Super Easy No Knead Crusty Bread

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When quarantine hit sourdough bread became the “in” bread to make. I started a sourdough starter twice and both times neglected it by day 3 or 4. Five days to make bread is just far too long for my ADHD. So I decided instead to master a no knead crusty bread with a slight sourdough taste.

While there is nothing that can completely replace the beauty of sourdough but you can get a bit close in some aspects. You can get that firm crunch in a crust with a nice soft inside for the bread. You can also get a bit of that sourdough taste by letting your dough rest overnight.

I researched and tried a few no knead bread options before finally coming up with this no knead crusty bread. It’s perfect to be paired with a soup or chili and even great on it’s own with butter.

Sourdough Bread Vs. No Knead Crusty Bread

There are a lot of similarities between sourdough bread and no knead bread. The first being both are fantastic for gourmet grilled sandwiches. 

However, the taste is not exactly the same. There is no way to get a sourdough tasting bread without making sourdough bread. At least no way that I’ve found.

As far as taste goes though this crusty no knead bread is still delicious just doesn’t have the sour notes that sourdough bread does. Instead it tastes more like a French or Italian bread.

The other plus side to the crusty no knead bread over sourdough is that it doesn’t take as long to make or require much in special equipment.

Do You Need A Dutch Oven

If you don’t have a dutch oven, any oven proof pot with a lid should work. I personally love all the uses I have for my dutch oven so it was an absolute must have for the kitchen

I highly recommend this Lodge dutch oven. It’s great for bread making, soups, pastas, and every one pot dinner that needs to go from stove top to oven.

No Knead Crusty Bread

Below are the ingredients and steps to my no knead crusty bread. It’s great on its own with butter or served with soup.

Ingredients

• 3 cups all purpose flour
• 1 tsp active yeast
• 1 tsp salt
• ½ tsp sugar
• 1 ½ cup warm water

Directions

1. Add all dry ingredients to a large mixing bowl and give it a quick stir with a wooden spoon to spread them out. Add water and stir until mixed.
2. Using your hands, keeping the dough in the bowl gently mix to form a sticky ball. Cover the bowl with saran wrap and set aside overnight or up to 12 hours.
3. The dough will stretch out and have plenty of holes in it. After the overnight rise, gently stir the dough with a wooden spoon by scraping the dough back to center and into a ball.
4. Let the dough rest an additional 30 minutes. While you are waiting for the dough to rest, put your dutch oven in the oven and preheat the oven to 450F.
5. Using oven mitts, pull the dutch oven out of the oven. After removing the oven mitts, place the dough on parchment paper and  carefully place the dough into the dutch oven. 
6. Slice the top of the dough in an X and place the cover on the dutch oven. Using oven mitts again place the dutch oven back in the oven. Bake for 25 minutes, then remove the cover and bake for an additional 10 minutes or until the crust is browned to your liking.
7. Pull the dutch oven out of the oven. Carefully remove the bread from the dutch oven and let cool for at least 1 hour before slicing.

Final Touches

This bread is easy to make and is the perfect side dish for soups, stews, and chili’s. I personally like to start the process before bed and then bake around lunch time to make sure it’s ready for dinner. 

While the crust is usually firm the inside of this bread is typically soft, if it’s not you may have over worked the dough. I’ve done this a few times and while it’s still good I prefer the softer center. If your bread is a bit tough on the inside it does make an excellent toast for sandwiches.

This bread goes fantastic with my Instant Pot Chicken Noodle Soup.

What’s your favorite soup or stew to serve bread with? Let me know in the comments below. Follow me on Pinterest for more like this and pin this to your favorite bread boards.

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