time you can get away with.
Step 4: When your ready to bake your bread, preheat your oven to 230°C then put your heavy casserole dish (dutch oven) with the lid in the oven for 30 mins to get super hot. These are great for keeping in heat and great for baking bread. I used a ceramic Le Creuset dish and it worked a treat.
If you don't have a dutch oven you can use an oven safe pot with a lid.
Step 5: While the dutch oven is heating up. Take your dough out of the bowl and place a bit of flour on baking paper. Plop the dough on here, sprinkle some flour and ball the dough. I usually just push it to the centre. The dough will be pretty sticky dough and not that easiest to move about, but then again you don't need to move it much as this is a no knead bread recipe!
Step 6: Move the whole baking paper with bread dough into the hot dutch oven and bake for 30 mins with the lid on. Then bake for another 10-15 mins without the lid to create a lovely crust. I find that 10 mins creates the perfect crusty loaf for me but you will need to experiment with your oven. Let it rest for at least 10 mins before slicing into it. You have bread! So simple and it can last up to a week if kept covered.
Baking timelines
Weekday: Make the dough before heading to work in the morning (7-8 am), bake from 7-8pm.
Weekend: Make the dough before heading to bed and bake in the morning for fresh bread for a weekend brunch.
Verdict: Tasty crusty bread. So simple! I honestly can't believe how easy this bread is. It is so nice have fresh bread every week. It is perfect for avocado on toast or my personal favourite peanut butter and banana slices on toast. This bread would also be perfect for a crusty loaf to dip into a lovely warming soup. Never eat terrible store bought sliced bread again, just combine these simple 4 ingredients and make bread any day of the week.
Give it a go and let me know what you think!
Recipe from Pinch of Yum!
No knead bread recipe
Part 1: 5 mins prep, 12-18 hours to rise
Part 2: 5 min prep and 45 mins baking
Ingredients
420 g Plain Flour
0.5 tsp Dried Yeast
1.5 tsp Salt
350 ml Room temperature water
Method
Mix the plain flour, dried yeast and salt together in a bowl and slowly add the water until you have a slightly wet dough. You may not need all the water
Cover with cling film, a plate or damp tea towel and leave at room temperature for 12-18 hours to rise
After the rise time, preheat your oven to 230°C, then heat a dutch oven (for example, a le creuset) for 30 mins at 230°C for 30 mins.
In the meantime, lightly flour a piece of baking paper and place your bread dough on it and make it into a ball
Move the baking paper with the bread dough into hot dutch oven
Bake for 30 mins with the lid on
Bake for 10-15 mins with the lid off to create your crusty loaf
Let it cool before slicing into it. Serve with some butter and enjoy!
It will last for a week if kept covered.
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