Easy No-Knead Bread is an artisan-style bread that’s done in 3 hours from start to finish and it’s mostly rising time. This is an easy bread recipe – you don’t even need a mixer. With only 4 ingredients (flour, yeast, salt, and water), you can make a bakery-quality, super soft homemade bread.
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Easy No-Knead Bread
We love the aroma and taste of homemade bread, including our easy Dutch Oven Bread, classic French Bread with the best crust, and of course classic Dinner Rolls. My kitchen has served as a bread-making test lab for the past month. We’ve made this bread countless times. It rises beautifully every time and you will fall in love with the spongy soft texture. It reminds me of the lovely loaves that Costco has perfected.
Many no-knead bread recipes require overnight fermentation but we love that this one is done in just 3 hours (most of which is just letting the dough rise while you go about your business). You’ll get to enjoy fresh homebaked bread within a few hours of when the craving hits.
What is the Best Flour For Bread?
Bread flour typically has slightly more protein and gluten than all-purpose flour so it is the preferred flour for bread. It can give you slightly better rise and texture. We have tested this no-knead rustic artisan bread with both all-purpose flour and bread flour. The loaves turned out perfect with either flour so use what you have on hand.
Watch No-Knead Bread Video Tutorial:
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How to Make Easy Homemade Bread:
1. In a large bowl, combine warm water (100˚F) and salt. Sprinkle yeast over the top and let it sit 2 min, then stir.
2. Measure out exactly 3 1/4 cups of flour and add flour to the bowl. Stir together with a spatula just until it together (do not knead). Cover and let rise at room temperature 2 hours (until 2-3 times in volume).
3. Line a cutting board with parchment paper and generously dust with flour. Turn dough out onto the floured surface.
4. With well-floured hands, fold the dough in half, then fold in half again. Dust dough generously with flour, lift it up and form a ball in your hands. Sprinkle the parchment paper flour or cornmeal, extending 1-inch past the border of the dough since it will expand. Place dough over the flour, seam side down, and let it rise at room temp uncovered for 40 minutes.
5. Meanwhile, prepare your oven: place one rack in the middle for the bread and one rack on the bottom for the water pan. Place a rimless cookie sheet (or inverted baking sheet) on the center rack. Preheat the oven and cookie sheet to 450˚ F. Also heat 1 cup water.
6. Just before baking, score the top of the bread 3 times. Place a metal or cast iron dish* on the bottom rack with 1 cup hot water (being careful not to splash water on a glass oven door). Slide dough with the parchment paper onto the hot cookie sheet and bake at 450˚ F for 25-28 min or until golden brown.
*CAUTION: DO NOT USE A GLASS DISH to hold water or it may explode when you add water. Also, be careful not to splash water on a glass oven door to prevent shattering from strong temperature change.
Pro Tips for the Best Homemade Bread:
- Use warm water – ideally about 100˚F to 110˚F. Avoid hot water which can deactivate the yeast.
- Measure precisely – spoon flour into measuring cup and level off the top. See our best tips for How to Measure wet and dry ingredients.
- Dough Rising Temperature – A room temperature of 71˚F to 75˚F is ideal for bread rising. If your room is colder, it will take longer. Do not place dough in a hot oven to rise. If the temperature goes above 110˚F, you can deactivate and ruin the yeast.
- Don’t Rush the Rise – For the best texture and rise, do not rush the rising process. It should be 2-3 times in size when it is finished rising. If you don’t allow the full rise, the bread will be dense.
- Preheat the oven and baking sheet – putting the dough onto a hot baking sheet or pizza stone, will help form a beautiful crust.
- Scoring the bread – scoring the top of the loaf allows it to expand and creates a pretty bread that you will be very proud of. Use a sharp or serrated knife or bread scoring blade.
- Cool before slicing – If you cut freshly baked bread while it’s still hot, the steam will escape and the bread will seem doughy.
Our Top Rated Bread Recipes:
- French Bread with a true crisp crust
- Banana Nut Bread – a moist banana bread studded with nuts and raisins
- Dutch Oven Bread – A 5-seed bread with the same basic dough
- Dinner Rolls – so easy and freezer-friendly
The next day, use this bread to make the most amazing Reuben Sandwich or this restaurant copycat Chicken Bacon Avocado Sandwich.
