Artisan Bread
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4 Ingredient No Fail Homemade Artisan Bread that’s easy and delicious! Perfect for those who love freshly home baked bread right out of the oven.
Super Easy Artisan Bread Recipe
This is a recipe I’ve shared with you over 10 years ago when I first started my blog, and it’s a recipe you guys love. It’s a bread recipe that’s perfect if you’re just beginning to bake, and want to try your hand at baking bread. This is the ideal bread for you to start with. It requires only 4 ingredients, and it’s incredibly easy to make.
This is very simple, no kneading required, because the mixer does all the heavy work. However, if you do not have a mixer, you can simply add the ingredients to a large bowl and mix everything with a wooden spoon until the dough comes together.
This Artisan Bread is similar to my No Knead Bread recipe which requires no kneading and no mixer, but is baked in a Dutch oven. The great news is that no Dutch Oven is required for this!
Why You’ll Love This Artisan Bread
- Perfect for Bread Beginners! It’s a simple bread recipe that requires no kneading and is made using just 4 basic pantry ingredients. Literally, just flour, salt, water, and yeast.
- Crusty and Delicious! This delicious homemade artisan bread is incredible. It comes right out of the oven golden brown, super crusty on the outside, and perfectly soft on the inside.
- Freezer Friendly! The bread keeps really well in the freezer for months. This means you can even double this artisan bread recipe so that you can have homemade bread at any time.
- Flour – You’ll need to use all-purpose flour for this recipe. You can also use bread flour because it produces a chewier bread, or whole wheat flour.
- Salt – Use as much or as little as you’d like. Just don’t skip it, without it the bread won’t have any taste at all.
- Yeast – In this recipe I call for active dry yeast which I recommend using because we really want a long and slow rise to develop our flavor. However, instant yeast can be used as well.
- Water – It’s super important to make sure your water is between 95°F-105°F as it will affect the outcome of your yeast.
The most important part of any bread recipe is the yeast which needs to be activated properly. Then for this recipe, all you have to do is make a simple dough, wait for it to rise, and then bake it into delicious artisan loaves.
Activate The Yeast
To begin, let’s activate the yeast! So mix your yeast together well with the warm water (95°F-105°F) in a medium size bowl. For the best results, it’s important that the water is within this temperature range, so you may want to test it with a digital cooking thermometer. If you’re using instant yeast, you do not need to wait for the yeast to activate.
Make The Dough
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. If you do not have a mixer, simply add all the ingredients to a large bowl and using a rubber spatula or wooden spoon mix everything together until all the flour is incorporated. The dough will seem shaggy at first but keep mixing until you don’t see anymore dry flour. The dough will be very sticky and elastic.
First Rise
Place the dough in a large bowl, cover it well with plastic wrap and poke a couple small holes in the top using toothpicks. Let the dough rise for 2 hours.
Prep The Baking Sheet
It is recommended to bake this bread on a stone, however a regular baking sheet will work just fine. Cover the baking sheet, or stone with parchment paper.
Shape The Dough
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.
Second Rise And Prep The Oven
Let the loaves rest for another 30 minutes so that they can rise a bit. While the bread is rising you can prep the oven. Preheat the oven to 450°F. Before placing the bread in the oven, add a pan with a cup of water and place it in the bottom rack.
Bake The Bread
Score the top of your bread with a very sharp knife, 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.
Make sure to allow the bread to cool before you serve it, but we all know that nothing’s better than warm bread.
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.
Why Is My Bread Dense?
Usually bread will be dense when there is too much flour. Keep in mind this dough will be sticky and shaggy, do not add any more flour than specified. Other factors that come into play are humidity and age of flour. Little yeast, long rise, sticky dough are keys to a good, light loaf. Also, do not over mix the dough.
Expert Tips
- Check the date on your yeast. The main reason that yeast bread doesn’t rise properly is due to expired yeast. If your yeast doesn’t foam up after the warm water has been added it means that it is dead and will not work.
- Warm water is a must. If your water is too cold or too hot the yeast may not activate correctly. The water needs to be lukewarm for the best rise.
- Don’t handle the dough. When forming the loaves, take care not to over-handle the dough and cause it to deflate.
- Use the pan of water. Do not forget to place a pan of water on the bottom rack when you preheat the oven. This helps the bread to have a crispy crust on the outside.
Storage
Artisan bread will keep at room temperature for up to 5 days in a container or bag. It also keeps really well in the freezer for up to 3 months in a sealed freezer bag or wrapped really well in plastic wrap. Then when ready to eat, just allow the bread to thaw out at room temperature for a few hours.
