Dutch Oven No Knead Crusty Bread

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Calling all bread lovers! You’ve just found the BEST EVER bread recipe….and nary a minute is spent kneading.  Yep, this Dutch Oven No Knead Crusty Bread recipe makes bread that’s crusty, chewy and dense….without all the work.

No-Knead Bread Baked in a Dutch Oven Recipe

Pair this lovely bread with a hearty Instant Pot Ravioli Soup or a warm winter casserole. We eat a lot of soups here in Kansas where the winters are long and hard.

I like to make a couple of different soups on the weekend, such as Tex Mex Corn Chowder and Hillbilly Chili (with Cinnamon Rolls). It’s super handy to have these pots of soup in the fridge throughout the week so my guys can ladle out a bowl and reheat it in the microwave when they need a quick meal.

And, because I’m a huge Instant Pot fan and user, I’ve got several Instant Pot soup recipes that I really enjoy making, such as Instant Pot Broccoli Cheese Noodle Soup and Instant Pot Sauasage, Bacon and Potato Soup.

Things to Love About This Recipe –

• No kneading. No kneading. No kneading. Yay!
• You’ll see how easy it is to make and bake homemade bread.
• It’s a chewy, crusty, and dense bread….perfect for soppin’ up soup.
• It’s a 5-ingredient recipe!
• And what smells better than bread baking in the oven? You family is going to go crazy.

How to Make No-Knead Bread in 5 Easy Steps

1. Stir together the dry ingredients, then add the water, stirring the dough just until it comes together and looks pretty shaggy; cover the bowl with plastic wrap, setting it aside in a warm place in your kitchen for 8-10 hours.
2. Remove the dough from the bowl and place it onto a floured sheet of parchment paper; let it rest for 30 minutes
3. Meanwhile, heat up your cast iron Dutch oven so that when your dough has finished resting, you can place it into the preheated pot to bake.
4. Cover the hot Dutch oven with the bread dough inside, baking it covered for 45 minutes; remove the lid and continue to bake the bread, uncovered, for a few more minutes until the crust is golden brown.
5. Remove the bread to a cooling rack, letting it cool before slicing….like anybody can DO that, right??  Serve the bread slathered with butter, alongside your favorite pot of soup.

Helpful Recipe Tips for Making This Bread

There are lots of no-knead bread recipes out there.  What makes this variation so good?

• Well, for starters, it’s a 5-ingredient recipe.  Nice and simple…no fancy, special ingredients that you’ve got to go retrieve.  You probably already have all the ingredients on hand.
• Secondly, once you let the dough raise and do it’s thing, the rest of the recipe process is an absolute cake walk. While the dough is raising, you can do other things, too.
• No kneading involved – whew!

What is a Dutch oven? What size is best for this recipe?

• A Dutch oven is a large heavy cooking pot with a lid that fits snugly, typically used for braising meats. For this recipe, I use 6-quart Dutch oven.

Why does this recipe recommend using a cast iron Dutch Oven for making this bread?

• Because cast iron is very heavy duty, it can handle a lot of heat and it also cooks very evenly; and cast iron promotes superior browning. (And remember, when we are referring to cooking, brown is not a color, it’s a flavor!) 
• Because a Dutch oven is a rather deep pot, your bread can raise and bake inside (even with the lid on), making it the perfect set up for bread that turns out with a nice, crusty exterior.

• Great questions! If you don’t have a Dutch oven, you can use a deep 12-inch heavy-duty skillet with a lid (or use foil instead) or any type of oven-proof soup pot.
• Because the oven temperature for this recipe is very hot (450 degrees F), I don’t recommend the use of a glass casserole dish, just in case it might possibly break due to such high heat. Any type oven-proof pot or Dutch oven (it doesn’t have to be cast iron) will work fine, as long as you have a lid for it.

What if I’m not comfortable working with yeast to make bread?

