This is a phenomenal bread recipe. The best, EASY yeast bread you will ever make, beginners love how simple it is while bread connoisseurs appreciate the Artisan bread qualities – the thick crispy crust and chewy crumb with big fat holes like sourdough!
No knead, 3 minutes active effort, very forgiving recipe. Make this today, then the Cheese Bread version tomorrow!
Phenomenal EASY yeast bread recipe
This is an extraordinary white bread recipe with outstanding results. While it’s easy and forgiving, making it suitable for beginners, experienced bakers will recognise and appreciate the Artisan bread characteristics – large holes in the crumb like your favourite sourdough bread with that signature chewiness, and a thick, crispy crust.
It’s a gold nugget recipe, and you may never buy bread again after trying this!
Here’s why it’s so easy:
No knead, no stand mixer
3 minutes active effort – you won’t even get your hands dirty
Dutch oven (cast iron pot) ideal but not necessary
Incredibly forgiving dough, with rise times ranging from 2 hours to 3 days (yes, really, you choose what works for you)
Easy but yet no compromise on quality of bread
What you need to make this homemade bread recipe
Here’s what you need to make homemade bread from scratch – yeast, flour, salt and water. Yep, really, that’s it!
No yeast?
Make this famous Irish Soda Bread instead, or this incredible No Yeast Sandwich bread based on the traditional Australian Damper!
Yeast – my base recipe uses Rapid Rise or Instant Yeast which does not need to be dissolved in water. But it works just as well with normal yeast (“Active Dry Yeast” or just “dry yeast”) – you just need to change the order of the steps and dissolve the yeast in water first. The bread comes out exactly the same!
Best flour for homemade bread – use bread flour if you can. Bread flour has more protein in it than normal flour which means more gluten, and this makes the dough more elastic and yields a more fluffy yet chewy texture inside the bread, as well as creating the big holes you see in the photos, like sourdough bread. However, this bread is still spectacular made with normal flour too!
How to make the world’s easiest homemade bread – Artisan style!
Here are process steps with tips, but also see the video below – super handy to see the dough consistency, and how to form the dough.
1. Make wet sticky dough
Mix together the flour, salt and yeast, then add warm water and mix. The “dough” will be very wet and sloppy, not kneadable at all – this is what you want! See video at 17 seconds for consistency.
2. Rise!
Cover with cling wrap then place it in a warm place (25 – 30°C / 77 – 86°F) for 2 hours. The dough will increase in volume by double or more, the surface will become bubbly and the dough will be wobbly, like jelly. See video at 24 seconds for consistency.
OPTIONAL – develop flavour: Once dough has risen, you can bake immediately. OR, for better flavour, refrigerate for a minimum of 8 hours, up to 3 days. Time = better flavour development.
Bread in photos and video were baked immediately. I usually make this dough in the morning, refrigerate all day then bake in the evening. Or make the dough in the evening, refrigerate overnight and bake fresh in the morning! (10 – 12 hours in fridge). Beauty of this bread is that you can bake anytime!
No dutch oven? No problem! Just bake it on a tray – see the recipe notes.
3. Preheat oven & pot
30 minutes before dough has risen, or while refrigerated dough is coming to room temperature, place dutch oven (cast iron pot) in the oven to preheat at 230°C/450°F.
Hot oven + hot pot = bread rising boost!
4. Scrape dough out
Scrape dough out of bowl onto floured work surface. It will be wet and sticky and that’s exactly what you want – because we will not be kneading it! In fact, you won’t even touch it with your hand.
PRO TIP: Dough handling and shaping technique devised to minimise addition of flour. Less flour = wetter dough = bigger air pockets, fluffier bread and more moist.
5. Shape the dough very roughly
Use a dough scraper or anything of similar shape (spatula, cake server, or large knife) to fold the sides in so it roughly resembles a round disc.
Don’t get too hung up on the shaping – you’ll deform it in the next step!! This step is mainly to deflate the dough.
6. FLIP dough upside down onto paper
Slide a large piece of baking / parchment paper next to the dough, then flip it upside down onto the paper using the scraper so the seams from the step above are face down, and you have the smooth side up.
Slide/push the dough into the centre, then briefly reshape it into a round or slightly oval shape.
