“My husband said this was the closest thing to “real” Italian bread that we have had since we lived in Italy! So delicious!” – Julie G, recipient of new-mama meal after birth of seventh precious baby
I always get raves over my no-knead, crusty artisan-style bread, and it’s super easy. But it does require that I start it the night before. Now I can use the same recipe but double it, then refrigerate for up to a week — so I can pull out about a pound of dough at a time to make a loaf on a little over an hour’s notice.
Similar to the basic recipe, but doubled.
Here are the new amounts to use, per King Arthur :
3 cups warm water,
6 1/2 to 7 1/2 cups flour (32 oz, to be precise — if you can weigh your flour)
1 Tbsp salt, and
1.5 Tbsp instant yeast
Mix to make a shaggy dough (lesser amount of flour if you tend to scoop flour and thus pack; more flour if you tend to sprinkle or lightly spoon your flour into your cup). See basic recipe for specifics. I used whey from my yogurt making for one third of my liquid.
Keep the dough in a large bowl or container with loose cover; it will rise at least double–close to triple, so use a big container! I used a Tupperware 2-gallon canister; because it’s clear, I could see the rise (and I marked the dough line with a dry-erase marker when I first put the dough in, so I could track the rise).
At this point, I left my dough on the counter overnight, then refrigerated two hours…. but you can simply leave it out to rise about two hours and then refrigerate 2 hours to a week. The longer it refrigerates, the more of a sourdough-type tang it will have. [If you aren’t saving dough, but are just baking it all after making, you can just leave the dough out overnight and bake it in the morning. I may or may not have actually just made it a couple hours later, the same day…..]
When ready to bake, use floured hands to pull off about 16 oz of dough (easier if you sprinkle the whole dough top with a bit of flour). Shape as desired on parchment and loosely cover to let it rise to double, about an hour. Meanwhile, preheat oven/baking stone to 450 F. Slash tops of loaves as shown to allow for rise, then transfer loaves to baking stone (I use a flat-edged cookie sheet as a bread/pizza peel for the transfer).
Put a pan with at least a cup of water into the oven — on a lower or bottom rack; spritz loaves with water if desired. Then close oven quickly to create steam. The steam is what gives you the chewy, European-style crust — crackly and crisp on the outside, softer inside.
Bake at 450 for 25-35 minutes. Cool on rack.(I lower my temp to 435 because my oven runs way hot.)
For rolls: Pull off smaller dough amounts; shape and rise as directed. Bake 20-25 min.
Update: I’ve started making this with half King Arthur unbleached white and half King Arthur sprouted whole grain white wheat. Here’s a loaf made with that combo and with about a cup of cranberries and a big handful of walnuts tossed in. (Next time, I may add a bit of orange zest…..)
- 3 cups warm water
- 6½ to 7½ cups flour (32 oz, to be precise — if you can weigh your flour)
- 1 Tbsp salt
- 1½ Tbsp instant yeast
- Mix to make a shaggy dough. The dough will be slightly sticky and loose.
- Keep the dough in a large bowl or container with loose cover; it will rise at least double–close to triple, so use a sufficiently large container.
- Leave the dough out at room temperature for 8-10 hours (or overnight), then refrigerate at least two hours if using immediately afterward, or up to a week to keep dough on hand.
- When ready to bake, use floured hands to pull off about 16 oz of dough (easier if you sprinkle the whole dough top with a bit of flour). Shape as desired on parchment and loosely cover to let it rise to double, about an hour. Meanwhile, preheat oven with baking stone or Dutch oven to 450 F.
- Slash tops of loaves as shown to allow for rise, then transfer loaves to baking stone, cookie sheet, or Dutch oven.
- Put a pan with at least a cup of water into the oven — on a lower or bottom rack; spritz loaves with water if desired. Then close oven quickly to create steam. The steam is what gives you the chewy, European-style crust — crackly and crisp on the outside, softer inside. (If using a Dutch oven, you can skip this step, as the lid facilitates and captures the steam.)
- Bake at 450 for 25-35 minutes (Dutch oven: Lid on 20 min, lid off 15-20 min). Remove loaves from oven and cool on rack.
For rolls: Pull off smaller dough amounts; shape and rise as directed. Bake 20-25 min.
Can also be used for pizza dough. See other blog post!
5 thoughts on “Easy Crusty No-Knead Artisan Bread, Updated”
On the Trim Healthy Mama food plan, I can use this recipe as my E bread or pizza dough if I let it ferment 3 days first. At that point, it functions similarly to a sourdough. Voila! On-plan bread that is the same stuff we ate before, so i don’t feel deprived and my family doesn’t think I’m feeding them something “odd.” 🙂 You can find more of my adaptations in Everyday Cooking.