No Knead Artisan Bread

A No Knead Artisan Bread recipe made especially for beginners! With only 5 ingredients, no stand mixer or elbow grease, this recipe is packed with flavour and texture just like the crusty bread you find at your local bakery.

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What Is Artisan Bread?

Artisan bread is best known and made with as a lean dough – lean meaning it is made with simple ingredients and has little to no fat content. Aside from its simplicity, it is also famous for its traditional baking methods. This bread is handmade and not mass produced like commercial breads you find at a grocery story. Lots of time and patience is taken into account when making this bread resulting in a thick crusty outer layer and a soft fluffy crumb.

Lean Dough Made With 5 Ingredients

As mentioned before this bread recipe is perfect for beginners. I have used many bread recipes before and this one by far is one of my favourites and my go-to when I want to enjoy a homemade bread boule (boule is a French word for ‘ball’) without using a starter (fermented dough used to replace active dry yeast). Sometimes simple is best. Here are the 5 ingredients you will need:

• Flour – I have read that bread flour is best for making bread – sounds pretty obvious. If you have all-purpose flour, don’t fret, to be honest this is what I use most of the time.
• Water – your water needs to be warm 105°F – 115°F (considered to be lukewarm)
• Active Dry Yeast – yeast helps the dough rise. This is what gives the bread the airy and soft texture.
• Sugar (optional) – granulated white sugar to feed your yeast which in turn will help your dough rise. This is optional but I find it does make difference.
• Salt – salt adds flavour to the dough but also tightens the gluten providing structure to the bread.

No Kneading Required

No Kneading required? Where do I sign up? Yes, this is absolutely true, no kneading required for this recipe, and no stand mixer as well. It cannot be any easier than this. However, like most things there is always a catch, in this case it’s time and patience as this bread needs time to rise (around 3 hours ) in order to get that bubbly and airy crumb.

What To Expect When Making No Knead Artisan Bread

This recipe is a “trust the process” type of recipe. In a large bowl you will add all your ingredients and mix until you have what looks like a wet dough. It will not be smooth or perfectly round. After the first rise (1.5 hours) the dough will double in size. With a fork, spatula or your hands pull the dough off the sides of the bowl, stretching it out and folding it into the centre. Once, you have completed the first stretch and fold you will cover it again and let it rise for another 1.5 hours. Once it has doubled in size repeat the stretch and fold method once more, you are now ready to prep your dough for baking.

Prepping Your Dough

This is the most exciting part. While your dutch oven and oven are preheating, pull your dough out of bowl onto a well floured surface. Sprinkle flour on top and with your hands or a dough scraper tuck the sides in forming a beautiful round boule. Transfer onto parchment paper and cover with a tea towel. Your dough will rise once more during this waiting period. Now let’s get creative. Just before baking your bread, using a bread lame score the top of your dough with any design you wish.

Equipment

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Enjoy Your Artisan Bread With…

• Soups like my Green Lentil Soup. Great for dipping.
• Cheeses
• Jams
• Butter
• Sandwiches
• Pasta
• Hazelnut spread

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Let’s Make Some Bread!