Do not get too hung up on a neat shape – this bread is supposed to be rustic! Besides, scruffier shape = more awesome crispy ridges
7. Prepare to bake!
Remove very hot pot from oven, then use paper to pick up the dough and put it in the pot, and put the lid on.
See recipe notes for no dutch oven method.
8. Bake!
Bake for 30 minutes with the lid on (this creates a steamer effect, allowing the bread to rise while it cooks before crust sets), then 12 minutes with the lid off to brown and crisp up the crust. The surface will crack – and you want this, for extra crispy ridges!! And it looks authentic, just like the Artisan bread you buy at bakeries. 😇
Cool for 10 minutes before slicing. This is important – to let the centre of the bread finish cooking (if you slice too early, it will seem a bit doughy. Patience was never my greatest virtue, so I learnt this first hand!)
Remember – you can make this bread recipe WITHOUT a dutch oven!
Why this bread recipe works – and TIPS!
Loose, sticky dough = easier to rise than firmer dough.
No kneading = rough dough, but because the dough is so soft, it puffs up enough to “smooth out” the roughness.
Super forgiving dough – too stiff, add water. Too wet, add flour. Dough not rising? Move it to a warmer place. Takes 45 minutes to rise or 5 hours? It will still work. As long as your dough is the same consistency as what you see in the video and you let it rise to double the volume, this bread recipe will work as long as the yeast is not past its expiry date!
Why you need a preheated dutch oven for no knead bread recipes – to create a steamy environment to give the bread a rise boost before the crust sets (which stops the bread from rising). Professional bakeries are equipped with steam ovens – the cast iron pot is the home method!
Don’t have a dutch oven? No problem! Recreate the steamy environment by placing hot water in a pan in the oven, and bake the bread on a tray.
Big holes in the crumb – loose dough from less flour, high oven temp and preheated pot allows the yeast to give the bread a great rise boost, creating big air pockets. Also the use of bread flour rather than normal flour helps – you get less large holes using normal flour.
Bake immediately if it’s a bread emergency….
…but you’ll be rewarded with tastier bread if you leave the dough 8+ hours in the fridge! I normally make dough first thing in the morning (it takes 3 minutes!) then bake that night. Or make dough at night and bake in the morning. (~12 hrs in fridge for both scenarios)
Why refrigerating the dough creates a better tasting bread – because the fridge slows down the fermentation of the yeast (ie dough stops rising, if it kept rising it would kill the rising power of the yeast), allowing the enzymes in the yeast to do their work, transforming starch into sugar which creates a more flavourful bread. So we let the dough rise first, then refrigerate it.
All the ways to eat this bread!
Everything you do with bread you buy, you can do with this bread. It truly has the structure of bakery bread, so there are no limits!
Eat it fresh out of the oven, slathered with butter. Make sandwiches, toast it, mop plates clean, dunk it in soups and stews. Make bruschetta, garlic bread, grilled cheese, CHEESY garlic bread or Cheese and Garlic CRACK Bread!
I hope you enjoy this crusty bread recipe as much as I do. This really is one of those gold nugget recipes that you’ll make once and treasure forever! – Nagi x
Watch how to make it
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World’s Easiest Yeast Bread recipe – Artisan, NO KNEAD
Ingredients
- 3 cups (450g) flour , bread or plain/all purpose (Note 1)
- 2 tsp instant or rapid rise yeast (Note 2 for normal / active dry yeast)
- 2 tsp cooking / kosher salt , NOT table salt (Note 3)
- 1 1/2 cups (375 ml) very warm tap water , NOT boiling or super hot (ie up to 55°C/130°F) (Note 4)
Dough shaping
- 1 1/2 tbsp flour , for dusting
Instructions
- Mix Dough: Mix flour, yeast and salt in a large bowl. Add water, then use the handle of a wooden spoon to mix until all the flour is incorporated. Dough will be wet and sloppy – not kneadable, but not runny like cake batter. Adjust with more water or flour if needed for right consistency (see video at 17 sec, Note 5).
- Rise: Cover with cling wrap or plate, leave on counter for 2 – 3 hours until it doubles in volume, it’s wobbly like jelly and the top is bubbly (see video at 24 seconds). If after 1 hour it doesn’t seem to be rising, move it somewhere warmer (Note 6).
- Optional – refrigerate for flavour development (Note 9): At this stage, you can either bake immediately (move onto Step 5) or refrigerate for up to 3 days.
