how to make super easy no knead bread

Failproof homemade bread recipe with four ingredients only? Stop searching easy bread recipes, make this one! Print the recipe for free below! Use the pictured step-by-step instructions for crusty bread. Ridiculously easy from scratch recipe for artisan bread that will impress your guests.  – 

Knock, knock… When someone knocked on my door early in the morning I knew it was her. I felt a pinch of unease and opened the door smiling.

She smiled back and held out half a loaf of bread. Same procedure as every week.

I promised this was too much of a favor and I never had something for her. She said it was nothing she would be baking anyway and one loaf was too much for her.

I would take the bread, thank her, close the door, stop smiling.

Homemade artisan Bread

Baking your own bread. Isn’t that impressive? Many homemakers in Morocco bake bread daily.

Last summer in Morocco, I tried the most superb homemade flatbread. I asked the homebaker if I could learn how to make it.

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When the midday sun stung my head while we were sitting in front of a super hot oven on the terrasse I regretted that I asked about breadmaking. We took a peek at the bread once in a while, watching the baking progress carefully.

The Moroccan homemaker didn’t use a measuring cup when throwing the ingredients into a large bowl. No written bread recipe. She said you can feel when you have enough flour, water, or yeast. Can you?? (Ok, they can! They also mix batter for the delicious Moroccan Baghrir pancakes without measuring cups!)

Kneading the dough so long I got tired from watching.

-> If you want an easy recipe to get started with Moroccan dishes, put together this Moroccan Beet Salad.

First experience with homemade bread

As a student, I had a neighbor who was making her own bread. Different ones each week and she would always bring some over to me. … knock, knock …

It was so nice of her.

I didn’t know how to tell her that I didn’t like her bread at all. It was hard and dust-dry. I could only eat it with tons of butter and jam and in very small doses.

Why would I bother if making bread is either super complicated or gives results that I don’t like eating?  I gave up on the idea of making bread myself.

Until…

Time to make bread at home

My little one’s playschool hosted a Middle Ages-themed party. They put up lists of things to bring.

The list was pretty full of names when I spotted it. I gazed over the section for food – and froze. Only homemade bread spots left! *gulp*

Why couldn’t it be a Cupcakes-themed party?? Taking a deep breath, I signed in for “homemade bread“.

A bold move gets rewarded – Spotting a magical bread recipe

I spent the next two weeks of my life sifting through easy bread recipes like a maniac. How was I supposed to bake a bread that was edible without tons of butter and jam when I had no experience at all?!

One recipe promised a solution to my dilemma. A foolproof easy bread recipe that did not call for any kneading at all!

A magical crusty no-knead bread! The secret is in its long hours of fermenting. Italian Ciabatta uses the same principle.

But my only try at ciabatta failed completely! (Maybe because I shortened the fermentation hours to my convenience. … ahem…)

Apart from patience, you need a baking pan with a lid to make no-knead bread at home. I don’t have that. So, I used a loaf pan of 25 cm length, around 9.84 inches. I made a lid out of aluminum foil and formed it to a dome, allowing the bread to rise. I used the baking pan as a model and wrapped the foil around it, took it off, and placed it on top.

Done. You can also use a round cake pan if you prefer a round loaf of bread. I have used one that is 8.6 inches in diameter (22 cm). But I found it somewhat harder to make the foil lid for a round pan and the pan was slightly too large. I ended up with a rather flat bread. (The one in the picture above.) I would suggest using a 8-inch, (20 cm) pan instead.

You can use a small tagine, clay cooker, or oven-proof frying pan, too. Just use what you have.

When I did a test-baking, I couldn’t believe how easy it was and ate up the whole thing myself. This was definitely something I could bring to the party without feeling embarrassed.

Seriously, if you only bake occasionally, make this magical no-knead bread. It will boost your baking confidence!

But schedule the preparation cautiously. A schedule that worked for me was making the dough in the evening and let it sit overnight. I got back to it in the morning, then have it rest another 2 hours in the baking pan. I baked it at lunchtime having a homemade bread fresh from the oven to bring to the party.

You will find a printable recipe below! But first, let’s go through this, step by step. Here is how you can make your own bread for pennies and with only minutes of dedicated work.

Easy No-knead Bread recipe

Ingredients:

• 400 g or 3 1/4 cups plain flour
• 1/4 Tsp Yeast
• 300 ml or 1 1/4 cups of Water
• 1 1/4 Tsp Salt
• Grease and flour for preparing the pan

Instructions:

Put all ingredients into a large bowl. Mix thoroughly with a hand mixer and dough hooks (that’s what I use) or in a kitchen machine. The dough will be very sticky and elastic. (It reminds me of chewing gum).

Cover the bowl and take it to a cool place, for example, the basement. Let it rest for 12 to 18 hours.

Take a rubber spatula or large spoon to fold the dough. Don’t stress, just get some air out. Don’t knead or mix.

Let it sit another hour.

Grease a standard loaf pan of appr. 9-inch length. Put some flour into the pan and shake it until a thin layer of flour covers the grease. Dump out the remaining flour from the baking pan.

Fold the dough again and put it into the loaf pan. Let the dough rest in the baking pan for at least another full hour.

Preheat the oven to 480 °F (250 °C). Put the covered baking pan into the oven and bake for 30 minutes. After that, take off the aluminum cover and bake an extra 15-20 minutes. (If you want an extra crunchy crust make it 25 minutes with cover and 20-25 minutes baking time without cover.)

Get the baking pan out of the oven and drop the loaf onto a cooling rack. Let it cool down uncovered.

(I once covered the cooling bread with a dish towel. This made the crust soft.)

If you want to get fancy with your homemade bread you can use a mixture of plain and whole-grain flour (1:1). You can add seeds, nuts, olives, herbs, dried tomatoes, or spices.

That’s it!

You can now make your own artisanal bread at home. No fuss at all. Impress everyone with your tasty homemade bread. I’m so glad I signed in for bread! This made me find out how super easy it is to make delicious, fluffy, crusty bread myself with no effort at all.

If you are looking for your next baking recipe to try, make this no-knead bread!

Print the recipe right here:

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