Artificial Food Coloring Free Classic Dutch Oven Bread
Store-bought bread is one of those sneaky sources of unnecessary additives, and if you're keeping an eye on synthetic dyes in your family's diet, baking your own is genuinely the smartest move. This no-knead Dutch oven loaf is made with exactly four ingredients — flour, instant yeast, kosher salt, and warm water — so you know precisely what's going into every slice. The long, slow rise does all the heavy lifting, developing deep flavor and an open, chewy crumb without any shortcuts or additives. Baking it covered in a screaming-hot Dutch oven traps steam and produces that bakery-style crust that crackles when you tap it. The final loaf is golden, hollow-sounding, and genuinely impressive for something that requires almost no active effort. Let it cool fully before slicing and you'll be rewarded with a clean, airy interior that puts any packaged loaf to shame.
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Learn more →Ingredients
8 servings
- 3 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
- ¼ tsp instant yeast
- 1 ½ tsp kosher salt
- 1 ½ cups warm water (about 110°f / 43°c)
Instructions
- 1
In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, instant yeast, and kosher salt. Pour in the warm water and stir with a wooden spoon or spatula until no dry flour remains and a shaggy, sticky dough forms — about 1 minute. The dough will look rough and uneven; that is correct.
- 2
Cover the bowl tightly with plastic wrap or a clean kitchen towel and let the dough rest at room temperature for 8 to 18 hours, until the surface is dotted with bubbles and the dough has roughly doubled in size.
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