No Knead Rustic Bread. This No-Knead Rustic Bread Loaf is one of the easiest bread recipes. It starts with flour, salt, yeast and water, add in a little time plus a hot dutch oven equals one crusty rustic loaf! Our No-Knead Crusty White Bread is a reader favorite, and this riff substitutes whole wheat flour for most of the all-purpose to create a loaf that’s both Our thanks to authors and no-knead bread experts Jeff Hertzberg and Zoë François for the master formula — from their book, Healthy Bread in.
You did see the word cheesy, right? You know my obsession with Bittman’s no-knead bread. It’s an unstable mental condition and I won’t do a single thing about it. You can cook No Knead Rustic Bread using 4 ingredients and 11 steps. Here is how you achieve that.
Ingredients of No Knead Rustic Bread
- You need 3 cups of all purpose flour.
- Prepare 1 3/4 tsp of kosher salt / 1 1/2 tsp cooking salt.
- It’s 1/2 tsp of instant yeast or rapid rise yeast.
- It’s 1 1/2 cups of water - room temperature.
Easy and fast no knead rustic bread to prepare with no hassles. Just dump everything and you’re good to go. Soft bread with a touch of chewy texture is simply amazing. I used parmesan, lemon thyme and sun dried tomato to give it a nice flavor.
No Knead Rustic Bread instructions
- DOUGH PREP: In a large mixing bowl add 3 cups all-purpose flour or bread flour. If all you have is bleached flour, then use it. If you have bread flour, use it..
- Add 1/2 teaspoon instant yeast. (Note: IF you do not have instant or Rapid-rise and you only have regular active dry yeast, THEN proof the yeast before you use it by mixing the yeast with 1/4 cup warm water. Let it set for 5 minutes then mix the yeast in with the water)..
- Add 1 3/4 teaspoon kosher salt to the flour. If you only have table salt, you may want to reduce the amount of salt by 1/4 – 1/2 teaspoon. Stir the dry ingredients together..
- Pour in 1 1/2 cups of water. I used room temperature tap water..
- Stir/whisk until a chunky, thick dough forms. Don’t over mix. If it needs a little more water, add a few more tablespoons, just enough to get it barely wet throughout. It’s not gonna look pretty but its ok. Cover the mixing bowl with plastic wrap and let it rest for 12-18 hours at room temperature. Overnight is ideal. Dont worry abt the time proofing. I Prepared my dough 8pm. Baked the next day, noon..
- PREP FOR BAKING: When you’re ready to bake, preheat the oven to 450°F (200-230°C). Then, Pre heat cast iron Pot or any oven safe pot/pan with lid (or similar) in the oven for about 30 minutes. Note: anything that can take the heat that has a lid or is tightly covered will work. The idea is to create a steam oven inside the pan to produce a nice crisp crust. What ever the container is that you use, just make sure it can take temperatures up to 450° F (200-230°C depending on the oven).
- At this point, the dough should be big and puffy and pretty loose, with little bubbles in it. Gently scrape the dough out onto a well-floured surface. Note: the dough is super sticky, dont be tempted to add more flour. IMPORTANT: Do NOT Knead the dough. Just Flour your hand and gently smooth the dough. Gently form the sticky mass of dough into a round ball..
- Look closely at the dough and you will be able to see a large air bubble in the lower right side of the dough. That’s good. We don’t want to knead out the large air holes. We are making artisan bread and want many large air holes..
- Once smoothed, set this dough on a piece of parchment paper to make it easier to lift dough in & out of the pot. Cover with plastic/cling film while your pan heats up..
- BAKE: Remove the plastic from the dough. Lift the dough and parchment together into the pan so the parchment lines the bottom of the hot pan (be careful not to touch the pan since it’s very hot). Bake, covered, for 30 minutes. Remove the cover and bake another 10-15 minutes to get the exterior nice and golden brown and crispy. Done..
- Alternatively, you can also try adding flavours to the bread..
You can adjust it to your likings. No-knead bread is the easiest yeast bread you can bake. It will get your feet wet and make working with yeast feel less intimidating. This is a very rustic free form bread recipe. You can form it into two loafs or one big circle.