Homemade Bread Made Easy
I’m a firm believer that bread is good for the soul. There’s nothing quite like a warm, toasted piece of artisan bread with some butter or a deliciously sweet piece with almond butter and cinnamon. It not only holds together all the best sandwiches and burgers, but also serves as the base for french toasts, garlic breads, and much more. What’s not to love?
If you have yet to give homemade bread a shot, this overnight artisan bread is the best place to start. This is yet another recipe brought to The Natural Eater page by my mom (who happens to be quite the bread chef). It’s a no-knead recipe made from 4 ingredients and requires little to no knowledge about bread making. And after all the homemade bread recipes I’ve tried, I’d put this one on top everytime. Not to mention the soft, buttery inside and crunchy outside happens to make it irresistible. So if you’re ready for some delicious bread that you can be proud of, give this one a go!
Ingredients:
- Organic, unbleached all purpose flour
- Active dry yeast
- Himalayan sea salt
- Room temperature water
Making Your Artisan Bread:
The time frame for making this artisan bread may seem lengthy, but the active baking time is under 1.5 hours. A large part of the process includes proofing the dough, which requires no action from the baker. Preparing the dough takes about 5 minutes and baking time turns out to be around 1 hour. So don’t let the time frame be intimidating!
Preparing the dough:
To start, you’ll need a cast iron dutch oven or similar baking pot, parchment paper and a large bowl. In the large bowl, mix together the flour, active dry yeast and sea salt. Then mix in the room temperature water and combine until the dough is shaggy and there is no loose flour remaining. The dough will be sticky and won’t have a perfect shape, but this means you’re doing it right! Next, cover the bowl with plastic wrap and place a hand towel on top. Let the dough sit as is for about 12 hours at room temperature, but no longer than 20 hours.
Baking the bread:
Once the desired time frame has passed, transfer the dough to a well floured surface. Sprinkle a generous amount of flour onto the dough and fold the ends of the dough towards the center about 5 times. At this point, the dough should be a bit more firm and circular. Transfer the dough onto a piece of parchment paper and cover once again with a hand towel.
While the dough sits, move the oven rack to the lowest point and set the oven to 450 degrees. Place the dutch oven (with the lid) into the oven and let both preheat for 25-30 minutes. This helps preheat the dutch oven which is a key process for a successful final result!
Once ready, carefully remove the dutch oven from the oven and remove the lid. Take the parchment paper with the dough and place it into the hot dutch oven. Cover the bread and place back into the oven and let the bread bake for 30 minutes. Then remove the lid from the dutch oven and let the bread cook uncovered for about 15-20 minutes or until the bread is golden brown. Then remove from the oven, take the bread out and place onto a cutting board to cool.
Here are a few tasty recipes that pair well with artisan bread:
Simple Overnight Artisan Bread
Equipment
- 1 Cast iron dutch oven
Ingredients
- 3 cups All purpose flour Organic & Unbleached for sulfite free!
- 1 tsp Himalayan sea salt
- 1/2 tsp Active dry yeast
- 1 1/2 cups Water Room temperature
Instructions
Dough Prep
- In a large bowl, mix together the all purpose flour, yeast, and sea salt.
- Pour the water into the mixture and use a large spoon / spatula to combine.
- Mix until the flour has been fully incorporated. The dough should be sticky and loose, but this is normal and you want to avoid overmixing.
- Cover the bowl with plastic wrap or parchment paper and a hand towel on top. Then let the dough sit overnight for at least 12 hours but no more than 20 hours.
Baking time
- Remove the dough from the bowl and transfer to a well-floured surface and add flour to the top.
- Fold the dough from the corners into the center a few times until the dough takes on a more circular shape. Then flip the dough over onto a piece of parchment paper and cover with a towel once again.
- Place your dutch oven into the oven on the lowest rack then set the oven. to 450° F. Let both preheat together for 25-30 minutes.
- Once preheated, carefully remove the dutch oven from the oven (oven mitts!) and remove the lid. Then pick up the parchment paper with the bread on it and place it into the dutch oven (parchment paper and all).
- Using oven mitts, put the lid back on the dutch oven and place it back in the oven.
- Bake for 30-35 minutes with the lid on then remove the lid and bake for another 10-15 minutes until the top is golden brown.
- Remove from the oven and carefully transfer the bread from the dutch oven to a cutting board. Let it cool before slicing and serving.
