No Knead Bread Baking Method
On this page, you will find both the short and long version videos of a basic no knead bread baking technique. See these variations of no knead recipe too.
Before we get started, I wanted to share an email I received from Leanna who says more for the benefits of the no knead method than I could ever convey. She says…
Love This Method
I’ve been baking bread for 40 years and this method has turned my bread baking upside down. I even had kneading down to an art. My dough had to feel just right. My ingredients had to be the best. Now I just throw these four items into a bowl and with no effort on my part, I end up with perfection. I take care of a lady with handicaps and bake it for her too. She has a gas oven and mine at home is electric. I have had no problems with this method. I used to have a sourdough starter but several moves ago, I discarded it. Now with your starter I am back in business. I can hardly wait for my first loaf of NK sourdough bread.
6 min. 40 sec.
12 min. long
Ingredients for basic yeasted No Knead Method:
3 cups bread flour (the above video used 1 cup (5 oz.) whole wheat flour and 2 cups (10 1/2 oz.) white bread flour
1/4 tsp. instant yeast
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1 1/2 cups purified or spring water
- Mix together the dry ingredients.
- Mix in water until the water is incorporated.
- Cover with plastic and let sit 12-18 hours.
- Follow video instruction for folding.
- Cover loosely with plastic and rest for 15 minutes.
- Transfer to well floured towel or proofing basket. Cover with towel and let rise about 1 1/2 hours.
- Bake in covered La Cloche or Dutch oven preheated to 500 degrees for 30 minutes.
- Remove cover; reduce heat to 450 degrees and bake an additional 15 minutes.
- Let cool completely on rack.
- Consume bread, be happy.
Note: Regarding the 15 minute rest after the long proofing period; it’s a habit of mine from working with “regular” dough where it helps to have the dough rest after folding in order to relax it so it’s easier to shape for the final rise. With the wet no knead dough recipes, I’ve been skipping it and haven’t noticed any difference in the results.
| No Knead Revisited – A Three Year Check Up
It’s been over 3 years since the original New York Times no knead bread recipe was published. That’s also about the same time Breadtopia was born. By far the most common difficulty people write or call in about is with the dough being too wet to handle at the end of the long first proofing period and also when it’s time to place the dough into a covered vessel to bake at the end of the second rise. When you run into this, there’s not a whole lot you can do about it other than attempt to follow through on the instructions and ultimately wrest the dough into your heated baker and into the oven. Your “mistake” may turn out better than you expected and if nothing else, you’ll learn from it. The next time around you can do one or a combination of a couple things differently.
The same principle holds true on the second rise. While 1-2 hours is the suggested range, I’m almost always at about 60 to 75 minutes. Another concern we hear a lot is about the dough not rising much during that second short proofing period. I don’t see mine rise much then either and it doesn’t matter so long as you see a good rise during the first several minutes that the dough is in the oven. That’s called oven spring and it’s a very good thing. By keeping your proofing periods on the shorter side, you’re more likely to get good oven spring from the still vigorous yeast or sourdough starter. Of course all of the above is assuming your yeast or sourdough starter is fresh and viable to start with. In summary, most problems can be helped or solved by stiffening the dough a little and/or shortening the rising times. If you’re new to bread baking, don’t think from reading this that it’s difficult or tricky to get great results. Most people find it a breeze and enjoy success right out of the blocks. Others may find it takes a few tries. It’s important to have fun with it and don’t worry about bombing. There’s no significant downside to bread baking but the upside can be fabulous. Enjoy! |
This method of baking is quite forgiving if you alter the ingredients and proportions. One of the great things about a bread recipe that is so easy and involves just one loaf at a time is you don’t feel like you’re risking a lot if your experimenting goes awry.
Try using different flours and/or different proportions of flour and play around with the water measurement a little.
We’d would love to hear from anyone with their experiences using this technique, both successful and otherwise. Please share your experiences below.
Note: Here are some great dough handling tips from Breadtopia reader Mark Liptak. Also, check out these no knead baking techniques by Margaret Ball.
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Thanks for the encouragement Wil! I’ll try again with those ideas in mind.
P.S. to Taylor,
If you are not weighing your flour already, you might want to, if you have scales. You may be getting less flour in your cup measurments than you think. Just another thought.
Wil
Hi Taylor,
I have seen this same problem talked about in earlier threads. Eric’s teaching and others comments indicate you need to adjust the water or flour, less water or more flour to get the consistency like Eric has in his video. We have learned it can also depend on the weather, humidity, the type of flour (even from one batch to the next) and too many other things than to worry about. Just keep trying to you get the right mix. You will succeed in fewer tries than fingers on one hand. Hope this will help.
