World's Easiest Homemade Bread - Crusty Artisan style!!

This crusty easy bread recipe is phenomenal. It has got to be the simplest yeast bread recipe in the world, yet it delivers phenomenal results - an Artisan style loaf with an incredible thick, crispy crust , and a moist, chewy crumb with big fat holes like a loaf of sourdough!

Adapted from the New York Times Simple Crusty bread recipe, 3 minutes active effort, no knead, no stand mixer, highly flexible and forgiving recipe, this from scratch bread can be on your table in less than 2 hours OR prepare the dough up to 3 days in advance for a handy “grab and bake” option. This is life changing!

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[antonelaburga]

Ingredients
▢ 3 cups (450g) flour, bread or plain/all purpose (Note 1)
▢ 2 tsp instant or rapid rise yeast (Note 2 for normal / active dry yeast)
▢ 2 tsp salt, cooking / kosher salt (Note 3)
▢ 1.5 cups (375 ml) very warm tap water, NOT boiling or super hot (ie up to 55°C/130°F) (Note 4)
DOUGH SHAPING
▢ 1.5 tbsp flour, for dusting
Instructions
Mix Dough: Mix flour, yeast and salt in a large bowl. Add water, then use the handle of a wooden spoon to mix until all the flour is incorporated. Dough will be wet and sloppy – not kneadable, but not runny like cake batter. Adjust with more water or flour if needed for right consistency (see video at 17 sec, Note 5).
Rise: Cover with cling wrap or plate, leave on counter for 2 - 3 hours until it doubles in volume, it’s wobbly like jelly and the top is bubbly (see video at 24 seconds). If after 1 hour it doesn’t seem to be rising, move it somewhere warmer (Note 6).
Optional – refrigerate for flavour development (Note 9): At this stage, you can either bake immediately (move onto Step 5) or refrigerate for up to 3 days.
Take chill out of refrigerated dough – if you refrigerated dough per above, leave the bowl on the counter for 45 - 60 minutes while the oven is preheating. Cold dough does not rise as well.
Preheat oven (Note 7) - Put dutch oven in oven with lid on (26cm/10" or larger). Preheat to 230°C/450°F (220° fan) 30 minutes prior to baking. (Note 8 for no dutch oven)
Shape dough: Sprinkle work surface with 1 tbsp flour, scrape dough out of bowl. Sprinkle top with 1/2 tbsp flour.
Using a dough scraper or anything of similar shape (cake server, large knife, spatula), fold the sides inwards (about 6 folds) to roughly form a roundish shape. Don’t be too meticulous here – you’re about to deform it, it’s more about deflating the bubbles in the dough and forming a shape you can move.
Transfer to paper: Slide a large piece of parchment/baking paper (not wax paper) next to the dough, then flip the dough upside down onto the paper (ie seam side down, smooth side up). Slide/push it towards the middle, then reshape it into a round(ish) shape. Don't get too hung up about shape. In fact, lopsided = more ridges = more crunchy bits!
Dough in pot: Remove piping hot dutch oven from oven. Use paper to place dough into pot, place lid on.
Bake 30 minutes covered, then 12 minutes uncovered or until deep golden and crispy.
Cool on rack for 10 minutes before slicing.
Ur welcome

[houseplantfreak]

I'm so glad they told us quantities

[ether]

Just ate a warm slice of this bread with butter, and it is hands down one of the best breads I've ever tasted!!
Note: I did add 1/2 tsp of sugar and I used a cake tin instead of a dutch oven; I just covered the top with an aluminum foil dome and it turned out perfect!!

[lberry]

For helping more new beginner here's the recipe
Ingredients
3 cups (450g) flour, bread or plain/all purpose
2 tsp instant or rapid rise yeast (Note 2 for normal / active dry yeast)
2 tsp salt, cooking / kosher salt
1.5 cups (375 ml) very warm tap water, NOT boiling or super hot (ie up to 55°C/130°F)
DOUGH SHAPING
1.5 tbsp flour, for dusting

[BossMan-yuog]

Thank you so much for getting straight to the point and not burdening us with 20 plus minutes of unnecessary commentary!

