Chicken Free Classic No-Knead Bread
There is something almost magical about pulling a crackling, mahogany-crusted loaf out of a Dutch oven when all you did the night before was stir four ingredients together. This bread relies on a long, slow rise — anywhere from 12 to 18 hours — to develop deep, complex flavor without a single minute of kneading. The steam trapped inside the covered Dutch oven during the first bake mimics a professional bread oven, giving you that shatteringly crisp crust and an open, chewy crumb that looks like it came from a serious bakery. Because the ingredient list is just flour, yeast, salt, and water, there is absolutely nothing to second-guess here — no hidden proteins, no surprise add-ins, just pure, honest bread. The hardest part is genuinely waiting the full hour after baking before you slice into it, but that patience pays off with a crumb that holds together beautifully instead of turning gummy. Whether you are toasting thick slabs for breakfast or tearing hunks off to go alongside a bowl of soup, this loaf delivers every single time.
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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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