Wil
I just made my first loaf of no knead bread. Thank you for showing us how to do this! I have one problem that I’m not sure how to fix. My bread dough is really soft and doesn’t hold a shape so as soon as I put it on the baking sheet, (I don’t have a La Clouche baker yet but I’ll get one) it spreads out like crazy, like a thick pancake, and then my bread bakes to be about 2 inches high. Is that normal? Do I need more flour? It still tastes good though! Any tips would be appreciated. Thanks!
Tried the Bitman NK Bread today: hard and tasteless. Have started another loaf using more APF and less whole wheat. Unfortunately didn’t fine this site until after I put the first loaf in the oven.
Thank you for your suggestion re: the Cast Iron Dutch Oven. The bottom of my La Cloche has broken! and I wanted something more durable….I travel with my baking supplies….. Ordered the Oven from Amazon with free shipping for 26.99 and no tax.
Will test out the NK Sourdough method with it at high altitude, which has been a challenge. Thank you all for contributing to Eric’s fabulous site.
ok thanks guys for answering the LeCreuset and alcohol question. I have seen absolutely no sign of wear and tear on my LeCreuset from this but maybe I should not risk it any more.
Laura
sorry about the misspelling ,it should be LACLOCHE..
i bake all my kneaded bread in my la cloche baker. i have the oblong and round one and the bread comes out fantastic too. yesterday i made sour corn rye.great…happy eating.
Hi Laura,
About your alcohol smell…I have found that whenever I have “jumped the gun” and taken any kind of short cut with yeast doughs I get the same thing happening. Whether that be in the rising time, or prematurely popping it into the oven without that extra rise. I have to say here, that most of my experience is in kneaded breads. I have yet to be satisfied with the results of my KN bread, so I am no expert of this new method. But underkneading in the old method can also do this. Have you checked the date on your yeast? If I were trying to solve this problem, I would go out and buy a fresh package of yeast.(I’m in Canada and we can get it in little packets. That way you aren’t spending a lot of money). Then I would try this again being sure to do everything to the letter. If it says 18 hours, make sure it is that length of time. Don’t cut any corners. As for the enamel bake ware, the other members have given their thoughts. As for me, I plan on sticking with the knead method. My stand mixer and dough hook save me a lot of time and energy, and I am very happy with the results. What do they say? if it isn’t broken, don’t fix it. Happy bread making and good luck.
I forgot,,,,,
The best thing you can get for the NK process is a clay ‘La Cloche’ baker. I just got one for a presen. I do not know wherfe it was purchased, but I have shopped for them on my own and have found no better deal than right here on this website. If mine ever breaks, this is where I will get my replacement. The brotforms on this site are also the best pric e you will find. This is an unsolicited endorsement from someone that shops the web regularly.
Okay,,, here goes,
I ruined one of my Le Creuset pots on this process. It was hopelessly stained inside. The enamal, all around the bottom edge, is ‘Crazed’.
I bought a plain black “Lodge” cast iron dutch oven in the 4.5 Qt size. It works great. Even the little pimples in the lid seem to help with the ‘steam’ process that is going on in the pot. I found mine in a local ‘Pottery Barn’ store for $22. Best investment I have made in years. It’s also great for bean soup and my Cajun dishes. It was pre-seasoned but I re-season it every 10 or so uses.
Le Crueset is replacing my pot. Not because of the staining ( which apparently comes from the silicone in the parchment paper) but because of the crazing. This should not occur at temps under 500 degrees.
Paula Dean has some less expensive enamaled pots, as does Lodge. I think they are still to much more than you need, to be used every other day, to bake bread.
My 2 cents.
“Man does not live by bread alone. Sometimes he needs a little butter too.”
Harvey
To: Laura
Re: LeCreuset
I called LeCreuset regarding the use of their pots for the “no knead” method and they say don’t do it. Even though the pots can take a lot of heat, you are never supposed to heat them empty –which is part of the NK method. I used mine a few times with no visible harm, but I’m now using an old, black cast -iron dutch oven. The bread bakes faster than in a white enamel pot, but other than that I don’t notice any difference. I don’t think it is worth risking an expensive LeCreuset pot when many others do a good job as well….
Doesn’t anyone have an explanation for the alcohol taste and smell in my post above?
Has anyone continued to use their LeCreuset? I don’t want to ruin my enamel. He uses one in the original video and I would guess he has used it many times with no problem. Didn’t someone say that LeCreuset enamal can’t be heated up to 450?
