Easy Artisan Bread

Cooking with Kids

This No-Knead Bread is an artisan-style bread that’s done in three hours from start to finish. This is an easy bread recipe -– you don’t even need a mixer. With only four ingredients (flour, yeast, salt, and water), you can make a bakery-quality, soft, homemade bread.

You Will Need:

1 1/2 cups water warm, at 100˚F (not hot)
1/2 Tbsp sea salt
2 1/4 tsp active dry yeast (7 grams or 1 packet)
3 1/4 cups all-purpose flour (or bread flour) plus extra flour for dusting
2 Tbsp cornmeal or more flour

What to Do:

1. In a large bowl, stir together 1 1/2 cups warm water (100˚F) and 1/2 Tbsp of salt. Sprinkle the top with yeast and let it sit 2 minutes, then stir.

2. Measure out exactly 3 1/4 cups of flour and add flour to the bowl. Using a spatula, stir until dough comes together and is well blended. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let it rise at room temperature 2 hours (or about 2-3 times in volume).

3. Line a cutting board with parchment paper and generously dust with flour. Scrape dough out of the bowl with a spatula onto the floured surface.

4. With well-floured hands, fold dough in half, then fold in half again. Dust dough generously with flour, lift it up and form a ball in your hands. Sprinkle parchment paper with more flour or cornmeal, extending about 1″ past the border of the dough since it will expand. Place dough over the flour, seam side down, and let it rise uncovered at room temp 40 minutes.

5. Meanwhile, prepare your oven with 2 racks – one rack in the middle for the bread and one rack on the bottom for the water pan. Place a rimless cookie sheet (or use the backside of a rimmed cookie sheet or pizza stone) on the center rack. Preheat the oven and cookie sheet to 450˚ F. Also heat up 1 cup water.

6. Just before baking, score the top of the bread 3 times. Place a metal or cast iron dish (never a glass dish) on the bottom rack with 1 cup hot water (being careful to not splash water on a glass oven door). Slide the dough with the parchment paper onto the hot cookie sheet and bake at 450˚ F for about 25-28 min or until golden brown. Transfer loaf to a rack and cool to room temp before cutting into it.

References:
Recipe from NatashasKitchen
Photo by Stephanie Felzenberg