Perfect No-Knead Peasant Bread Recipe

For a long time I’ve been avoiding bread, not because I’m wheat or gluten intolerant, but because it seemed like a good idea to avoid most grains. But finding this peasant bread recipe changed all that.  I’m loving bread again!  

Since I discovered this simple bread recipe, I’ve made two loaves every weekend.  My husband and I have gobbled them up as though we were starved for good bread.  Actually, I think we were!

And the fact that it’s homemade and free of preservatives, chemicals, and vegetable oils makes me feel good about eating it.

 

Everything I love about homemade bread is here: the crispy crust, the spongy interior, and best of all–the heavenly aroma! 

Once you try this easy, no-knead peasant bread recipe, I have a feeling you’ll fall in love with bread again, too. 

Easy No-Knead Peasant Bread Recipe

Ingredients

4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
2 tsp. kosher salt
2 cups lukewarm water*
2 tsp. sugar
2 tsp. active dry or instant yeast
room-temperature butter, about 2 Tbsp.

• *to make lukewarm water that won’t kill the yeast, boil some water, then mix 1/2 cup boiling water with 1 1/2 cups cold water

Directions

1. Mixing the dough:

• If you’re using active dry yeast, in a small mixing bowl, dissolve the sugar into the water.  Sprinkle the yeast over the top.  Let it stand for 10 to 15 minutes or until the mixture is foamy and bubbling just a bit — this ensures the yeast is active. Meanwhile, in a large bowl, whisk together the flour and salt.  When the yeast-water-sugar mixture is foamy, stir it up and add it to the flour bowl.  Mix until the flour is absorbed.
• If you’re using instant yeast, in a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, sugar, and instant yeast.  Add the lukewarm water.  Mix until the flour is absorbed.

2. Cover the bowl with a tea towel or plastic wrap and set aside in a warm spot to rise for at least an hour. 

(In the winter, if you need to create a slightly warm spot for your bread to rise, turn the oven on at 350°F for one minute, then turn the oven off.  Just let the oven preheat for a total of 1 minute — it probably won’t get above 100°F.  The goal is just to create a slightly warm environment for the bread. Then place the covered bowl in the oven to rise for an hour.)

3. After the bread has risen for an hour, remove it from the oven and preheat the oven to 425°F. 

Grease two oven-safe bowls, such as these, with about 1 Tbsp. of butter each. 

Using two forks, punch down the dough, scraping it from the sides of the bowl, which it will cling to.  As you scrape it down try to turn the dough onto itself. 

Try to loosen the dough entirely from the sides of the bowl, and make sure you have punched it down with the forks. 

Then take your two forks and divide the dough into two equal portions by making a line down the center of the dough.

Starting from the center of the dough, pull it apart with the two forks.

Scoop up each half with your forks and plop it in the prepared bowls.  The dough will be very wet, so using forks with short tines makes this easier.

4. Let the dough rise in the two bowls for about 20 to 30 minutes on the countertop near the oven, until the dough has risen to just above or just below the rim (depending on the size of bowls you’re using–for 1.5 qt. bowls it will rise to the rim). 

Do not cover the bowls for the second rise.  Simply set the bowls in a warm spot, preferably near the oven.

5. Place the bowls in the oven and bake for 15 minutes at 425°, then reduce the heat to 375° and bake 15 to 17 minutes longer. 

Remove the bowls from the oven and carefully turn the loaves onto cooling racks.  If you greased the bowls well, the loaves should fall out easily. 

If the loaves look a little pale and soft when you’ve turned them out, place the loaves (without the bowls) back in the oven and let them bake for about 5 minutes longer. 

Remove from the oven and let cool for 10 minutes before slicing.

Make sure you have plenty of butter on hand for spreading!

We also enjoy tearing off chunks of bread and dunking them in a bowl of homemade soup, such as my Zuppa Toscana or  Pasta e Fagioli.

Enjoy! xo Jane

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