More Delicious Bread Recipes To Try
- Easter Bread
- Air Fryer No Knead Bread
- No Knead Bread
- Potato Bread
- Dark Rye Bread
- Rye Bread
- Amish White Bread
- Easy Focaccia
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Ingredients
- 3 cups water (lukewarm )
- 1½ tablespoon active dry yeast
- 1½ tablespoon salt
- 6½ cups all-purpose flour
Before You Begin! If you make this, please leave a review and rating letting us know how you liked this recipe! This helps our business thrive & continue providing free recipes.
Instructions
- Activate the yeast. In a medium bowl add the warm water, salt, yeast and stir together. Let the mixture sit for 5-10 minutes until the yeast bubbles up. If you are using instant yeast, you do not need to wait for 10 minutes for the yeast to activate.
- Make the dough. 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. If you do not have a mixer, simply add all the ingredients to a large bowl and using a rubber spatula or wooden spoon mix everything together until all the flour is incorporated. The dough will seem shaggy at first but keep mixing until you don't see anymore dry flour. The dough will be very sticky and elastic.
- First rise. Place the dough in a large bowl, cover it well with plastic wrap and poke a couple small holes in the top using toothpicks. Let the dough rise for 2 hours in a warm draft free environment.
- Prep the baking sheet. It is recommended to bake this bread on a stone, however a regular baking sheet will work just fine. Cover the baking sheet, or stone with parchment paper.
- Shape the dough. 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.
- Second rise. Let the loaves rest for another 30 minutes so that they can rise a bit. Preheat oven to 450°F. Before placing the bread in the oven, add a pan with a cup of water and place it in the bottom rack.
- Bake the bread. Score the top of your bread with a very sharp knife, 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 and serve. Cool on a rack before serving.
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 recipes comes from Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day: The Discovery That Revolutionizes Home BakingBread Baking Books).
Nutrition Information
Notice: Nutrition is auto-calculated for your convenience. Where relevant, we recommend using your own nutrition calculations.
Has anyone ever made this with gluten-free flour? Necessities Adjustments?
I am just trying this recipe for the first time. I carefully measured my 3 cups of water, but weighed my flour using the information on King Arthur’s All-Purpose flour bag (1/4 C. = 30 gram). 6 1/2 C. would then weigh 780 grams. I started with this amount, but the dough was more like a batter. I gradually added more flour until I had a very sticky, very soft dough. I am now waiting for the first 2 hour rise and noted when I converted to metric, the flour is 812.5 gm. Will be anxious to see how my bread turns out.
Hi Jo! After reading Every. Single. Comment (!) I have a question that was not addressed. What is the purpose of using a toothpick to poke a few holes in the plastic wrap?
I’ve made a lot of yeast doughs, and read a LOT of recipes, but have never seen this mentioned.
Thanks in advance, from a fellow Albertan.
Hi there! It’s basically to allow gases to escape while the dough is rising. Usually you can even just place a damp towel over the bowl which would be good enough but plastic wrap is really tight around the bowl.
I am confused about the temperature of the water. In the description of ingredients, you state: ”– It’s super important to make sure your water is at room temperature around 70°F (21°C) “ but then further down you state: “mix your yeast together well with the warm water (95°F-105°F) in a medium size bowl” – which temperature is correct?
Sorry for the confusion, that’s been fixed. Your water should be between 95°F-105°F.
Hi. How do I store the left over bread?
It’s going to be best to store it at room temperature in a cool dry place and in an airtight plastic bag, to last 2 -3 days.
definitely trying this, but surprised you use AP in place of bread flour
Either will work.
thank you
I’ve only ever used AP flour… my bread always turns out fantastic!
Best, fastest, easiest, “can add to,” and FORGIVING bread recipe. I also refrigerate the dough for 2 or 3 nights and create delicious “rusticana” pizza doughs.
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! 🙂
This was amazing and I would love to make it again but it was soooo sticky I could barely get it on the cookie sheet never mind any kind of shape. If I want to give it to others, I’d like a little shape. What did I do wrong? I’m just curious why it was so sticky. Maybe I overdid the kneading in the KA?
Just flour your hands really well and sprinkle more flour over the dough.
Hi, can I make one larger loaf instead of 2 smaller? Thanks
Sure can, but it may take a bit longer to bake, so keep an eye on that.
How warm should the water be when proofing the yeast? Is there a temp that is desirable?
Hi Anne,
Heat the water to approximately 100 degrees F (40 degrees C). We recommend testing the water temperature using a thermometer. Once you’ve done this a few times, you’ll get a natural feel for how warm the water should be without being too hot to kill the yeast culture.
Let us know how the bread turns out!!
How much yeast if I am using fresh not from a jar?
Hi MK,
Here is how you can substitute the active dry yeast for fresh yeast:
1 1/2 tbsp active dry yeast = 13.95 g = 41.85 g fresh yeast
Hope this helps!
I want to try this, but I want to know if I can substitute regular flour for bread flour?
You can, bread flour just has a higher protein than all-purpose flour.
Would it be 1:1 with AP flour?
Yes!