No-Knead Bread Recipe (Easy Artisan Bread)
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups water, warm, at 100˚F (not hot)
- 1/2 Tbsp sea salt
- 2 1/4 tsp active dry yeast, (7 grams or 1 packet)
- 3 1/4 cups all-purpose flour, (or bread flour) plus extra flour for dusting
- 2 Tbsp cornmeal , or more flour
Instructions
- In a large bowl, stir together 1 1/2 cups warm water (100˚F) and 1/2 Tbsp of salt. Sprinkle the top with yeast and let it sit 2 min, then stir.
- Measure out exactly 3 1/4 cups of flour and add flour to the bowl. Using a spatula, stir until dough comes together and is well blended. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let it rise at room temperature 2 hours (or about 2-3 times in volume).
- Line a cutting board with parchment paper and generously dust with flour. Scrape dough out of the bowl with a spatula onto the floured surface.
- With well-floured hands, fold dough in half, then fold in half again. Dust dough generously with flour, lift it up and form a ball in your hands. Sprinkle parchment paper with more flour or cornmeal, extending about 1" past the border of the dough since it will expand. Place dough over the flour, seam side down, and let it rise uncovered at room temp 40 minutes.
- Meanwhile, prepare your oven with 2 racks - one rack in the middle for the bread and one rack on the bottom for the water pan. Place a rimless cookie sheet (or use the backside of a rimmed cookie sheet or pizza stone) on the center rack. Preheat the oven and cookie sheet to 450˚ F. Also heat up 1 cup water.
- Just before baking, score the top of the bread 3 times. Place a metal or cast iron dish (never a glass dish*) on the bottom rack with 1 cup hot water (being careful to not splash water on a glass oven door). Slide the dough with the parchment paper onto the hot cookie sheet and bake at 450˚ F for about 25-28 min or until golden brown. Transfer loaf to a rack and cool to room temp before cutting into it.
Notes
Nutrition Per Serving
Filed Under
If you make this recipe, I’d love to see pics of your creations on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter! Hashtag them #natashaskitchen
This recipe was first published in 2012. It was updated March 2020 with new photos and we improved the recipe adding slightly more flour to help with forming the loaf.
this bread looks so professional. i would totally buy it if i saw it at the store!
Why thank you! 🙂
how come when i measured 1 1/2 cups water 1/2 tbsp salt 3/4 tbsp yeast and 3 1/4 cups flour the dough needs to be knead its too much flour, its not soft… i used canada flour
Nadia, I think it may be the flour you’re using. I’ve tried all-purpose and better-for-bread and both work well, but I haven’t tried Canadian. Does it look very different from the dough in the picture after mixing the flour in? Try just three cups of Canadian flour next time and see if that makes a difference. Let me know how it works out in the end (if it rises the same way and is still super soft after baking). I’m very curious.
Hi Natasha. I have tryed the same canadian flour again but i just dont put everything at once, i added last 1/4 cup by little, and it worked! My honey LOVES IT ! I used to make bread that kroshilsa silno, I dont know why. It had sugar and oil in that bread. what if I try adding sugar and a little bit of oil, you think it will be still so soft? What makes it kroshitsa?
I’m glad it worked out! My mom was telling me that really quick rising bread tends to be crumbly; I’m not sure what else.
Just wanted to add that Canadian flour is not good for making bread because it is heavily processed and is stripped of the protein that gives the bread elasticity. Try the flour Natasha is using, it’s excellent! My bread turned out delicious!
hi im trying to make ur bread recipe, how do you measure 3/4 tbsp?
Oh, its not an exact science. I just fill the tbsp till it’s 3/4 full 🙂
Thanks for the recipe it was really easy and good!
My mom freaked out when she saw this. In a good way. I’m excited to try out this recipe. Thank you!
I just made this bread today, Natasha. It is absolutely perfect! So easy to make and turns our wonderful. I love the texture. I made chicken caesar sandwiches with it – so GOOD! Thanks for the recipe and super directions.
Thank you for this recipe! I already made it twice and now it’s all gone again! Thank you! May God bless you and reward you for what you do! (because of your amazing recipes, we get to make our husbands and families and guests very happy!:)
Thank you Alina! God bless you too. I am truly blessed with awesome visitors on this site. Your comments are so encouraging and inspiring! I’m really glad you liked the bread 🙂
Note, if you have printed this recipe, please note the following change. “CAUTION: if you are using a glass baking dish on the bottom rack to hold water, do not preheat that glass dish or it may explode; just trust me on this one!!”
I am bread lover and I am making it everyday, so I can tell that your bread is just pure beauty:)) Can we say that about bread?:)))
Natasha I Love the pics and step-by-step instructions!
looks good! do u by any chance have manti recipe?