- Take chill out of refrigerated dough – if you refrigerated dough per above, leave the bowl on the counter for 45 – 60 minutes while the oven is preheating. Cold dough does not rise as well.
- Preheat oven (Note 7) – Put dutch oven in oven with lid on (26cm/10" or larger). Preheat to 230°C/450°F (220° fan) 30 minutes prior to baking. (Note 8 for no dutch oven)
- Shape dough: Sprinkle work surface with 1 tbsp flour, scrape dough out of bowl. Sprinkle top with 1/2 tbsp flour.
- Using a dough scraper or anything of similar shape (cake server, large knife, spatula), fold the sides inwards (about 6 folds) to roughly form a roundish shape. Don’t be too meticulous here – you’re about to deform it, it’s more about deflating the bubbles in the dough and forming a shape you can move.
- Transfer to paper: Slide a large piece of parchment/baking paper (not wax paper) next to the dough, then flip the dough upside down onto the paper (ie seam side down, smooth side up). Slide/push it towards the middle, then reshape it into a round(ish) shape. Don't get too hung up about shape. In fact, lopsided = more ridges = more crunchy bits!
- Dough in pot: Remove piping hot dutch oven from oven. Use paper to place dough into pot, place lid on.
- Bake 30 minutes covered, then 12 minutes uncovered or until deep golden and crispy.
- Cool on rack for 10 minutes before slicing.
Recipe Notes:
- Fridge up to 3 days – Rise dough per recipe, then leave in bowl and refrigerate up to 3 days. Flavour gets better with time. Dough will stay bubbly for a day or two, then will deflate – that’s fine. Shape into round and place on paper per recipe, then leave for 45 – 60 minutes to take the chill out of it, then bake per recipe. Cold dough won’t rise as well.
- Bread in photos & video is 2 hr rise, immediate bake.
- Cooked bread – great fresh for 2 days, then after that, better warmed or toasted. Keep in an airtight container or ziplock bag. This stays more fresh than usual homemade bread, especially if you use bread flour.
- Freeze cooked bread for up to 3 months.
Nutrition Information:
More bread recipes
Life of Dozer
Just keeping a close eye on it for me….
Good job Dozer. Here’s your treat. Look, I even buttered it for you! (PS He’s in his robe because it’s a rainy day yet I still took him to the beach!!!)
So, I’m baking the bread at 450 degrees, correct? That seems really high to me.
THANK YOU!!!
This is so delicious and easy! Just took the bread out of the oven 20 minutes ago, sliced into it and… God Bless you is all I can say! 💕
I’ve messed up this recipe multiple times, and the end result is still delicious, just as good as when I nailed it! Truly foolproof!
Sorry one more thing, looking back at other peoples comments they to added more water. It was a little doughy on both loafs, longer time? It did hit 210? Also I do not see one reply from you?
I did two loafs as I thought the first dough did not look right.
I follow you all the time and when I saw this I did not guess it. I have a really good scale and measured out 450 g’s of bread flour after adding the water it looked very dry not like the picture so added about 1/2 cup more hot water. 3 cups of flour IS NOT 450 grams it’s 360 grams. Next one made with AP flour used 370 grams . The AP had less holes but was much larger, the 450 grams was a little flat. Also I did 130 water temp I have never heard of water being that hot for making bread or anything else. Like your thoughts
I’ve had a similar issue with her flour weights on other recipes. In her notes, she points out that weights vary by country, but that’s not really what’s going on. It has more to do with the brand of flour and the mill they use, though this often does relate back to specific regions. For instance, in the southern US, you’ll often find a finer mill in flours, and I guess this goes back to their love for biscuits. With that said, most brands fall somewhere between 120-130 grams per cup. I have seen measurements as small as 110 grams, but 150g is the largest I’ve ever seen for a cup.
Of course, it shouldn’t matter as long as you go by weight, right? Except every time I try to make one of her recipes using the listed weights, it ends up not working out. For this recipe, I used 120g per cup, since that’s what my brand of flour states. However, it ended up too soupy. I tried again using the full 150, and it was too dense. I just made a new load and opted for 130g, and it looks pretty good.
I think the big takeaway is that when it comes to bread, relying on measurements can be tricky, and it’s often better to rely more on the overall feel of the dough, which is something that takes practice.