Mountain Momma – Thanks for the excellent post and fantastic photo!
I just made No Knead Rye Bread for the first time. It came out of the oven at 4pm and was gone by 7 – thanks in no small part to a three year-old and two four year-olds – they ate half of it! I think it should be called ‘crack bread’.
My husband is on a very low sodium diet and I live in the sticks so I modified the recipe a lot. I cut out the salt entirely, and as suggested, used 2 T. of cider vinegar as a preservative and flavour additive (not that it was necessary). I also used milk instead of water. Our tap water is heavily chlorinated at the moment due to spring run off and I didn’t want to risk killing the yeast. (I hate bottled water so didn’t have any on hand).
I don’t know if I’m risking giving us all food poisoning using milk, but it seemed to work fine. I suspect it just gives the bread more of a ‘sourdough’ flavour. Also, I used Bread Machine yeast. My West Bend Bakery Style bread machine just broke after 14 years of heavy use so I am happily exploring alternatives. Well, after discovering No Knead bread I am ‘happily and hungrily’ exploring alternatives.
I live at 4500 feet in the Canadian Rockies, so maybe the altitude saved the bread from all my experimenting. Things tend to rise out of control up here. I’ve found with normal recipes I have to reduce the yeast by at least a third when I cut out the salt. The salt somehow regulates the rise.
Anyway, thanks for the website. I’m excited by this wonderful, simple, tasty bread making option.
[img]IMG_2634a.jpg[/img]
Greg, thanks for the advice. I’m definitely going to give the thermometer a try.
I suggest the instant-read thermometer as the answer. (Doesn’t need to be to fancy or expensive either). My experience would indicate that about 210F is “done” for the no-knead boules I make. As far as lid on or off, I think that relates to the steaming of the bread that keeps the crust soft during the initial heating so the dough can rise with the heat (“oven spring”). I can’t recall the temperature at which the oven spring stops and the crust starts to harden, but most recipes indicate about 1/2 hour with lid on then open until the interior reaches about 210 (a variable amount of time, depending on the shape and the oven, etc.) for me, its around 2o minutes more. Once you are familiar with the process, you can modify the time and temperature a bit so you reach 210 without scorching the bottom or getting the crust too hard for your taste.
Thanks so much for your great instructions and videos. I’ve always enjoyed cooking, but have stayed away from baking (bread especially!) until I heard about this technique. Now I’m hooked.
I bake my bread in an un-enameled cast iron dutch oven. The crust is wonderfully crunchy and crisp when the loaf first comes out of the oven, but becomes soft and chewy in a matter of hours.
I baked my first loaf at 450F for 25 minutes with the lid on, then 10 minutes with the lid off. I baked my second loaf at 450F for 25 minutes with the lid on, then 15 minutes with the lid off. How should I alter my baking times if I’m trying to make a thinner, crisper crust? Do you think I increase the dough hydration? (Too many variables!)
Thanks for the help!
I have made the NKB a number times and it is always great. I use the original recipe and although it is indeed a wet dough it always works out in the end for me exactly as it is supposed to. I have great crackly golden rustic crusts and amazing airy soft crumb. The bread never lasts longer than 2 days in our house. I have just spent the last 5 hours on this site reading all the posts and copying words of wisdom in my NKB file.
I use a LeCreuset round French Oven that has a top that is like a skillet turned upside down. I don’t think they make this anymore. It was a 2 in 1 item I guess. I dust with flower and cornmeal and it is odd that I have never had any discoloration on my LeCreuset at all. The inside is light. I am concerned because there was one post that said that the company said 450 was too high for the enamel and also putting it in the oven empty was not good for it. Are you guys seeing discoloration on the outside of the pots then? I agree these are too expensive to risk ruining but so far I have seen no signs of wear on it at all. By the way the company does have a lifetime guarantee and you just send it back to them and they replace it. I suppose if you abuse it though they would not. I also have a gas range and maybe this is why I never get any burning at the bottom. Not sure. Is anyone else having luck with their LeCreuset?
The bread I made for dinner last night was odd though. Most of it was yummy as usual but in one section it tasted like alcohol in one section. I might be less now that it has cooled. I misjudged the timing and they were eager and waiting for it and we at it right out of the oven. So is this how bread can taste before it cools? It did not look underdone but I did double the recipe to make a really tall loaf. In fact I could not use the LeCreuset lid so I had to invert a glass pot I had over it (lucky for me it was exactly the same diameter) and the bread just rose up into it. Can you believe with double the recipe my family of 3 ate more than half of it! I did let it rise for 19 hours and it was very bubbly. It continued to rise the second time just as it is supposed to. So I don’t think it was spent as far as rising goes. It also rose a lot in the oven. Maybe it was just too tall for the diameter. The only other thing I did differently is that I was afraid with 6 cups of flour I would not get the salt and yeast mixed in evenly so I mixed those with the water and then added it to the flour. Do you think that is what caused this to happen? I live in NYC and it was sunny today and Springy so maybe it rose just a little too long. I have never never had this problem before though and I have made this in the summer.