Not yet. But I’ll definitely post when I get a good one!
Nothing is better than homemade bread . Love it. Thanks for sharing, sounds very easy 🙂
If are using a stone to bake the bread on, do you still use the steam bath/water dish on the rack below? I just got a pizza stone and the instructions are a million miles long and they say to not get the stone wet when hot or it’ll crack. I wonder how the steam may affect it?
I think that means not to pour water on it when it’s hot, but steam should be fine. I’ve read several recipes that use a stone with steam inside. Check the links to the recipes at the top of this post. They use the pizza stone and the steam with it.
Use caution using steam with the baking stone. I just broke mine while baking the bread. I’ve been successful before, may have put the pan of water too close to my stone.
Oh no! I haven’t tried this bread on a baking stone and actually haven’t heard of it breaking. There were a few readers that reported good results with a baking stone, so maybe it was too close? Bummer though…
Thank you for this recipe! 🙂 It was my first time making bread and it turned out perfect! I am wondering if I can use rye flour next time to make rye bread…
I’m planning to try that and whole wheat flour soon to make it a healthier bread. If you try the rye, let me know what you think.
I made it with rye flour before and its not as fluffy as it is with white. Taste is very similar though.
Have you tried whole wheat also? Or maybe mixing flours?
Just saw this.. I tried so many different ways, probably made over 200 loafs by now, almost never buy bread.
So the best one is to do 2/3 (of the flour portion) white flour and 1/3 whole wheat.
Also I saw a comment to use dutch oven, I tried that too and this version is more tasty to me. My friend also tried both ways and prefers this method.
Do you mean that the Dutch oven version is better, or no Dutch oven?
Natasha, have you tried the Dutch Oven? It works as a double oven and makes the most amazing bread. The water you put in the oven is to create the steam. The dutch oven captures the steam inside and makes the bread very spongy. Bread comes out just like the Artisan breads you find at nicer grocery stores. You should try it. Nonetheless, your bread looks really good!!
Olga, I’ve heard about this method but haven’t tried it. What do you do to keep the bread from sticking to the dutch oven? Cornmeal?
Oh no, nothing at all. The oven is cast iron. You have to heat it in the oven before pouring the dough in it. That method alone keeps it from sticking. It’s quite simple actually. And the bread is awesome! I got the original recipe here http://www.simplebites.net/simplifying-the-no-knead-bread-recipe/ And then modified it to how we like it.
Hi,
I just made this recipe and used 1/2 portion organic rye flour. It turned out great. I use a dutch oven and place the dough on parchment paper so that it does not stick to the porcelain finish.
I have also made this recipe with 1/2 portion freshly stone ground wheat berries. It adds lots of natural protein and fibre and still tastes great. I grind them with a friend’s Bosche stone grinder.
You can add more protein by adding 1/2 cup quinoa and 1/4 cup more water.
Cheers,
John
Thanks a lot for this easy recipe,I really don’t like kneading,and I don’t have a bread maker,but Ww love homemade bread,so this is perfect.
And it’s so simple! I was surprised at how easy bread was to make. It always kind of intimidated me.
i made the bread today and it came out delicious…it was my first time baking bread too.. thank you Natasha for all your great recipes!
Thanks for letting me know. I loved that feeling of making my first loaf of bread 🙂
14 loaves?? Wow, you are determined! Bread looks really good. As you were describing warm bread and spread butter over it my mouth started watering lol yum!
Oh my, I had no idea this bread would have that effect in people :-). Determined and a little stubborn 😉
Wow this looks good! I always wanted to make my own bread, but always felt it was a little too involved for me. However this looks relatively simple. I think I’ll have to try it.
I was surprised at how simple it was too. Make it once and you’ll be a pro!
Don’t you just love Pinterest! I knew as soon as I saw the title of this that you’d found my pin for Mel’s bread. her recipes are the best and look how perfect you pulled this off! I’m encouraged that you did this without a baking stone, as I don’t have one either so I was thinking it might not work. I will have to try it!
Yes pinterest is awesome! A baking stone would be nice for the future since I’m totally hooked on baking bread 🙂 I guess I have you to thank for this bread Veronica. Thanks for pinning!!
Thank you I am so trying this on Monday
This receipe is so easy and delicious. I used my bake stone and followed the receipe exactly. After it was baked I wrapped it in foil and the results was so tender and moist. You are right. It made wonderful sandwichs the next day. Thank you.