One of my goals for 2020 is to buy less bread and make more bread at home. Homemade bread is so far superior in taste to store-bought bread (especially if you’re not buying daily from a French bakery). Homemade bread is also so much cheaper to make, and depending on the bread you’re buying, has the potential to be a lot healthier. Enter this no knead Dutch oven bread, my go-to homemade bread recipe.

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I’ve only ever made one kind of bread at home, the most delicious and simple no-knead Dutch oven rustic round loaf. You start it the evening before, adjust it in the morning, let it sit for about 2 hours, then bake it for about 45 minutes, and then you have the most incredible crusty loaf, perfect for smearing soft butter. I’m telling you, there are few things cozier and yummier in life then sitting at the kitchen table with your kids, feasting on a warm loaf of bread straight from your oven. Bread your children helped make at every stage. Bread that you know cost a fraction of store-bought bread. Bread that has 4 ingredients (including the water).

Today I’m sharing the recipe for this simple, rustic no-knead Dutch oven load. My plan for this year is to dive into sourdough bread, and making my own sprouted grains and making sprouted grain bread. If you have experience baking sourdough bread or using sprouted grain, I’d love to hear all your tips/comments/suggestions/warnings!

No-Knead Dutch Oven Bread

Recipe from Mother Earth News

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups warm water
• 1/4 tsp active dry yeast
• 3 cups flour (I’ve tried 2 cups whole wheat flour with 1 cup white flour, and 2 cups white flour with 1 cup whole wheat).
• 1 1/2 tsp salt

Directions

• First you’ll make the dough and let it sit overnight, at least 8 hours, but up to 18. Dissolve the yeast in the water in a large mixing bowl.
• In a separate bowl, mix together the flour and salt. Then add to the yeast water until well blended. Dough will be wet and sticky. Cover with plastic wrap, and let it sit overnight, at a temperature of about 70°.
• Remove dough from bowl when surface is dotted with bubbles. Lightly sprinkle dough with flour, fold over a few times, cover with plastic, and let sit for 15 minutes.
• Generously flour a towel, then shape dough into a ball. Generously coat with flour and cover with a towel, and let sit for 1-2 hours. Dough should double in size.
• Preheat oven to 475°, placing a 6 or 8 quart Dutch oven in the oven to preheat for at least 20 minutes. When oven is ready, take lid off Dutch oven and place dough into pot, seam side up. Shake pan to distribute dough evenly,.
• Replace cover, and bake for 30 minutes.
• After 30 minutes, remove cover and bake for another 15 minutes or so, until nicely browned. Remove from oven, then cool (or enjoy piping hot)!
• Smear some homemade herb-infused butter for the ultimate experience.