With that said, the 150g per cup seems way too high, even accounting for variations in brands. But I know Nigella also uses 150g, so I don’t know. You’d think having a standard for something like flour would be pretty important. Humanity can’t even get that right though.
Thank you so much for your comment, I had the same issue regarding the flour, now I’m going to follow your measurement. My other, and actually more big of a problem was the paper, it got stuck all over the bread, so I have to use a serrated knife to rescue part of the bread. The bread is pretty tasty and makes great toast, but the paper issue is not fun at all.
Thanks again.
I, too, have had issues with grams/cups in this recipe. I have made it several times and each needed extra water. Each has turned out a bit doughy/heavy on the bottom of the loaf. The flours I use here (Tennessee, USA) all state 30g to a 1/4 cup, as does national brand King Arthur bread flour. In the notes above, #1 addressing flour states under whole wheat heading to reduce the flour by 1/4 cup (30g). This seems to be an acknowledgement that flour is 120g/cup, not the 150g/cup as indicated in the recipe ingredients. For the loaf I made today, I used the 450g as the previous loaves were on the small side with 360g. It did take about 1/3 cup additional water to make a shaggy dough. I have been baking for over 30 years, mostly sourdough, and this is the first recipe I have had to experiment so much with to get a proper texture and hydration. I make many of Nagi’s recipes and love them all. I wish she would clarify details on this one as many of us seem to have issues and questions.
I use the spoon an level method, fill a cup and use weights from there. Seems to work out well. What we’re really dealing with here is hydration – I’ve seen dough recipes in excess of 100% hydration and they ‘can’ turn out beautifully, with the right technique. ie pan de cristal
You are exactly right. If you use a scale, you should only put in 375 g of flour, not 450.
Tried this recipe tonight to serve with vegetable soup. Perfect! So easy to make!
So very easy, I didn’t have a Dutch oven so I put a pot with water in the oven it worked great. It was great right out of the oven with butter.
Thankyou
First time ever making bread and it was a success! Followed the directions exactly (use weight for measurements) and the bread was great.
Super happy with the way this bread turned out! Crusty crust chewy, tasty inside! Starting more tonight to leave in the fridge a few days pre-bake.
Made this for the first time today. I did not do the refrigeration part. The next time I plan on trying that. This was the best no knead bread I have tried so far. Thank you for all the notes!
Hello! Love this recipe! I am wondering about the weight of the flour. According to King Arthur Flour, a cup of flour weighs 120 grams. And 120 times 3 is 360 grams When I measure the flour, do I use 360 grams of flour or 450?
Can I use a Dutch oven made of ceramic not steel
Need some help!
I’ve been making this weekly in a Dutch oven since I found this recipe and it comes out perfectly every single time! My problem is, I’ll be moving into my camper soon and will only have an air fryer, so my Dutch oven won’t fit, and I won’t be able to put a bowl of water in addition to my bread. Do you have any other tips as to what I can do??
WE LOVE THIS RECIPE!! ❤️
I make it every other day and can’t stop sharing it, as well as the recipe. So easy it’s incredible. And the flavour and textures are amazing!! Thank you! Following you for more recipes! Btw, love your helpful hints and write up as well- great job! 🤗
There is only 1 problem with this recipe…… it’s so good I can’t stop eating it! I think I’m gonna try adding some herbs maybe Italian seasoning
I love this recipe! I put different things into the dough for different flavors: like cheese, garlic powder, basil, and pepper; raisins and cinnamon; dried cranberry and orange zest; etc.
I would have liked to ask questions, but not allowed, I was baking the bread and needed some advice and wanted to provide what was going on with me so I don’t know why I can’t do that but anyway it’s OK
I gave made this bread do many times and it always turns out great. I forgot to do some of the steps like putting the water in the oven and it still comes out good. I put too much water in and the bread us still good. This recipe is fool proof.
I’m stupid and just baked cold dough in a preheated Dutch oven at 350 for 30 min until I realized it’s supp to be 450 and I was supp to bring it to room temp first. 😭 After I let it rise in the frig all night. I really tried. I just upped the temp and put it in for 10 more min but I’m sure that bread is doomed.
Truly simple and FABULOUS bread! This will definitely be my “go-to” recipe. THANK YOU Nagi…another winner!