• This is a great recipe for newbies who may be a little hesitant when working with yeast. Instead of adding the warm water directly to the yeast, it is added to a mixture of flour, salt, and yeast together, which helps to protect the yeast.

It’s frustrating when it seems like I always wind up killing the yeast when I make bread dough. What am I doing wrong?

• Liquids that are too warm when added to yeast can definitely kill it.
• This is a common problem, and here’s how to solve it: First of all, the water you want to mix with your yeast should never be warmer than the warm water you’d give your baby a bath in!
• Test the water that’s running from the faucet with your elbow.  When the water from the tap is nicely warm as it runs over your elbow, it’s the perfect temperature for adding to your yeast.

Other Recipes to Enjoy –

• No-Knead Peasant Bread

• Mexican Cheese Bread 

• Easy English Muffin Bread  with Instant Pot Strawberry Jam 

• Artichoke Olive Cheese Bread 

• Cheesy Pull-Apart Pesto Bread 

Dutch Oven No-Knead Crusty Bread

Calling all bread lovers! You've just found the BEST EVER bread recipe....and nary a minute is spent kneading! Do I have your full attention?

Servings: 12 slices

Chef Alli

5 from 1 vote

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Prep Time 40 minutes mins

Cook Time 1 hour hr 5 minutes mins

Raising Time for Dough: 10 hours hrs

Total Time 11 hours hrs 45 minutes mins

Ingredients

 

• 4 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 tsp. kosher salt
• 1 1/2 tsp. active dry yeast, I use quick-rise
• 2 1/4 cups warm water
• butter, softened

Instructions

 

• In a large mixing bowl, whisk flour, salt and yeast until well combined; add the warm water, stirring until a rough dough forms; the dough will be super wet and very sticky to the touch.
• Cover the bowl of dough tightly with plastic wrap, setting it aside in a warm place, 8-12 hours (I prefer to do this overnight) until the dough rises, and then flattens out a bit on top; punch the dough down.
• Generously flour a sheet of parchment paper; transfer the dough from the mixing bowl to the prepared parchment paper. With floured hands, form the dough into a rounded loaf, then sprinkle the top of the loaf lightly with flour. Lay a sheet of plastic wrap over the dough, letting it rest for 25-30 minutes on the parchment.
• Meanwhile, as the dough is resting, prepare a 6-quart Dutch oven for baking. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F. Place Dutch oven, along with the lid, into oven, letting it fully preheat for 30 minutes before baking bread.
• Remove the Dutch oven from the hot oven. Uncover the dough; using the edges of the parchment paper, carefully transfer the dough into the hot Dutch oven, keeping the parchment paper beneath it. Cover the Dutch oven with the hot lid, returning it to the oven to now bake the bread.
• Bake the bread 45 minutes, covered, then another 15-20 minutes, uncovered, until the bread is baked throughout and golden brown on top. Remove the bread from the oven and gently slather a bit of butter over the top of the loaf; cool the bread before slicing.....if you can wait that long. Serve the slices of bread slathered with softened butter.

Notes

• Test the water that's running from the faucet with your elbow.  When the water from the tap is nicely warm as it runs over your elbow, it's the perfect temperature for adding to your yeast.
• This is a great recipe for newbies who may be a little hesitant when working with yeast. Instead of adding the warm water directly to the yeast, it is added to a mixture of flour, salt, and yeast together, which helps to protect the yeast.
• Because the oven temperature for this recipe is very hot (450 degrees F), I don’t recommend the use of a glass casserole dish, just in case it might possibly break due to such high heat. Any type oven-proof pot or Dutch oven (it doesn’t have to be cast iron) will work fine, as long as you have a lid for it.

 

Nutrition

Calories: 166kcalCarbohydrates: 35gProtein: 5gFat: 1gSaturated Fat: 1gSodium: 322mgPotassium: 54mgFiber: 1gSugar: 1gCalcium: 8mgIron: 2mg

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Let’s Get You Cookin’,
Chef Alli

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