Love this site and your videos are amazing as well as the photos!
Marianne
Active yeast is supposed to be dissolved in water before adding to the flour whereas instant can be added directly to the dry ingredients. I use the ADY and have done it both ways without much difference. At any rate you don’t have to let it ‘proof’ in the h20 as in regular bread.
As for multigrain mix, anything such as Bob’s red mill or Arrowhead mills or any brand of whole grain hot cereal works fine. These are sometimes labeled 5-grain or 7-grain or 10-grain etc. I use a rolled mix and a cracked grain mix and get different results both are delicious. Red River is probably my favorite if you can find it. You can also substitute some whole wheat flour for some of the white flour as well.
I use sunflower and pumpkin seeds and toss them in raw. I especially enjoy the pumpkin seeds in combination with the rolled multigrain hot cereal.
BTW I use about 1/2 cup of the cracked or chopped mixes or about 3/4 cup of the rolled mixes. I don’t usually add extra water, but you could I suppose. I like the wholegrain breads a bit denser and of a more solid shape than the really wet doughs.
Hope this helps.
Hi Marianne,
I don’t know much about yeast but I can tell you that you don’t have to roast seeds before using them. There are packages of multigrain mixes from Bob’s Red Mill and also in bulk form in our local grocer that are just a bunch of mostly whole grains like whole grain wheat, rye, triticale, oats, corn, barley, soy beans, brown rice, millet and flaxseed. I think that’s what you’re probably hearing about.
Don’t know if my first post went through or not so will try again
I tried NK bread using someone elses recipe and failed miserably. I couldn’t handle the dough after the first rise. It ran all over my doughboard and I had to add lots of flour to get it under control. Thank goodness I stumbled on your website. Thanks so much for sharing your skills and giving us the courage to try it too. It helps so much to see it done, rather than trying to follow instructions from a cookbook.
I have two questions:
1.What is the difference betweem traditional yeast and quick rising yeast?
2.I would like to try adding grains like sunflower seeds, pumpking seeds and flax seeds. Do they have to be roasted first? What is a multigrain mix?
Getting close. Need a few more days.
have new videos been added recently???
i love bread,
i love the website,
in fact i think i love you
:O
why does my nkb comes out of the oven with hard nice crust but 1hour later the crust gets soft??????????
Thank you sooo Much! I have just made my second attempt at the NKbread and am very impressed. first loaf was smaller but lovely flavour and texture. Second one better than the other .. no sore arms, lots of butter!
Happiness..
The sourdough starter is also underway.. I will let you know!
Okay, my Cloche came so I baked a batch of the NK bread in it just now. It is absolutely amazing, I am so pleased. Crispy and crunchy on the outside and soft and delicious on the outside!
Wow, just reakuzed all my typos there. Sorry!
I just mixed up my dough, so we’ll see. After I mised it though, I forgot I have to leave tomorrow at 9am and probably won’t be back until noon or later. I guess it may be a flop so I think I will mix up another one later tonight just in case. I’ll try folding, etc right before I leave and then bake it when we get home. Oops.
I get my instant yeast at Sam’s Club. It is Fleishmann’s I believe and is under $4 for 2 pound bags of it. I find with my recipe (not no knead, the rise time is 2 hours or so total, maybe more or depending) the instant yeast gives me a better and faster rise. I don’t have to refridgerate my yeast until its opened so I keep one bag way back in the cabinet and the open on in my firdge and it stays good. I make bread 2-3 times a week and it lasts me forever.
Bob,
How bizarre! My guess is you got a bad batch of yeast. Like you, I started with regular active dry yeast, and that has always worked great, although lots of people seem to swear by the “instant” variety. I’m too cheap to buy it, since I still have a ton of the regular stuff left, and since I’m now mostly baking with sourdough starter.
Sounds to me like your instant yeast might have been stored badly before you got it, and it’s mostly dead.
Hi
I have been baking bread for many years now and the first time I tried the no knead method I just used the regular yeast I had and it turned out great. I then bought the instant yeast and almost every loaf after that has been a failure. They take forever to rise or sometimes don’t rise at all. I tried doubling the amount of yeast and that seemed to help but so far this has been frustrating. Any ideas.
