Yeast Bread-Artisan, no Knead

This recipe is inspired by Recipe Tin Eats (another amazing food blog). This bread recipe is by far the easiest recipe for bread you will ever find. The texture is similar to sourdough bread, with a thick crispy crust and a fluffy middle. Guys! I love warm bread straight out of the oven so this recipe is a dream for me because I hate spending a long time in the kitchen (funny right!). In total it takes about 5 minutes of minimal effort to make this dough. It does not need a stand mixer or kneading and it is a highly flexible dough to work with. This heavenly bread can even be ready to eat in just under 3 hours. I love making bread and this is going to be my new to go recipe it is just simply a dream. If anyone loves warm bread (I think everyone loves warm bread) straight out of the oven, this is the recipe for you. It is perfectly golden with a crispy crust and soft in the middle. The perfect companion for butter, this is going to change your life!

For tips and tricks to really make this bread phenomenal, you can see my recipe notes a little further down. I am even going to include a recipe card so you can easily make this bread any time you want. Get ready to always have freshly baked bread in your home ANYTIME!!

This recipe will give you 12 slices of bread and feeds around 10 people. The slices are large though, so it can be easily cut into halves to give you 24 slices of warm delicious bread.

Recipe (12 slices of bread)

Ingredients:

3 cups flour (can either be bread, plain or all purpose flour)

2 tsp instant yeast

2 tsp salt

1.5 cups very warm tap water- NOT BOILING

Procedure:

Mix flour, yeast and salt into a bowl. Add water and then mix with a spoon or spatula until all the flour is incorporated.

Cover with cling wrap and leave on counter (in a warm place) for 2-3 hours until it doubles in volume.

Put a tray into the oven and preheat the oven to 450F/230C.

Sprinkle work space with 1tbsp flour. Scrape dough out of the bowl with a spatula. Sprinkle the top of the bread with 1/2 tbsp flour.

Using a spatula, fold the sides inwards to roughly form a roundish shape.

Slide a piece of parchment paper next to the dough, then flip the dough upside down onto the paper.

Place paper with shaped dough onto a baking tray, then boil a kettle.

Pour boiling water into the previously preheated tray in the oven and then quickly place the baking tray with the bread next to the tray with the water, side by side in the oven (the tray with water can also be placed underneath the baking tray if there is no room side by side)

Bake the bread for 40 minutes, until it is a deep golden brown.

Recipe Notes:

Do you want to take your bread up a notch? I have a couple tips:

For the last 10 minutes my bread was in the oven, I made a yummy garlic butter and brushed it on top of the bread. I highly recommend this step, it takes the bread up a level.

Placing a tray with boiling water in the oven with the bread will create a makeshift steamer effect. This steamy effect will give the bread a rise boost before the crust sets.

The consistency of the dough is meant to be sticky. It is not suppose to be kneadable!

After the 2/3 hours of the dough resting, the surface of the dough will be wobbly like jelly. That’s when you know your dough is ready to go in the oven.

Lastly, this dough can also be refrigerated overnight for even tastier bread the next day! But, if you are like me and cannot wait that long it will be just as perfect baking it immediately after it proofs.

When you master this simple bread recipe, you can start adding ingredients to the dough like basil, oregano or even cheese. This recipe is flexible and easy!