Crusty Bread Recipe By Weight

This easy (and we mean EASY!) homemade French bread recipe is sure to be a hit! Homemade dutch oven bread that's readyin just a few hours - no overnight rise. Crispy crust on the outside and soft, airy bread on the inside! Vegetarian.

The instructions may look a little long, but they'reall basically just notes on technique - so don't let the number of steps intimidate you!

Simple

If you're serious about homemade bread, you may enjoy using a proofing basket (it's one of my favorite kitchen tools!) to help the bread keep its shape while it rises. You also end up with beautiful flour rings on the crust! We like to use an 8- to 9-inch proofing basket for a single loaf of bread.

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If you don't have a proofing basket, no worries! Just use a medium-sized (8- or 9-inch diameter) mixing bowl to let the bread do its final rise before you bake it. Flour the bowl well to prevent sticking!

The crackly brown crust here is theresult of baking this bread in a Dutch oven. By keeping the lid on while the bread bakes, you create a nice steamy atmosphere inside the pot - and the steam is what gives the bread that crispy, magical crust. (Read more about the importance of steam in bread baking here!)

This section is LONG - but we wanted to cover the most frequent questions we get! Feel free to skip right to the recipe, but please do utilize this section if you run into questions while you're baking. For additional training videos, tips, and recipes, check out Everyday Artisan Bread!

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How to measure flour: If you have a kitchen scale, please use it! Measuring by weight is MUCH more accurate than measuring by volume (with cups) and will give you more consistent bread. That being said, you can certainly make great bread without a kitchen scale! To measure flour in cups: If you measure flour by dipping your cup straight into the bag or bin and shaking off the excess, plan to use about 2 ½ cups of flour. If you measure by stirring the flour with a spoon or scoop before scooping it into a measuring cup and leveling it off, plan to use about 3 cups of flour. You can always add more flour if you need to - just be aware that this is a relatively slack (wet) dough, so it will be a bit shaggy and sticky at first (but it will smooth out and become more elastic as it rises and again as you shape it!)

Equipment. We recommend a 4- to 6-quart Dutch oven for best results. Le Creuset and Staub are our favorites, but Marquette Castings and Lodge also make solid options that are more budget-friendly. If you don't have a Dutch oven, see this post for alternative baking methods (you can still make great bread without fancy equipment!) Please make sure that your Dutch oven is fitted with a metal (rather than plastic) knob on its lid for best results, and please check the care instructions on your individual equipment before baking. We use this 8.5-inch proofing basket, but an 8- or 9-inch banneton or medium-sized mixing bowl also work well for the final rise.

PLEASE READ THE POST ABOVE FOR OUR COMPLETE FAQs, TIPS, AND ADVICE. We've gotten so many amazing questions from you - we wanted to be sure to answer as many as we can as 

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As we can, but if we put our answers here in the recipe it would make it very annoying to print. Please check the FAQ section in the post above if you have a question or run into a problem! 

Love this recipe? We'd love to see you in our online course, Everyday Artisan Bread, where we share exclusive training videos, worksheets, and ad-free recipes!

I'm Jessie, and I like to talk about food. Tag your recipes # on social media to share your creations! Learn about our team!No knead, no loaf pan, no Dutch oven, no problem! Our rustic bread recipe is so simple, using only 5 ingredients that you likely have stashed in your cupboards. In just a few hours, you'll have the most delicious bread that has an amazingly crispy crust and is pillow-soft inside!

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There's nothing better than homemade bread, fresh out of the oven. It's perfect for breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacktime, or any time of the day, really! But one of our favorite things about it? It's one of the

Don't forget, I have an entire digital recipe ebook with all of my favorite bread recipes! Grab your copy of Our Favorite Bread Recipes Ebook here!

Rustic

Recipe for the last few years! You simply can't go wrong with our rustic bread; it goes well with anything. Even non-bakers can have this turn out perfectly delicious every time! We love that you don't need any fancy gadgets for it, although a stand mixer

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And never get tired of it! You won't be disappointed, we promise. Plus, it's a great shelf cooking recipe because all of these ingredients are kitchen staples!

If!), store the sliced bread in an airtight bread bag or zipper bag at room temperature. If it's a full loaf, store it in a brown paper bag to keep the crust from going soft. If it's half a loaf, place the open side face-down on a cutting board.

Rustic bread usually only lasts for a few days before it starts going stale. At that point, you can repurpose it for something else, if that's your thang. (Those ideas are comin' atcha below!)

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Rustic bread also freezes really well! Wrap your whole loaf in plastic wrap and aluminum foil to help prevent freezer burn. When you're ready to thaw, just leave it wrapped up on the counter for a few hours and it'll be good as new. You can also freeze slices of bread, so don't be afraid to throw those in a freezer baggie if you have any leftover as well! They're handy for when you just need a slice or two of bread versus the whole loaf.

Alright, here are our favorite ways to eat this rustic bread, both fresh and when it's starting to go stale. Don't even think about wasting it because it's too delicious for that! 😉

Easiest

Pro Tip: Plan your meals around when you're making your bread. This will help you use it up before it goes stale! You'll know when to make it fresh to accompany your favorite meals, then turn it into something else before it goes bad.

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A warm, crusty rustic bread goes with just about any meal and it's so simple to make! Throw it together, let it rise, and you'll have a yummy bread that's ready for dinner in just a few hours' time. No bread pan needed!

*You can bake it right on the hot cookie sheet and it’ll be just fine. Just be careful handling the hot pan while putting your dough on it and in the oven!

Alright, well there you have it! Don't be surprised if our rustic bread becomes the new most-requested recipe by your family and friends… There's just something about homemade bread that brings you all together. Give it a try and let us know how you like it!Max Bernstein is a baker, cook, and educator, who studied bread baking at the French Culinary Institute in New York City, and has cooked lots of other things at lots of other places.

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Hi everyone, and welcome to the bread-baking club. Think of this as a safe space, committed to talking about—and demystifying—your breads and doughs. It's a vast world with a whole lot of potential for experimentation, but the root of the problem is this: Yeast, mysterious and giving, seems to scare the crap out of people.

To end! (Please don't stop reading. I had to, just this once.) But in all seriousness, why should it be so scary? People started making bread a long time ago, before computers, bicycles, and shrink-wrapping existed. Our grandparents knew how to make it, and theirs too. Bread is one of humanity's oldest crafted foods, after all, and making great bread for yourself isn't just possible, it's often relaxing and delicious...plus it just so happens to keep your apartment nice and toasty come wintertime.*

No

Our goal is to break down some of the basics of the techniques, chemistry, and superstition behind great bread, and make the whole idea of getting your hands in some dough a little less intimidating. This column isn't about baking the

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I want to start with a look at the four major stages of bread baking that we're going to be working with throughout this series:

These pillars are going to be our template, and as we work through bread formulas together, they're all going to fit roughly into this framework, or we're going to demand to see their hall-passes. Along the way, we're going to talk about some of the vocabulary bakers use to talk to each other in the wee hours of the morning. WTF is a bread formula and who-the-sh*t is proofing? You'll know the ins and outs soon enough.

And speaking of formulas,

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