Description
This Artisan Bread recipe produces a crusty, golden loaf with a soft, airy interior. Using simple ingredients like bread flour, yeast, salt, olive oil, and water, this no-knead style bread is elevated by a slow rise and baking in a preheated Dutch oven to create a perfect bakery-quality loaf at home.
Ingredients
Scale
Dry Ingredients
- 3 1/2 cups bread flour (plus extra for dusting)
- 2 1/4 teaspoons instant yeast
- 2 teaspoons granulated sugar (optional)
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
Wet Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 1/2 cups warm water (about 115°F)
Instructions
- Whisk dry ingredients: In a large bowl, whisk together the bread flour, instant yeast, sugar (if using), and kosher salt until evenly combined.
- Mix dough: Pour in the olive oil and warm water. Stir the mixture just until combined; the dough will be sticky. Dust your hands with flour if the dough is too tacky to handle.
- Rise dough: Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and place it in a warm spot. Allow the dough to rise until doubled in size, approximately 2 to 3 hours.
- Shape dough: Transfer the risen dough to a well-floured surface. Using floured hands, shape it into a round ball, adding more flour if needed to handle the sticky dough.
- Fold dough: Perform a series of stretch and folds by grasping one edge of the dough and folding it over the center, then turning the dough 90°, repeating this about 4 times to develop structure.
- Rest dough: Place the shaped dough onto a large piece of parchment paper and lightly cover it with plastic wrap. Let the dough rest for 30 minutes.
- Preheat oven: Preheat your oven to 450°F (232°C). Place a Dutch oven with its lid inside to heat thoroughly while the dough rests.
- Score dough: After resting, gently transfer the dough with the parchment paper into the preheated Dutch oven. Use a sharp knife or bread lame to make a shallow score on top of the dough to help it expand during baking.
- Bake covered: Cover the Dutch oven and bake for 30 minutes to develop a crisp crust.
- Bake uncovered: Remove the lid and continue baking for an additional 10 minutes until the bread is deeply golden brown. Remove from the oven and transfer to a wire rack to cool completely before slicing.
Notes
- Using a Dutch oven helps create steam that results in a crisp crust and chewy crumb.
- Warm water at about 115°F is ideal to activate the yeast without killing it.
- Optional sugar helps feed the yeast for a better rise but can be omitted for a less sweet bread.
- Allow the bread to cool completely before cutting to avoid a gummy texture inside.
- You can substitute kosher salt with sea salt if preferred, keeping the same quantity.
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 40 minutes
- Category: Bread
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Keywords: artisan bread, homemade bread, Dutch oven bread, crusty bread, no-knead bread, bread recipe
