Dutch Oven No Knead Bread

holding the loaf of bread over the dutch oven.

Dutch Oven No Knead Bread

This is an old fashioned, classic Dutch Oven No Knead Bread that our grandmothers have made for decades! This pairs perfectly for soups, jams, or dipping in olive oil/herbs. {WW 4 Points, Vegan Vegetarian}

Course Breakfast

Cuisine American

Diet Vegetarian

Prep Time 5 minutes

Cook Time 1 hour

Rising Time 16 hours

Total Time 17 hours 5 minutes

Servings servings

Calories 68kcal

Author Ginny

Equipment

Dutch Oven

Ingredients

Regular No Knead Bread

3 cups Flour
1½ cup Warm Water
2 tsp Yeast
1 tbsp Salt
2 tbsp Sugar

No Knead Rosemary Sea Salt Bread (Variation)

3 cups Flour
1½ cups Warm Water
2 tbsp Yeast
1 tbsp Sea Salt extra if you want to sprinkle on top
2 tbsp Sugar
2 tbsp Rosemary fresh, chopped

Instructions

Regular No Knead Bread

Combine all the ingredients into a bowl and stir with a wooden spoon. The dough will come together in seconds and come off of the sides of the bowl.
Allow the dough to stay in the bowl on the counter, covered with Saran Wrap or Press and Seal for 16-24 hours. I have done 24 hours with no problems.
When ready to cook, preheat oven to 450 degrees with the dutch oven in the oven when heating up. This is essential. I have preheated it up to 45 minutes and haven't seen a drastic difference in the outcome of the bread, so I just heat up in the oven as the temperature comes up.
While the oven is heating up, remove the dough from the bowl and form into a ball. It may be a bit sticky which is fine. Don't work it, just form a big ball. Depending on the humidity in the air, I will add a teaspoon or so of flour to get it to work into a ball. Don't over do it though.
When the oven is completely heated up, remove the dutch oven from the oven and place the ball of dough inside and cook for 45 minutes, covered. Remove the lid and cook an additional 10-15 minutes allowing the top to get a crusty brown color. Don't overcook as the outside will get too hard.

No Knead Rosemary Sea Salt Bread

Combine all of the ingredients together in a bowl and stir with a wooden spoon until the dough is coming off of the sides
This will only take a couple minutes. Cover the dough with saran wrap or Press N Seal for 16-24 hours as it will continue to rise. Once it is ready to bake, preheat the oven at 450 degrees and place the cast iron dutch oven in the oven to heat up.
It is best to keep this in the oven 30-40 minutes to really make sure the dutch oven is extremely hot. This helps cook it from all sides and helps to resist the sticking! Roll the dough out and if it is extremely sticky, add a teaspoon of flour or so to just make it not so moist but you don't want it dry.
Remove the dutch oven from the oven and place the dough in the dutch oven and cook for 20 minutes with the lid on. Check on the bread and see how it's going.
At this point, I took the lid off and baked 20 minutes to make the outside crust crisp and yet have a very tender inside.

Notes

Sweetener: Most recipes for Dutch Oven No Knead Bread don't have any sweetener in it and I have made this with and without and I also add the sugar for just a bit of sweetness. You barely taste it but I miss it when I don't add it in! So if you don't want to add it, please feel free to leave it out!

Cooking Time Tip: I would check your bread at 25-30 minutes and see how it is doing. If you want an outer crust that is crunchy and your oven tests low-go for the full time. If you like a crispy (not as hard) of an outer bread, go for the lower time and you might be happier.

Variations:

Rosemary and thyme to make a delicious Herb Bread
Cinnamon and raisins and you have the Cinnamon Raisin Bread
Craisins and orange zest for a great Cranberry Orange Bread
Blueberries and lemon zest for a Lemon Blueberry Bread
Thanks for our awesome readers, I want to note that if you want to use herbs you will use 2-2 ½ TBSP FRESH herbs or 2-2 ¼ TSP DRY herbs. Also you will mix that in with all the ingredients at the beginning!

Dense Bread: Most common answer is that there is too much flour in the bread. Remember, especially with baking, how important it is measure properly by spooning flour into a dry ingredient measuring cup and then leveling off. Don't be tempted to SCOOP the flour out of the bag or container, that is a sure fire way to get too much flour into your recipe. The yeast may not have been good or old. The flour could be old.
The last reason is that there might be too much liquid or moisture. The dough needs to be sticky but not out of control. If you need to add flour, add it by the teaspoon at a time but try not to overwork the dough either or it will get tough. I promise, this is an easy recipe but sometimes there might be a reason someone has an issue and I want to make sure we cover them all.

Freezer Friendly: Just allow the no knead dutch oven bread to fully cool, and then transfer to a freezer bag or airtight freezer container. The bread can store for 3-4 months!

Yeast: If you use active dry yeast, you just need to make sure to activate your yeast. By doing that you will just add your yeast to warm liquid, with a bit of sugar. Let it sit for 5-10 minutes. The yeast will begin to foam up, and that is when you know the yeast is blooming and active.

No Dutch Oven? As long as you have a pan that can heat up to 450 degrees and has a lid, you should be good to go.

Bread is Hard All The Way Through: It cooked too long. Make sure that your oven is calibrated to the correct temperature. Most of our ovens are off and having an oven thermometer really helps. I always suggest readers check recipes early and often when you aren't sure and for first time recipes.

Nutrition