Artificial Food Coloring Free Classic No-Knead Bread
There is something deeply satisfying about pulling a crackling, mahogany-crusted loaf out of a Dutch oven, especially when you made it with just four ingredients you can read at a glance. Store-bought bread is one of those sneaky sources of unnecessary additives, with dyes and "color added" labels showing up where you'd least expect them. This recipe sidesteps all of that entirely — flour, yeast, salt, and water are all you need, and none of them come with a suspicious ingredient panel. The long, slow rise does the heavy lifting, developing a complex, tangy flavor and an open, chewy crumb that rivals anything from a bakery. Baking it covered in a preheated Dutch oven traps steam and gives you that shatteringly crisp crust without any special equipment or technique. The only real patience required is letting the loaf cool before you slice into it, which is admittedly the hardest part of the whole process.
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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 water, room temperature
Instructions
- 1
In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, instant yeast, and kosher salt. Add the water and stir with a wooden spoon or rubber spatula until no dry flour remains and a shaggy, sticky dough forms — about 1 minute. The dough will look rough and wet; that is correct.
- 2
Cover the bowl tightly with plastic wrap or a damp kitchen towel and let the dough rest at room temperature for 12 to 18 hours, until the surface is dotted with bubbles and the dough has roughly doubled in size.
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