Easy No Knead Bread

This homemade no knead bread will wow everyone! It’s so easy to make and has the best flavor, crispy crust, and chewy interior. Great for beginners!

Want to bake easy homemade bread, but not sure where to start? Try this best no knead bread recipe! Your friends and family will sing your praises. Neighbors following the wafting smell will come flocking. You’ll get multiple marriage proposals. Yes, this bread is life changing! It’s got the best flavor: lightly tangy and robust. The exterior is the perfect crisp crust, and the interior has the perfect moist chewiness. Even better: it’s our easiest bread recipe yet. If you’re a bread baking beginner, this is the place to start.

Want an even quicker loaf bread? Try our Easy Homemade Bread or Easy Whole Wheat Bread, which are made with a loaf pan and take just 2.5 hours.

How to make no knead bread: an overview!

Here’s the basic outline of what you’re getting yourself into with no knead bread. The process takes 5 minutes the night before, and then about 2 hours the day of. Compared to our sourdough bread and even our artisan bread, it’s the quickest and easiest bread recipe we have. (But if you want to make a bread recipe in one day, the artisan bread is your best option.) Here’s an outline of what you’ll have to do:

Mix, Rest overnight	5 minutes active, 12 to 18 hours hands off
Shape & Proof	5 minutes active, 1 hour hands off
Bake	40 minutes, hands off
Cool	45 minutes, hands off

Equipment list for no knead bread

Making no knead bread requires a few tools. It’s easiest to make with a Dutch oven, but you can also use a pizza stone. There are several optional tools as well that make things easier, but are not required. Here’s what you need!

Required tools for this artisan bread recipe

1. Large dutch oven OR pizza stone with steam (see below)
2. Plastic bag for proofing (reuse it every time you make bread) or plastic wrap
3. Parchment paper
4. Lame OR sharp knife for scoring the bread
5. Kitchen scale for measuring (optional)

The flours you’ll use

This best easy no knead bread recipe uses a mix of just two flours you’ll probably already have in your pantry. Unlike some of our other bread recipes, there’s no need for bread flour. Here’s what you’ll need:

• All-purpose flour (for texture
• Whole wheat flour (for flavor)

Think ahead! No knead bread rests overnight

This bread requires thinking ahead 1 day ahead. You’ll need to rest the bread dough overnight. Why? Well, the answer has to do with proofing.

• No knead bread requires only 1 proof. Proofing is simply letting the bread stand at room temperature while the leavener (yeast or sourdough) does its magic to help the bread rise. Usually a proof is about 45 minutes to 1 hour. Both our sourdough bread and artisan bread require folding and “proofing” the bread multiple times. So doing only 1 proof is almost unheard of!
• The tradeoff? Resting overnight. Proofing is hands off, but it does require a lot of time to fold and proof multiple times. The tradeoff: you’ll need to rest the bread at room temperature overnight. To us, that’s a very worthy tradeoff! You save hours of bread making time the day of baking.

How to shape the boule

The main part of making no knead bread that requires technique is shaping the dough. You’ll shape it into a ball, called a boule. It’s easiest to learn how to shape the dough by watching. Here’s a video instruction for shaping the boule.

How to score the bread

See those beautiful lines on the top of the artisan bread? Those are called score lines. Scoring is slashing the top of the dough with a sharp knife to allow it to expand when baking. You can also make a decorative sort of pattern on the bread. Here are a few tips for scoring no knead bread:

• Use your sharpest knife, or a lame. You’ll want the knife to be ultra sharp. We purchased a lame for this, since we make lots of bread recipes.
• Make shallow cuts into the top of the dough. You want to cut just the surface — if it’s too deep it collapses, if it’s too shallow it bursts. Alex did this cross pattern for the bread scoring in this photo!

What’s a Dutch oven? Do I need it?

This easy no knead bread is best when baked in a Dutch oven. Why? Baking bread in a covered Dutch oven holds in the steam that the bread releases as it cooks. This makes an extra crispy crust & perfect rise. If you don’t have a Dutch oven, you can use a pizza stone (see below).

What is a Dutch oven? It’s a heavy cooking pot with a lid used for braising meat and making soups and stews. You can use it on the stovetop or in the oven. All Dutch ovens are made of cast iron; some have an enamel coating that makes them easier to clean.

• What’s the best Dutch oven? Here’s the one we use for bread: Lodge 6 Quart Cast Iron Dutch Oven.
• What can I make with a Dutch oven? You can make all sorts of things, from risotto to soup. Go to 12 Easy Dutch Oven Recipes.

Or, use a pizza stone to bake no knead bread!

You also can use a pizza stone to bake this no knead bread! The best way is with a Dutch oven, but if you don’t have one you can use a pizza stone. You’ll also have to make extra steam in your oven. To do that, you’ll use a baking sheet and pour boiling water onto it right when you add the bread. This creates steam, which makes that crispy crust.

• What’s the best pizza stone? Here’s the pizza stone we recommend.
• What can I make with a pizza stone? PIZZA! Try our Pizza Dough Master Recipe & 20 Best Pizza Recipes!

Storing no knead bread

Because this no knead bread has no preservatives, so the storage recommendations are different from a bread you might buy from the store. Here’s what to do:

• Room temperature storage (2 days): Once you’ve baked your homemade bread, it is best eaten within 48 hours. We store ours wrapped in cloth at room temperature. Use a clean dish towel or a bread bag.
• Frozen (3 months): Or, you can freeze it! It’s easy to cut your bread in half and freeze half of it! Let it cool to room temperature, then cut it into slices and place it into a sealed bag or container.

This no knead bread recipe is…

Vegetarian, vegan, plant-based, and dairy free.

Print

A Couple Cooks - Healthy, Whole Food, & Vegetarian Recipes