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This easy yeast bread recipe is my all-time favorite! It is one of the best artisan bread recipes you will find. If you are new to bread making, you will love how simple this recipe comes together, requiring no kneading or sourdough starter. If you are a bread lover, you will appreciate the rustic artisan bread qualities, the crusty outside and chewy inside.
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If you are trying to make an easy yeast bread that has big holes like the ones you find in sourdough, this is the bread for you. This bread recipe takes just 5 minutes to put together and requires no kneading (amen!!!), no mixer, and no sourdough starter (whew!)
Sourdough Bread With Big Holes And Translucent Crumb
You can have this bread dough prepped in minutes and then just sit back for a few hours to let it rise (called fermentation). In less than just 4 hours, you can have fresh-baked artisan bread. Prepare the dough the night before and bake it up for breakfast, or mix up the dough in the morning and bake it up for dinner. Either way, once you bake this bread, you won’t want store-bought bread anymore!
This is one of the easiest bread recipes with consistently perfect results. What I love about it is this recipe is super forgiving. When you are bringing the dough together, you can simply use a wooden spoon to mix up the ingredients. No kneading is needed!
Beginners will love how easy it is to make the dough with traditional flour. And experienced bakers will appreciate how beautiful this bread looks coming out of the oven with its rustic qualities.
I Cheated Making My Sourdough Bread
The outside crust is golden and crusty, and when you cut into the inside, you are met with those signature sourdough-looking large holes that everyone ooooooo’s and ahhhhhh’s after.
Once I made this homemade bread, I didn’t want to buy bread from the store ever again. I’m betting once you’ve made this bread and see how easy it is to make, you won’t want to buy bread from the store either!!!
All you need is 4 simple ingredients to make this easy yeast bread recipe. You probably have the main ingredients already which makes this one of the easiest homemade bread recipes to make. All you need to make this bread is yeast, flour, salt, and water. That’s all there is to it!
What Went Wrong With Your Sourdough?
All-Purpose flour vs. Bread Flour: All-Purpose flour works great for this homemade bread– I’ve actually tested this recipe with both all-purpose flour and bread flour, and in my opinion, bread flour makes it too dense and tough. Generally, bread flour has more protein in it than normal flour, so it creates more gluten. You can definitely test out using bread flour for this homemade bread, but I know most people have all-purpose flour on hand, so just know that all-purpose flour creates a soft chewy bread.
Here are tips for how to make this easy yeast bread recipe at home. Check out the video as well so you can get an idea of dough consistency and how to form the dough ball. The best part about this bread recipe is that it is hard to mess it up! These are just tips to help you feel more confident making the dough, proofing it, and baking it. The artisan bread recipe can be found below these steps.
Mix together the flour, yeast, and salt (see full recipe below). Then add warm water and mix. The dough should be pretty wet and sticky. You don’t need to knead it. Just bring the ingredients together with a wooden spoon and keep it in the bowl and cover it with cling wrap.
Classic Sourdough Bread Made Easy
Place the bowl in an enclosed oven for at least 2 hours. If your home stays warm like mine, you may not need to warm the oven. But if your home is cold, pre-heat the oven to about 80 degrees F. After two hours, the dough should double in volume and look very bubbly and jiggly. You can allow the dough to sit in the oven for up to 8 hours.
If you desire a more flavorful bread, allow it to rise the first 2 hours in the enclosed oven, and then place it in the refrigerator for an additional 6-48 hours.
Preheat your cast-iron skillets or dutch oven in an oven set at 450°F. You can use a cast-iron skillet with a cake pan turned upside down as a topper (shown above) if you don’t have two cast-iron skillets .
Whole Wheat Sourdough Bread
While the oven is heating, prepare a non-stick counter or surface with some flour. Scrape the dough out of the bowl using a scraper or your fingers cupped (you can add flour to the top and edges of the sticky flour to work it out of the bowl). Scrape the dough out as one unit onto the surface.
This little trick will help you shape the dough into a ball and make it easy to pick up and move into the hot skillet or dutch oven.
Looking at the dough in front of you, grab the top part (north part) of the dough and gently pull it up just a few inches, and then set it down on the center of the dough. It should stick to itself. Grab the bottom of the dough (south part), and pull it up and to center. Grab one side and pull it to center, and pull the other side to center.
Homemade Sourdough Bread, Step By Step
Next, flour your hands and the dough lightly and take the entire dough and flip it upside down so the pulled parts are now upside down and on the surface. Take your hands and gently cup under the dough and rotate the dough around in a circle as you keep cupping it. It’s okay to grab light amounts of flour for this part. And continue tucking the dough under itself and rotating until you have formed a dough ball.
Take the hot dutch oven or cast-iron skillet out of the oven carefully. Sprinkle some flour lightly into the bottom of the skillet or dutch oven.
Scoop the dough ball up and place it in the middle of the skillet. It’s okay to drop it in to avoid the hot pan.
How To Get Big(ger) Holes In Your Baguettes
Take a sharp knife or bread lame and score the top of the dough in a few places to allow it to expand.
Cover the skillet with a cake pan or another skillet. Place the covered pan in the hot oven on the middle rack and back for 30 minutes at 450 degrees F.
The bread crust should be a beautiful golden brown when removed. Allow the bread to cool on a wire rack for about 20 minutes before cutting into it. Enjoy!
Easy Overnight Rustic Bread
The secret to a crisp crust is in the baking process. The bread is baked at a high temperature in a covered dutch oven or covered cast iron skillet . This helps to create a steamy environment which gives the bread dough time to rise before the crust sets. Once the crust forms and sets, the dough stops rising. When you bake the dough, the first part of baking is creating a steamy environment. Then you remove the lid and continue baking to evaporate the moisture in the bread quickly, creating a crisp outer crust.
The fermentation process (rising the dough) allows the yeast to do its work and create a flavorful, well-aerated dough. If you don’t let the bread rise for at least 2 hours, you may end up with a dense loaf of bread. Yeast loves a little warmth, so if your home is 70 degrees F or cooler, then try warming up your oven to between 78-90 degrees and place the covered bowl inside the warmed oven.
If the dough rises for longer than 2 hours, you will end up with a more flavorful dough. You can let the dough rise and ferment for 2-8 hours in a bowl covered with cling wrap placed inside a slightly warmed oven. If you want to let it ferment longer (giving it added flavor), let it rise for the first 2 hours in the enclosed oven and then place it in the fridge for up to 3 days. Placing the dough in the fridge slows down the yeast rising time and gives the enzymes time to break the starches down into sugars.
How To Make Sourdough Bread
My personal preference is to put the dough together in the morning and wait until evening to bake it. Fresh baked bread for dinner is the best!!!
The perfect amount of time to let the dough proof is 8 hours. This allows the yeast to do its work and create a flavorful, well-aerated dough. You will get a more tasty bread if you let the bread rise for 8 hours.
The best place to allow the dough to rise is in a warm, humid environment. If your kitchen is on the cooler side, you can proof the dough in an oven that has been
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