No-Knead Artisan Bread Recipe

Artisan bread is a no-knead bread that usually consists of 4 ingredients: flour, water, salt and yeast. And it uses time while proofing to do the kneading for you. It is cheaper and easy to make than most bread recipes and doesn’t have all of the additives that store-bought bread making it have a shorter shelf life.

I have been baking bread for the past 11 1/2 years, and this is how it all started.

In 2009 we moved to Calgary from La Crete, Alberta with our two kids (at the time) with the intention of having more opportunities. My wife ended up getting a job before me, and so we had decided that I was going to stay at home with the kids for a bit due to insanely high childcare costs. Shortly after we had moved, my foster mother decided to come out to visit us. I really think that she came out simply because she thought I was incompetent and wanted to check in on me. (I just want to point out that at the time, I did have things under control). But I still look back at that week and appreciate it so much. Every day that week, we would cook or bake something, and she really did end up helping me a lot. We made bread, buns, white cream (grandma) cookies, and soups.

Before she had come out, I had perfected my buns (or so I thought). I had a recipe for 2 hour buns. I would throw all of the ingredients into a bowl and would knead them for a few minutes, adding flour throughout to make the dough not so sticky. And we all thought they were pretty great! My foster mother on the other hand, was not impressed. She told me that I was not kneading the dough long enough, and showed me the trick of adding oil at the end, instead of flour, when kneading and the right amount of time to knead the dough. Changing my bread making game!

I know that everyone has been to a gathering or potluck where there is that one relative who always brings buns, and someone always warns you not to eat those buns, and they always end up leaving with the same amount that they brought (minus the one that they themselves ate because they thought they were great buns). That was me. I was that relative. Until my foster mother came out. *Disclaimer: If you have just realized that you always bring buns to events, and always leave with the same amount you brought (minus one), I’m sure they’re delicious, and I’m sorry =) .

I still make the white bread that my foster mother used to make, but the reason that I haven’t posted a blog about it is because 25% of the time when I try to make it, it flops. And I don’t know why. I’ve even tried using a bread maker without much success. The first time, I followed the recipe, threw in all of the ingredients, and it came out looking like naan bread. The second and last time I used a bread maker, I followed the recipe again. And out came this beautiful, golden loaf of bread. My wife, son (and I) were so excited that it finally worked! We let it cool down for a few hours, as to not ruin it. And I decided to let my wife do the honors and slice it up. She cut into it, and it was completely hollow! So we donated the bread maker to the MCC.

So if I’m being honest, when bread is made in this house, it’s my wife who makes it. I am the bun maker. She’s the bread maker. Sorry. WAS the bread maker. (Hey, this is Donna. Lance’s wife. I type while he talks. This is the first I’m hearing about moving to second position in the bread making game.)

Making any type of bread is so difficult for me, so I don’t even try anymore. I would rather buy it from the store. Sometimes it tastes better than homemade, but usually not. But I feel that it’s cheaper to spend the $2.50 on a loaf of bought bread, then fumble around with the 30+ ingredients, and waste hours, only to end up with a hard, awful version of naan bread. But not too long ago, this all changed when I found a no-knead, four-ingredient artisan bread recipe while going down the YouTube rabbit hole.

So I did some more research, and almost every recipe is the same. After about a dozen loaves of bread, and almost as many ways to make it, this the recipe that I ended up with that works for me.

First, you need to gather your ingredients: flour, water, salt and yeast (I prefer quick rise yeast, only because I still have a fear of traditional yeast ruining my bread).

Mix 3 cups of flour, and a teaspoon of salt in a mixing bowl.

In a glass measuring cup, mix together 12 oz of warm water, and 1/4 teaspoon of yeast and let it sit until the yeast starts to foam (maybe you don’t have to do this, but I do because I really don’t trust my yeast).

Anyway, pour the yeast/water mixture into the flour/salt mixture.

Stir it with a wooden spoon until most of the flour is incorporated (no kneading required!). *In the picture below, I had mixed it quite a bit, but don’t have any other pictures of this part of the process. So you don’t have to mix it this much, but certainly don’t mix it more than this,

Place your dough in a sealed container (or a mixing bowl covered with saran wrap), and let it sit/proof for 7-24 hours. I put my containers in the oven with the light on as our house is quite cool in the winter. (I bought these specifically for bread making). Lately, almost every other day before bed, I’ll whip up one or two batches of dough (which takes about 10 minutes) so that it can sit all night and is ready for the morning for my family to enjoy.

After about 7 hours, your dough should have risen to double and have lots of bubbles in it! *please ignore the dirty oven, didn’t realize it was that gross until just now ~Donna

At this time, I take them out of the oven. I sprinkle a generous amount of flour on the counter, plop the dough out on the flour, and fold in all four corners. I then place that ball of dough in a clean pie plate and cover with a tea towel.

And let it rise for 1-2 hours. I find 1 1/2 hours works best for me. After 1 hour, I preheat the oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit with a dutch oven or casserole dish inside.

You will be baking the bread in either a casserole dish (at least 3.5 q) or a dutch oven (at least 3.5 q). I have tried both, and found that when baked the exact same, give entirely different loaves of bread. The bread in the casserole dish was a thicker, chewier crust, while the dutch oven produced a thinner, crunchier crust. I got my dutch oven from Canadian Tire when they were giving them away (not literally, but it was 85% off…I still don’t know how they are able to have such low prices and stay in business). Anyway, here is one that I found that is similar to mine.

Remove piping hot dutch oven/casserole dish from oven, spray with cooking spray, and plop your dough into it being careful not to burn yourself (it really hurts). Using kitchen scissors, or a sharp knife, make some cuts in the top (i’m not sure what the purpose of cutting slits in the top of bread is for, if you do know please leave a comment below, but I do know that it looks pretty lol). Put the lid on, and put it back in the oven. Bake for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, I like to remove the lid and let it bake for another 5 mintues to let the top crisp up.

At that point, remove the casserole dish/dutch oven and carefully dump the loaf of bread out and place on a cooling rack until it’s cool.

This loaf was baked in the casserole dish.

This one was baked in the dutch oven, with sesame seeds sprinkled on top before baking.

Since I started making this bread, we have stopped buying bread from the store, and after doing the math, I have figured out that a loaf of this bread cost only $0.85! Our family of five goes through 3-4 loaves a week. And the funny thing is, when we would buy loaves of bread, I was always finding and throwing out old end pieces from in the cupboard because no one wanted to eat the ends and they would be too gross to make bread crumbs with. Now with this type of bread, everyone is fighting over the ends and we never have any waste. I have never had a loaf last more than 2 days in this house, but I have heard that the shelf life of this bread is shorter than the stuff you buy in the store. But trust me, it is the most delicious bread you’ve had, and won’t last long anyway, but you can freeze it anyway if you are running out of time.

Now as for freezing the dough, I haven’t tried it myself, but have heard that after the initial rise (7-24 hours), you can wrap it in plastic wrap and freeze it. When you are wanting to use it, take it out of the freezer, and let it thaw overnight in the fridge, and then let it rise a second time (for 1 1/2-2 hours) before baking. If you’ve tried this, please let me know how it went!

Thank you again for all of your comments and messages! I love hearing from all of you and will try my best to respond!

Cheers, Lance