Description
This World’s Easiest Yeast Bread recipe creates a rustic artisan loaf with a crispy, chewy crust and big, airy holes similar to sourdough. It requires no kneading and uses simple pantry ingredients, making it perfect for beginners or anyone craving homemade bread with minimal effort. The dough is mixed, left to rise, then baked in a preheated Dutch oven for a perfectly golden, crusty finish.
Ingredients
Scale
Dry Ingredients
- 3 cups (450g) flour (bread or plain/all purpose)
- 2 tsp instant or rapid rise yeast
- 2 tsp cooking/kosher salt (NOT table salt)
- 1 1/2 tbsp flour for dusting
Wet Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups (375 ml) very warm tap water (up to 55°C/130°F)
Instructions
- Mix Dough: In a large bowl, combine the flour, yeast, and salt. Add the warm water and use the handle of a wooden spoon to stir until all the flour is incorporated into a wet, sloppy dough. The dough should not be kneadable but also not as runny as cake batter. Adjust with additional water or flour if needed to reach the right consistency.
- Rise: Cover the bowl with cling wrap or a plate and leave it on the counter for 2 to 3 hours until the dough doubles in volume, becomes wobbly like jelly, and develops bubbles on the surface. If it is not rising after 1 hour, move it to a warmer spot.
- Refrigerate (Optional): For enhanced flavor, refrigerate the dough at this point for up to 3 days. Before baking, remove it and let it sit at room temperature for 45 to 60 minutes to take the chill off.
- Preheat Oven and Dutch Oven: Place a Dutch oven (26cm/10” or larger) with its lid on inside your oven. Preheat the oven to 230°C / 450°F (220°C fan) for 30 minutes.
- Shape Dough: Lightly flour your work surface with about 1 tablespoon of flour. Scrape the dough onto the surface, sprinkle about half a tablespoon of flour on top, and use a dough scraper or similar tool to fold the edges inward approximately six times to form a roundish shape. This deflates the bubbles and shapes the dough for transfer.
- Transfer to Parchment: Place a large piece of parchment paper beside the dough. Flip the dough upside down (seam side down, smooth side up) onto the parchment. Slide it toward the center and reshape into a round form. Don’t worry about perfect shape; irregularities create crunchy crust bits.
- Bake Covered: Carefully remove the hot Dutch oven from the oven and use the parchment paper to lift and place the dough inside the pot. Cover with the lid and bake for 30 minutes.
- Bake Uncovered: Remove the lid and bake the bread for an additional 12 minutes or until the crust is deep golden and crispy.
- Cool: Transfer the bread to a cooling rack and let it cool for 10 minutes before slicing.
Notes
- This recipe does not require kneading, making it easy and quick for even beginner bakers.
- You can use active dry yeast instead of instant yeast but follow standard yeast activation instructions.
- Use cooking or kosher salt, not table salt, for better flavor and texture.
- Water should be very warm but not boiling, ideally around 55°C/130°F for optimal yeast activation.
- If after an hour the dough hasn’t started to rise, placing it in a warmer location will help.
- Refrigerating the dough for up to 3 days enhances flavor and develops better texture.
- Preheating the Dutch oven is essential to achieve the signature crispy crust; if you don’t have a Dutch oven, see alternate baking methods in the original recipe notes.
- The parchment paper facilitates easy transfer of dough to the hot pot without deforming the shape.
- For variations, try the cheese bread version mentioned in the original notes for added flavor and richness.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 slice
- Calories: 155
- Sugar: 1 g
- Sodium: 469 mg
- Fat: 1 g
- Saturated Fat: 1 g
- Unsaturated Fat: 0 g
- Trans Fat: 0 g
- Carbohydrates: 32 g
- Fiber: 2 g
- Protein: 5 g
- Cholesterol: 0 mg
