Artisan Bread Recipe

Learn how to make no knead artisan bread the easy way in a Dutch oven. This no-fail recipe yields a gorgeous loaf that's crispy and golden outside and chewy inside! There's no kneading required and minimal hands-on work.

Course Bread

Cuisine American

Keyword Artisan Bread, Artisan Bread Recipe, Artisan Bread Recipe Dutch Oven, Best Dutch Oven Bread, Dutch Oven Artisan Bread, Dutch Oven Bread, Easy Dutch Oven Bread, Easy Dutch Oven Bread Recipe, How to Make Artisan Bread, No Knead Artisan Bread, No Knead Artisan Bread Recipe

Prep Time 25

Cook Time 35

Rising and Proofing 3 30

Servings servings

Calories 118kcal

Author Faith Gorsky

Equipment

Ingredients

2 cups warm water
1 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast
1 tablespoon sugar
2 teaspoons white wine vinegar
2 teaspoons salt I use table salt for this
4 cups all-purpose flour plus a little more to flour the top

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

Make the Dough:

Add the water, yeast, sugar, and vinegar to a large bowl and stir briefly to help the sugar dissolve. Let it sit until the yeast starts to foam at the top, about 10 minutes.
Add the salt and stir, then add the flour and stir until the flour is completely mixed in (I like to use a heavy-duty rubber spatula for this). The dough will be shaggy at first, but it’ll come together as a sticky dough.

First Rise:

Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let it sit at warm room temperature (75 to 78F is ideal) for 2 hours to rise.

Second Rise:

Use a rubber spatula to fold the dough up from the side and down onto the middle of the dough ball. Rotate the bowl as you do this so each part of the outer surface gets folded over onto the middle.
Cover the bowl with plastic wrap again, and let it sit at warm room temperature for 1 hour to rise a second time.

Proof the Dough and Preheat the Dutch Oven:

Preheat the oven to 450F. Put a 5-quart Dutch oven (with the lid on it) into the oven to preheat for 30 minutes.
Place a large piece of parchment paper into a large bowl. (You’ll be transferring the dough ball here to proof.)
Use a rubber spatula to fold the dough up from the side and down onto the middle of the dough ball. Rotate the bowl as you do this so each part of the outer surface gets folded over onto the middle.
Use a rubber spatula to scrape the ball of dough into the parchment paper-lined bowl. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap, and let it sit at warm room temperature (ideally in a humid environment) to proof, about 30 minutes. (I generally let the dough proof on the stovetop with the oven preheating.)

Flour and Score the Outside of the Loaf:

Once the dough is proofed, evenly sprinkle a little flour across the top. Use a sharp paring knife (or a bread lame) to make a couple slices in the dough across the top.

Bake:

Use potholders to carefully remove the Dutch oven from inside the oven. Put the dough (parchment paper and all) into the Dutch oven, then cover the Dutch oven.
Immediately put the Dutch oven inside the oven. Bake (covered) for 30 minutes, then remove the cover and bake until the loaf is a gorgeous golden brown on top, about 3 to 5 minutes more.

Cool:

Once your bread is out of the oven, use potholders to transfer the loaf to a wire rack to cool for as long as you can hold out before slicing it.

Notes

Best Temperature for Rising Dough: The ideal temperature to let your dough rise is 75 to 78F. If your kitchen isn’t that warm, you can always turn your oven on briefly and put the dough in a warm spot near it. Alternatively, some bakers let their dough rise in their oven with the oven off and the oven light on.
Storage: Let the bread cool completely to room temperature. Wrap it (or pop it in a gallon-sized zip-top plastic bag) and store it on the countertop for up to 4 days. After that, you can store it in the fridge for up to 3 days more.
Vinegar: If you want, you can omit the vinegar from this recipe. If you do so, the only other change you'll need to make is to reduce the sugar to 1 teaspoon. (I recommend reading the section in the article above where I talk about the differences between this loaf made with and without vinegar.)

Nutrition