This is the easiest bread recipe you’ll ever come across.
Takes about 2 to 3 hours in total, but hands-on time? Just 15 minutes. SO simple, and I love to add nuts and raisins in it to change the flavor a bit, but you could add so many other things too!
Been working on the school yearbook and it is such a long process, uploading the photos, then designing the pages, taking the photos (of people who would love to run somewhere else so they don’t get their photo taken!), and so much more things I still haven’t done.
Fun thing is, I’m going on vacation soon! Can’t wait, although I have to take one week off of school so I have to do a lot more work to make up for that. But it’s all for vacation. I love eating different food from different cultures! And I’ll be able to relax there. Hopefully.
For the bread, these step by step instructions with photos is going to make it so easy to follow. And you might think that the bread is too plain, but you can do so much, like pull apart bread (That blog post is coming up soon!).
First step is taking a BIG bowl. I thought a medium sized bowl was fine, but the dough ended up rising way beyond that. Mix yeast and lukewarm water together, then add salt. Don’t mix the salt with the yeast before adding the water because salt can kill yeast.
Then mix in all that flour. Yes, you need that much. Don’t worry if it looks too dry, because it is not.
Cover lightly with a kitchen towel and let it rise at room temperature for 2 to 5 hours. Then it’s ready for baking!
As you can see, the dough puffed up quite a considerable amount.
Now lay out the dough on floured parchment paper or the counter and divide into two. Then add your chopped nuts, raisins, or whatever else you want to put in and press them into the dough. Don’t leave the nuts just on the outside of the dough or else they will burn when baked. You will have two loaves. Place the parchment paper (with the dough) onto a baking tray.
Using a serrated knife, cut deep slashes into the dough. Bake for 24-30 minutes at 200 °C (392 °F), until brown and crusty on the outside. If you want to have a really crusty bread, you could put a cast iron pan in the second rack when the oven is heating, then put a few ice cubes in it just before placing the dough inside the oven to bake. But make sure to use cast iron, because if you use glass or ceramic, it will probably crack. I know this from experience.
Lovely, isn’t it?
No Knead Crusty Bread
The simplest bread recipe ever!
Ingredients:
1 1/2 tbsp. instant yeast
3 cups lukewarm water
1 tbsp. salt
6 to 6 1/2 cups white flour
Instructions:
- In a large bowl, mix together yeast and water, then add in salt.
- Mix in flour until fully incorporated. Yes, it needs that much flour.
- Cover the bowl loosely with a kitchen towel and let rise for 2 to 5 hours. Divide the dough into two and place on a floured counter or parchment paper. Preheat oven to 200 °C (392 °F). If you want the bread to be extra crusty, add a cast iron pan on the lower rack of the oven while preheating. Then when you bake the bread, add a few ice cubes into the pan.
- Now you can add in extra ingredients, like chopped nuts, raisins, oats, etc. Just make sure to press them in so they don’t hang on the outside because they will burn while baking.
- Place the dough onto a parchment lined baking tray and, using a serrated knife, cut deep slashes into it. Bake for 24 to 30 minutes, until brown and crusty on the outside. Can store, wrapped in a kitchen towel for a few days. But it always tastes better when eaten on the same day.
A Kitchen Fable 