Thanks
OK… I just made two loaves with my regular recipe so when that gets low I’ll start this recipe. Does it go in one loaf pan or two?
We make the Noknead bread in ordinary bread pans and it turns out fine, 45 minutes at 425F.
A covered container does give a crustier crust, but the difference is not worth waiting for !
John
That is what I thought. I will try to wait patiently for my La Cloche to arrive.
) It will be nice to make a bread with so few ingredients. My current recipe is not that difficult, but simplicity is always a good thing–especially with two young children in the house.
Can’t wait to make this recipe. The steel cut oats one looks wonderful too.
Hi Leighann,
The covered container is really one of the main aspects of the no knead recipe that gives it it’s desirable crust, by holding the steam from the baking dough close to the dough. So I would say the recipe would not do well in a pan with no cover.
I love your videos and your website! I just ordered a La Cloche. I have been baking my own WW sandwich bread and grinding my own wheat for a while now. I would love to be able to make bread with that wonderful crust… and it looks so easy! So, once it arrives, I will be a bread making machine!!
How does this recipe do in pyrex loaf pans with no cover?
steve,
i added 1 tbl molassas and i/2 tbl of carob to the nkb ryebread.and it came out great with a nice dark inside.just like the old fashioned black bread…
I’ve been using the recipe that was in the NYT. Use a Le Creuset pan. Has come out fine many times; I take it out of the oven, turn it over, the loaf falls on to the rack. But today, after the 15 minute cover-off browning, when I turned the pan over the loaf stuck to the bottom! Had to dismember the loaf, and soak out the stuck part in the sink. WHY??
Hello students of The John Warner School. Thanks for checking in. I just came from your site and your school looks wonderful. Let me know when your BTEC Sport page is updated so I can learn about it. I’m intrigued.
Cheers
Hello, we are here in Hertfordshire England.
In this lesson we learn fittness, this lesson is called BTEC Sport.
All 13 of us plus our teacher love your web site and your cooking.
We started off as simple biscuit and yorkshire pudding lovers, but now we not only have a new love for food and bread in genrall we have an all new nolage of the making of it !
THANK YOU
Instant read is just for the bread. You can pick up a little oven thermometer that sits/ or hangs on the rack – very accurate and well worth a few $$. From my reading it seems that, yes, you would heat a corningware just like any other pot. I measured mine yesterday and am going to give it a try next week. Baking with a loaf pan tomorrow.
I’m saving up and wishing for a cloche but in the mean time, I see in some of the earlier comments that a corningware dish with lid would work. My first loaf did not turn out well on the pizza stone. Partly it did not rise well?
Anyways, I’m not giving up! If I use the corningware this time, should I preheat it in the oven? Will it be ok heated up in the oven?
And, any tips for getting my bread to rise better? I used instant yeast, so that isn’t the problem.
Linda,
I’m confused…How do you use an instant read thermometer to test your oven temperature? I wonder if my oven is accurate but have no idea how to find out. My range is a dual fuel with gas cooktop and electric convection oven. I have never tried the convection when baking NKB but maybe its worth a shot if it keeps the air moving to avoid hot and cold spots. Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks!
Thanks Bob, I’m become well acquainted with my oven – it might beep at me that it has reached temp, but according to the oven thermometer, we are a long way from what I want. But if I’m just patient, it will get up to the temp I want. Cooking with a gas Kenmore – and my husband offered to buy an almost new one from someone afraid of gas – never even used the oven!! That was before I knew about this fluke – lol!! I’m a believer in the instant thermometer now; and the whisk sure beats my old wooden spoon. How I ever got by with a spoon, a bowl, and 4 bread pans, I’ll never know.
Linda,
If you get a thermometer for your oven, you will probably find there are hot and cool spots in various places. This will affect loaves depending on where they are.
Your advice is good. Scale, thermometers and Eric’s Polish/Danish bread whisk.
Bob
Here’s an up-date: My instant thermometer arrived and hubby and I spent the day making bread. I’ve learned a lot about my oven which is a good thing. Making sure the oven is the correct temp (duh!) and using the bread thermometer, I’m reporting 3 successful loaves: nk sandwich loaf and 2 artisan loaves. Don’t give up and know your tools.
Hi Carol,
What kind of yeast are you using and are you using an instant read (probe type) thermometer to monitor the internal temp of the bread?
Hi Jo – A marmalade web cast sounds great. There’s definitely a great trend going on towards more home cooking and “do it yourself” in general. Do you have a website now where you make your marmalade available?
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