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.
This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy.
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:
I hope this Easy No-Knead Bread becomes a new favorite homebaked bread recipe for you. If you enjoyed this video, please subscribe to our Youtube Channel and be sure to click the bell icon so you get a notification when we post a new video.
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.
Hello. I was wondering if you can use instant dry yeast instead of active dry yeast?
Hi Natasha, I actually only use the active dry kind so I’m not very familiar with the instant, but I have read that they work differently. Because I haven’t tested it with this recipe; I have no idea how different it will be.
My dough ended up being too runny/sticky. I weighed out the flour…should I have added more? It was impossible to roll it into a ball. Any thoughts?
Hi Zee, it could be not enough flour (or maybe a flour substitution since some flours have varying amounts of gluten). It helps to dust the outside with flour so you can get it in your hands.
Recipe has a bake temp of 450° and says to use parchment paper. Any parchment I’ve ever used has a max temp of 429°.
Hi, most parchment paper is rated for use at temperatures up to 450 degrees. Definitely avoid broiling.
Yes! Ive noticed when I’ve used it at 450, the parchment paper burns! I realized it says the max temperature is 420 unfortunately.
EDIT: 420°, not 429° for parchment paper.
I did not have parchment paper on hand so I used heavy-duty aluminum foil instead and it came out great — have done this successfully several times.
Hi Natasha! Thank you for easy recipe! Can I use whole wheat bread flour for this recipe? Or you know easy recipe for German bread? Same what Russian stores selling? Thank you.
Hi Anya, I have tested this with half whole wheat flour and half all-purpose flour and the bread did not rise as well and was not as fluffy.
Thank you!
Awesome flavor! The only thing that I didn’t care for was how it spread out on the cookie sheet. Could I cook it in my Dutch oven without the lid to help it keep some height & shape? If so, what is the cooking time adjustment? It truly does remind me of the restaurant bread used for dunking into the balsamic vinegar/olive oil/pepper combo….just like in your video!!
Hi Claudia, that should work. However, we did not have that experience. Was anything altered in the recipe?
The only thing I did was weight my flour. Google says their are 120 grams to a cup of flour. It was almost like focaccia dough. I will definitely try it again. But, next time I will use your method of scooping. Your recipes are so awesome, I’m pretty sure I goofed up some place. Thanks for the reply…oh, forgot, how long should I cook the bread if I use my Dutch oven?
If you are looking to bake in a cast iron pan or dutch oven, you will love our dutch oven bread or use it as a guide to baking.
Super! Thanks for the quick reply. Looking forward to seeing you on the Food Network some day!
In my opinion, I would stick with your method of weighing, that way it is exact. I don’t know anyone who measures using the spoon and level method who gets it the same every time. Europeans almost exclusively weigh ingredients, so I’ve started doing that with much more consistent results!
I’m making my third loaf now. I love it. Makes a great grilled cheese sandwich. Also enjoy it with my coffee, toasted and buttered.
That’s so great! Sounds like you found a new favorite!
Delicious! Worked well with whole wheat flour too. How do you store your bread?
Hi Sarah, the homemade bread always disappears really fast but if I do have leftovers, I let it cool completely to room temperature then cover and leave at room temperature for a day or 2. With store-bought sliced bread, I refrigerate after a couple of days to make it last longer so it doesn’t get moldy.
hello, making this fool proof beard risen now great basic recipe. I have added a good amount os corse salt and fresh cracked pepper to top just before going in oven. will brush wit bacon fat and cracked pepper today Peace and a blessed New Year to ALL
Happy New Year!! Thank you so much for sharing that with us! We hope you love this recipe!
This is a great recipe. I weigh my flour on a digital scale in Grams. I used Bob’s Red Mill Artisan Bread Flour. I baked it on a upside down cookie sheet. The loaf was very delicious. One of the best loaves I’ve baked. Keeper recipe! Thanks Natasha.
I’m so happy to hear that! Thank you for sharing your great review, Michael!
Has anyone tried with all purpose gluten free flour blend?
Hi Trina, Without testing the recipe with gluten free/ coconut flour, it’s very difficult to guess. I’ve scanned through the readers comments and no one has reported trying it yet. It would have to be an experiment. If you do try it, please do let me know how it worked out.
High praise for this artisan bread recipe. I made this recipe and found it to be far better than others I’ve made. In fact, this recipe pulled me out of my home made bread recipe funk. I used 2 cups of AP unbleached flour and 1 cup of whole wheat bread flour. Excellent crumb.
Questions: How would you alter this to add sunflower seeds or other cracked grain? Would you subtract any flour if you added sunflower seeds?
I’m so glad you’ve enjoyed this Carol! Several of our readers have added great those with great results. Here is what one of our readers wrote “My kids like sprinkling fresh unsalted organic sunflower or pumpkin seeds on the outside just before putting it in the dutch oven.” I hope that helps.
