4 Ingredient No Fail No Knead Artisan Bread that’s easy and delicious! Perfect for those who love freshly home baked bread right out of the oven.
Long ago, I discovered that it’s more fun to make bread myself without a bread machine. I do have my good old trusted KitchenAid mixer which I cannot live without and for this bread, I made the dough with the mixer. You don’t have to but it’s a lot easier.
Now I cannot tell you how easy this bread is to make, and with only 4 ingredients. Beat that!
I have had this recipe for a while now, at least a couple years and I personally got the recipe from a friend of mine. Apparently this is the same as the recipe in Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day: The Discovery That Revolutionizes Home BakingBread Baking Books), however I don’t own the book, so I’m not sure, but if it is their recipe I’d like to give them credit for it.
This is very simple, no kneading required. In a medium bowl add the lukewarm water, it has to be a bit warmer than body temperature, add the salt and the yeast and stir together. In the bowl of your mixer add all the flour and the pour the yeast mixture over the flour. Using the dough hook mix it all together. The dough will be sticky so don’t be tempted to add more flour.
Now you can place the dough in a big plastic container with a lid, but do not close the lid completely, leave one corner open a bit. Or you can just place it in a big bowl and wrap it up really well with plastic wrap and poke a couple small holes with a toothpick so that the gases can escape a little. Let it rise in a warm place for a good two hours.
Since there’s no kneading required, all you have to do is shape your bread, but because the dough is really sticky you need to flour your hands really well. Basically you have to divide the dough in two and shape each piece. Again add as much flour as necessary to your hands to avoid dough from sticking. It is ideal to bake this bread on a stone, but if you do not have a stone you can just use a regular baking sheet covered with parchment paper. Shape the dough and place it seam down on the baking sheet or stone. Sprinkle some more flour on top. You need to let the bread rest for another 30 minutes so that it rises a bit more.
Preheat the oven to 450 F degrees. Before placing the bread in the oven, slash the top of your bread with a knife, it will make your bread look pretty, plus it will allow for the trapped gases to escape. Also place a pan with a cup of water in it and slide it in the bottom rack and the bread on the middle rack. As the water heats up in the oven, it will create steam which will give the bread that nice crusty top. Trust me, you will want to do this. Bake the bread for 30 to 35 minutes and let it cool completely before cutting into it. I know it’s hard, I love hot bread, just the thought of it now, makes me crave it.
If you love this bread, give this No Knead Bread a try!
If you try this recipe, please let us know! Leave a comment, rate it and tag a photo #jocooks on Instagram so we can see it. I always love to see what you guys come up with!
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Artisan Bread
Ingredients
- 3 cups water lukewarm
- 1 1/2 tablespoon active dry yeast
- 1 1/2 tablespoon salt
- 6 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
Instructions
- In a medium bowl add the warm water, salt and yeast and stir together. Let the mixture sit for 5-10 minutes until the yeast bubbles up.
- In the bowl of your mixer add all the flour, then pour the yeast mixture over the flour and mix using the dough hook of your mixer, until it's all well incorporated and the dough comes clean from the sides of the bowl. I usually do this for about 5 to 7 minutes.
- Place the dough in a large plastic container, it needs room to rise, and put the lid on it, but do not close completely, there needs to be one corner left open to let the gases escape. Alternatively, you can use a large bowl, covered well with plastic wrap and poke a couple small holes in the top using toothpicks.
- Let the dough rise for 2 hours.
- The dough will be very sticky and elastic. It is recommended to bake this on a stone, however a regular baking sheet will work just fine. Cover the baking sheet, or stone with parchment paper.
- Add flour to your hands, and divide the dough in two pieces. Add more flour to your hands as necessary. Shape the dough into the desired shape for your bread and place it seam down on the baking sheet. Sprinkle some more flour on top of the loaves. Let the loaves rest for another 30 minutes so that they can rise a bit.
- Preheat oven to 450 F degrees. Before placing the bread in the oven, add a pan with a cup of water and place it in the bottom rack. Slash the top of your bread, to allow gases to escape.
- Bake the bread for 30 to 35 minutes. The water will allow for the bread to form a nice crusty top.
- Cool on a rack before serving.
Recipe Notes
- Always check the expiration date on your yeast and make sure it hasn’t expired. All your yeast products whether it’s in a jar or a package should be stamped with a “Best if Used by” date. Always make sure you check this date, even when you purchase the yeast, who knows it could have been on the shelf past its expiry date.
- To keep your yeast fresh and longer lasting, unopened yeast packages or jars should be stored in a cool or dry place such as your cupboard. However, you can also store your yeast in the fridge or freezer. If you do store it in the freezer and need to use yeast for your baking, make sure you take out the amount you need and let it sit at room temperature for at least half hour before using.
- Once your yeast package or jar has been opened, you must refrigerate the yeast or freeze it in an airtight container.
- One thing to remember about your yeast, is that it is a living organism and over time it will lose activity, even if you’ve never opened the jar or package. So if you don’t bake often, buy the smaller yeast packages rather than a big jar of yeast.
- How do I know when my bread is done baking: Tap the bottom! Turn the bread upside down and give the bottom a firm thump with your thumb, or a knock and if it sounds hollow it’s done.
- Recipe will yield 2 loaves. Nutritional information assumes 10 slices per loaf and is per slice.
This is my go-to recipe to make with my three year old son who loves using our mixer! It’s so easy and a great first recipe if you’re new to making bread.
Ok. So I was so excited to try this and many times the yeast didn’t do it’s thing. I read the other reviews and did some research about adding sugar. Sure enough, I added 6 tsp of sugar and the yeast bloomed and gurgled! Awesome recipe!
I just tried this recipe. It was the first time I made bread. Looked good but not very puffy. When I put the dry east in water and salt, it didn’t seem to do anything. The packet of yeast said to add sugar, so I tried that and then I could see some action so I think that worked. Why isn’t sugar mentioned in this recipe for the yeast step? Also, I wasn’t sure what speed I needed to run the kitchen aid mixer on. I did a low speed, the. Moved to medium high later. It didn’t pull off the sides by itself but I could kind of pull it off myself. Was it supposed to do that on its own with the dough hook? When i tried to shape it, it kept flattening out so I think maybe it was supposed to keep it going longer in the mixer till it let go of the sides but I wasn’t sure.
Thanks for this recipe! I am excited to try again if I know about the above.
I have made this several times and love it! I follow the recipe exactly and there have been no issues until I tried making it this weekend. The dough didn’t rise after two hours but it did end up rising after much more time. I threw it away and decided on yeast packets instead of the jar I had in the fridge. Same issue today; you can usually see it start to rise very quickly and half an hour in I can’t see any difference. I had my mixer on low speed but if I can remember correctly I’ve always used a medium speed. Going to try that tomorrow and see how I do. Also, have you ever broken up the steps if you couldn’t get to each one at the preferred time? I saw the yeast packet said you can pause the process by placing the dough in the fridge. Finally, does it need to be in a plastic bowl to rest? I’ve always done that but wondering if I can use kitchen aid metal bowl that it was mixed in and cover with plastic wrap?
Yeah I have broken down the process but not for this bread specifically. You can use a mixer bowl.
We like 2 different types of bread. Crusty for him and not so crusty for me. So thanks to you I am going to try to make bread. Softer for me and hard for him. Should make us both happy. Thankyou Jo.
My pleasure! 🙂