This is a recipe for bread the easy way. No starters. No kneading no failures. Perfect bread every time.

Perfect every time
Have you been an ISO baker? Have you given up on feeding starters and wondered why everyone on Instagram seems to have the perfect sourdough?
Then this is the bread for you.
You are not going to worry anymore about that heavy disappointing flat hard bread you waited 12 or 24 hours for, OK? Put it behind you. People spend a lifetime perfecting sourdough. We don’t have that time.
This bread has been popular on the internet for years so it’s not new but maybe you haven’t had the chance to try it before. Now is your chance.

This highly achievable AND simple recipe will amaze you. The hardest thing you will have to do is plan ahead.
This type of bread is more often known as no knead bread. I’ve given you a few similar recipes, like this. Try this Brioche bread. ( its also easy ). Or this No Knead Sweet Potato bread. They are perfect and will work to encourage you on your bread journey. This style of bread works by using a long fermentation. The moisture in the very wet dough helps build gluten without all of the work of kneading!

So here it is. The bread will have a thin crisp crust that shatters under your knife with a sourdough like interior.
What you will need to make bread
- You’ll need 4 basic ingredients. Four, salt, yeast, and water
- You will need to plan a day ahead (more about that later)
- Make the basic recipe before getting fancy
- You will need a Dutch Oven (like a le Creuset, le chasseur or Crofton). This creates the intense heat and moist atmosphere you need for this bread. This recipe was tested in an ovenproof pot with a lid. The results were positive but not as good as the Dutch oven.
- Use baker’s flour. All-purpose flour is too soft. You can purchase specific flour from a market, supermarket, or bakery. It should say bread, pizza or baker’s flour.


How to make this bread and more
- Don’t knead the dough, just mix together. Once water hits flour the gluten starts to form. Strong gluten makes great bread.
- As the dough sits, the water gets into every flour grain. The official name for this is “autolyze”. You may have come across that term when making sourdough. What it means is that when you go back to your dough it will be very soft and sticky
- This bread does not require any mixing, kneading or knocking back. In fact the lazier you are the better your bread will be!
- If you don’t have scales, don’t worry. Use cup and spoon measurements
- Now the planning bit. Start this bread the day before you need it. If you want it today make another softer yeasted bread. This one needs 24 hours to perfect. If you want it for breakfast on Sunday morning, mix it up before heading out on Saturday. Eg. make it at 8 am before going shopping (it will take 10 minutes at most) On Sunday morning at 8 am, you will cook it for breakfast. Follow the step by step instructions!
- I bought my Dutch Oven for $24.95 at Aldi
- After you have made a loaf or two you can experiment. Wholewheat is a perfect choice. Or add olives herbs, dried tomatoes or seeds. I will include this in the notes below



Watch this video for helpful hints

Bread the easy way. No starter. No Kneading
Ingredients
- 450 gm Flour, bakers plain, bread or pizza flour, 3 cups +tblsp
- 5 gm yeast, active dried 1 1/2 teaspoons
- 7 gm teaspoon salt (not flaked) 1 1/2 teaspoons
- 350 ml water, warm a bit less than 1 1/2 cups
- 1 Tablespoon olive oil ****optional
Instructions
- You will need a medium sized bowl. it can be stainless steel, glass or ceramic. Just as long as it is big enough to give the bread space to grow.I make the dough at the time I need it the next day. If you want it for breakfast or lunch make the base dough in the morning. If it is for dinner time then make it in the afternoon etc.You will also need baking paper and a Dutch Oven
- Put the flour, salt and yeast into the bowl and whisk together (or stir well)
- If you are using olive oil add it to the water then…..Add all the water at once and begin to stir with your hand (just one, the other one is holding the bowl). Mix from the outside collecting all the dry flour. You don't need to mix a lot it just needs to come together. There may still be bits and pieces around the bowl and it will not look smooth and mixed.
- Get rid of the excess from your fingers. Cover in plastic wrap well and put in a place where it will be undisturbed till tomorrow.
- Your dough will be a bubbly honeycomb mixture. Put some flour on the bench. Run your fingers around the top of the dough loosening the edges and then lift and fold the dough over itself a couple of times, then scrape the remainder out onto the floured bench, it will be very sticky. You DO NOT have to Knead it. Push it into a ball. Do this by using both hands to push the dough from the base inwards going around the base forming a circle. The dough will start to stretch and gather, pushing the dough towards yourself from the base works best. DONE (2-3 minutes)
- Lightly oil or spray a piece of baking paper 30 x 30 cm (12×12 in 0r just a round for the base of the baker). Put the dough ball onto the paper Lift the paper and put it into the Dutch oven. Cut the top of the dough with scissors. Cut very deep indets in around 3-4 places. This will allow the bread to expand. Put the lid on and set aside.
- Turn the oven and heat to 220C or 430 F. Leave for 10 minutes to heat and then put the baker into the oven. After about 20 minutes you will start to smell the bread baking. It will rise in this time so do not lift the lid before the first 30-35 minutes. Do not check until this time. Lift the lid swiftly. The bread should be well risen and some ears starting to form. If the bread is just shiny and not starting to rise and become rough put the lid back on for another 10 minutes before removing ***Caution when baking in a Dutch Oven. These are hot and heavy.
- The baking time will vary with different ovens. As a general rule after the first 30-40 minutes, you can take the lid off and let your bread brown. Final cooking time should be approximately another 15 minutes.Once you remove the lid If your oven is extra hot (that is your bread is browning very quickly) you can turn it down to around 190C / 375F and let the bread finish browning for another 15 minutes.
Notes

Do you need to preheat the Dutch oven?
Hi Liz. No just follow the recpe as written and it should woork just fine
How do you proof the dough in a cold house.
Warm the oven to 100. Turn it off cool a little and put the bowl inside. Or you can turn the oven on and sit the bowl ontop. ( not too high and put a towel under the bowl
I am getting ready to make this recipe. Will a stainless steel Dutch oven work?
Thank you!
Yes it will. The j=heat is slightly different but I have done it