I’ve been using this recipe since Dec. of 2016, when I first ran across it on Facebook, and I have made well over 200 loaves since then. I did modify the recipe by adding 2 Tbsp. sugar to the yeast/water which I found helps kick off the yeast for a better 1st rise. After the bread is done, I also melt 2 Tbsp. of butter and add 1/4 tsp. of salt to the melted butter and brush the melted butter all over the loaf, top, sides, and bottom for a softer crust. This is a great recipe for teaching my 7 and 9 year old granddaughters how to make a bread that they like to make and enjoy eating. Thanks again, Natasha!
Thank you so much for sharing that with us, Jim! Sounds like you found a favorite recipe and made it even better!
Clear instructions and easy! I kneaded the bread a little though to bring it all together before letting it rise the first time. I made it without putting the water pan in the oven and it was still lovely! Thank you
I’m so happy you enjoyed that. Thank you for sharing that with us!
Hey Natasha!
Would I be able to use coconut flour with this bread recipe instead of regular flour, with a ratio of 1/4 cup coconut flour for every 1 cup of all-purpose flour? Or do you have any other bread recipes using coconut flour?
Thank you!
Hi Sofie, Without testing the recipe with gluten free/ coconut flour, it’s very difficult to guess. I’ve scanned through the readers comments and no one has reported trying it yet. It would have to be an experiment. If you do try it, please do let me know how it worked out.
nice I have tried many times years ago to bake was not very good at it ,very precise measurements ,,,,humidity ,elevation bread machine is my go toooooo,,,,have ya tried letting this do its thing on counter over night ??????
letting dough do its thing on counter overnight then form and bake
Thank you for sharing that.
Hi Natasha,
Made the pork tenderloins they were delicious! Also made the bread also delicious! I just have one ?. When the bread was done the top was crusty but after it cooled down the top crust was soft. Is that the norm?
Hi Barbara, it will soften, especially with moisture in the air.
Hi Natasha,
Thanks for getting back to me so quickly.
Just tried again. Same problem!
Making bread in a few minutes. Printed recipe and just hand wrote #’s 6 & 7.
Did the exact same thing on your pork tenderloin recipe which I am also making today.
I have submitted a report with our tech team and hopefully, they will be able to resolve it quickly. I’m sorry for the inconvenience. Thank you so much for letting me know and for your patience as we work on getting this fixed.
My first time baking bread and it turned out so good! I do have a question. If I make want to bake two at the same time would I double the amount of water or do you recommend doing it one at a time?
Thanks!
I always make this one at a time but I would probably double everything. You might need slightly more time for the rise.
Too many cracks on a surface, how did this happened?
Anyway, im totally love your blog.
Keep doing your great works
Hi Echa, cracks on bread are fairly normal and won’t affect the texture or taste of the loaf. I’m so glad you love our recipes and blog.
I would like to make this bread but every time I go to print the recipe a section of the directions is missing. I am not sure why this happens.
Has anyone else had this problem
Thanks!
Hi Barbara, I wonder if you need to just give the page a moment to load? Try refresh and please let me know if you are still having that issue after that. Thank you for your feedback!
I have been looking for a healthy bread recipe that does not have sugar and am so glad I found this one! I made it today with some slight modifications. I used 2 cups wholemeal flour and 1/2 cup homemade seed & grain mix instead of the white flour. It didn’t rise very high but it tastes really good. Will try putting it into a loaf tin for the second rising & cooking next time.
Thank you so much for sharing that with me, Amanda. I’m glad you enjoyed this recipe.
This was almost perfect! For some reason, my bread was slightly undercooked (after 25 mins). But I’ve always had such success with your recipes as written that I didn’t think to knock it to see if it sounded hollow! Will cook linger next time.
Additionally, the water in my pan ran out, so my pan burned. Would put more like two cups in.
Otherwise, easy and tasty bread!
Hi Kendall, did you slice into the bread while it was still hot? If so, next time be sure to wait until it has cooled to room temperature or just barely warm. If you cut into hot bread, it will release steam and seem a little gummy inside. Also, a larger pan will evaporate water faster so you can definitely add more water.
Thanks for asking. I let it cool for two hours before slicing into it. But I could tell when I picked it up that it wasn’t quite done – I just should’ve checked it before I turned off the oven and let it cool!
I used a 9” by 13” pan for the cup of water.
also did you let it rest on rack ? can’t go from oven to a counter top or it will get soft on bottom also tap bottom it should sound hollow and be crisp when cool knife on it to thickness you want and slice but keep eye on bottom of knife and slice will be same size all the way thru take your time
This bread worked out so nice!!! My first time baking bread since high school (20+) years ago, and I looked like a pro! Tasted great! And recipe instructions were clear and easy to follow.
That’s the best! I’m so happy you enjoyed this recipe!