[melissilly]

Made this recipe the other day and my family devoured it straight out of the oven with extra virgin olive oil and a pinch of salt 🤤 let me just say… it is to die for! Thanks for sharing

[smashka]

This recipe is a killer!! I started literally in my pyjamas, the wait was very very long but I just sliced it and it is delicious!! Love the ratio between my actual work and the final taste. Thanks so much!

[perrijohnson]

I just made and it turned exactly like the picture! Perfect chewiness and absolutely gorgeous! I left mine in fridge overnight, next time I’m going to try two or three days to see if there is a difference in flavor. I can’t imagine it tasting better.

[monar]

My first ever attempt at baking bread and it turned out AMAZING!! I love love this easy bread recipe that comes together in no time. The texture is so good. Moist, chewy bread that makes you feel like you are eating professionally baked bread. It reminds me of sourdough texture.

[tonikins]

Holy smokes!!!! My first time making bread and it turned out amazing. Amazing crust! Cutting this while its warm and adding butter....OMG! Thank you for sharing this amazing recipe.

[MrsJax]

I'm actually a baker because of your recipe and this video. Now I'm onto sourdough.. Thank you for this. You have changed my life.

[mizhterr]

I have never in my entire life messed anything up quite as spectacularly as I did trying to make this. It didn’t even make it to the oven.

Edit: you know what. i was so ready to give up. it all turned into a glue like kids project and I was so ready to throw it all away. but then I somehow managed to shove this into the oven, and it turned out beautiful. heck yeah.

[BillyG]

Tried this today on my pellet grill. First time in my life I ever baked bread from scratch. It was wonderful. Thank you ♥

[stevenmccarthy]

Just made it. Very easy, it took about 80 minutes to rise on a warm day, 30 mins to cook and looks great. Perfect. Thank you.

[chay]

It's currently 9:30 pm and I never, in my entire life, made bread but I decided to attempt making this one, I hope it'll turn out well 🙌🏼

[sunshinees]

Easy bread recipe, crunchy one..so so good. I’ve done it two times already and we’re loving it.

[jkee]

I finally got round to making bread today. I know this is the best bread I have ever made. Thank you for sharing.

[dev.]

Great recipe. First attempt on Christmas was alright, I think I over-rose the dough for 3 hours instead of 2 because it was a bit denser and flatter than I wanted. Second attempt this weekend came out best for me.

I doubled it, then had it rise inside my oven (turned off) for two hours with the oven light on and the door slightly open. Did this because my house was cold, and it ended up being the perfect warm setting to let it rise for two hours.

Then oiled both loaves of dough with olive oil in two separate glass mixing bowls, covered with saran wrap and stuck them in the fridge. I let one sit for 2 days in the fridge and the second sit for 3 days to see the difference it would make.

The one that proofed for 3 days came out best; it rose significantly more in the dutch oven while baking and formed much more beautiful tears/seams/ridges that I didn't get with my first loaf (although that one still came out great).

Maybe it's my oven, but I do find that once I take the lid off after half an hour, I actually need to let them stay in there for much longer than 12 minutes in order to get them nice and brown. I tried 15 minutes and it was only a light brown. Next time will try 20 minutes instead, and maybe a few seconds under the broiler before pulling it out.

Edit: one year later, tried this again for Christmas 2021 using bread flour this time instead of all purpose. Ngl I actually preferred it with all purpose flour; using bread flour I found that it just came out a little bit dense and less airy than it did last year. It did bake and look really well though.

[laurahastings-brownstein]

This is a wonderful bread recipe! So easy to make and so good!! I have made it several times and each time, it has turned out wonderfully. It is also very attractive to the eye! I love that you can put it together quickly and leave it in the fridge until it's convenient to bake it! I make it at night before going to bed and then in the early afternoon, I finish the prep, pop it into my hot le Creuset pot in the oven, and have warm, fresh, homemade bread for dinner! It's been a hit with everyone! My husband gets super excited if I tell him I'm making bread!

[miniquyenify]

Recipe is a keeper!!! Made it 3 times and used 3 different kinds of cooking bake ware. They all turns out great.