Easy Artisan Bread Recipe _ No Kneading!

Hey , I'm John Connell .

And today on Preppy kitchen , we're making an easy , amazing artisan bread .

So let's get started .

First off , grab a big bowl and we're gonna use some bread .

Flour has a higher protein content and it gives us a better chew .

I want three and three quarter cups or 450 g of bread flour .

And if you're wondering , yes , you could make this with all purpose flour .

It'll just be like a little bit softer and have less of that artisanal characteristic that you might want from artisan bread .

I'm also gonna use some instant yeast here , one packet or two and a quarter teaspoons .

If you're measuring it out from a big container , I'm also adding in one and three quarter teaspoons of kosher salt , the salt has a little bit bigger of a grain size .

Grab a wooden spoon and I'm just gonna stir this together and tell you one important thing , you can make this bread in two different ways .

I'm making it as an overnight bread because I love to just like give this a mix at the end of the day , pop that into the fridge and come back to it in the morning and you can have like fresh baked bread for breakfast , brunch or lunch .

But you can also make this in one day .

It's really easy to .

I'll tell you how they're different later on .

This is all stirred up .

Now , I'm adding 1.5 cups of warm water .

It's about 100 and 20 degrees and I'm gonna pour this in as I stir .

This is one of the easiest breads ever .

And I know a lot of you might be intimidated by bread making special .

The cult of sour dough , which is a big thing like sourdough .

I'm not gonna lie to you is a little bit more difficult .

You definitely have to get the hang of it and you can let me know if you want a sourdough video in the comments .

This artisan bread has like a wonderful chew .

It's like great on the inside crusty on the outside .

It's like a win , win , win , but it's just so easy .

It also makes a great sandwich bread .

So right now I'm gonna stir the dough in and also like kind of smush it around because that water takes a little bit of time to seep out and hydrate the flour .

So don't think , oh , it's dry , like it's kind of dry on the outside .

It'll work out .

Don't worry if you want , you could definitely add some extra flavorings to this .

This is just like a nice white bread but you wanna add some herbs , some rosemary .

You have so many options here and you can let me know in the comments what you would add .

I might go crazy and add some delicious kalamata olives .

Mm And some caramelized onion .

I basically just stirred this for a few minutes .

It really did come together .

I just wanna tell you don't panic because you take a look and you're like , gosh , there's a lot of flour .

This is not mixing in .

Just be a little bit of patient .

Keep moving it around and eventually you get like a big of dough .

That's what this is called , plop that in .

We're gonna cover this up .

You could either let this rise up and double in size 1.5 to 2 hours .

Just put in a nice cozy place covering that up with paper .

There we go .

So the paper makes it airtight and the bonnet just keeps it sealed down .

This is gonna go into the fridge eight hours .

But up to 24 if you want to basically overnight , I got up this morning .

The kids had breakfast .

My dough has been in that fridge overnight and I preheated my oven to 450 F .

So hot .

The key to getting a wonderful crust for the bread is to have the hottest vessel possible .

So I'm taking my Dutch oven , cast iron pot and popping this into the oven for half an hour .

But there is a catch that's so important and I would have to share this with you .

This is dark on the inside .

It's dark on the outside .

It's actually one of my favorite pots .

But if you're using like a lavender dutch oven that's white on the inside and it's like , oh my God , all the feelings , I love this pot so much .

Maybe don't use it for this recipe because it will get scorched and it looks permanently gonna have some marks on it .

Use one that you don't care about that .

You got at a garage sale or use one that's dark on the inside like this because that heat will do some damage .

This guy goes into the oven half an hour .

So my pot has been in the oven for almost 20 minutes .

It's time to get our dough out of the fridge .

If you're making this just straight through and you're not doing the overnight method , you can skip this .

But if it was in the fridge , just let it come to room temperature a bit .

So give it like 10 to 15 minutes on the counter to warm up before you shape it .

And so important for you to grab a trivet because you do not want to put , put a 452 degree pot on your counter .

That's a recipe for cracks and disaster pot still in the oven .

But this has been on the counter for like 10 to 15 minutes .

So take a look and you're like , oh , it's so disappointing .

I don't like it , but it's gonna get fixed .

It smells delicious though .

First off , I'm just going to kind of use a little spatula and make sure this dough is nice and free .

Now , here's the deal .

We're gonna do almost all the work in the bowl and it's so easy .

You take one end and you flip it over to the other .

Rotate the bowl , 90 degrees .

Repeat the process , rotate the bowl flip three .

So as you continue to do this , you're shaping the dough and it's gonna take on a nicer smoother finish .

It'll look more appropriate .

You'll see 90 degrees 4 , 90 degrees five , 90 degrees , 6 , 90 degrees 70 come take a look , see it's already looking so much smoother .

So see , it looks so much smoother already .

So 90 degrees 8 , 90 degrees nine , I'm at nine rotations , nine flips .

So I'm gonna put this onto a lightly flowered surface and lightly flower my hands too and finish the job up .

I wanted it to release gently because it's looking so much nicer .

Now , here , I'm just gonna gather this up like one giant dinner roll .

Your dough should be holding its shape into a little loaf and you can just shape it .

So it's nice and round transferring this onto a sheet of parchment paper .

I'm gonna let this just sit covered for about 10 minutes .

I just want the dough to relax a bit so that it can really open up and have a nice structure .

This pot can stay in the oven for longer than 30 minutes .

So , don't worry if you're running behind and think you have to rush , it can get really nice and hot .

It's only gonna make things better .

So my dough has been resting for about 10 minutes .

It can rest up to 30 if you're busy .

So don't worry if you think it needs to be totally exact .

You're just letting the gluten relax a bit because we're gonna cut a beautiful slit in there to control the baking .

I don't have the special bread knife that you use to cut dough .

It's called a bread lame .

I should buy one though , but I do have utility knives for my various home improvement projects and they work just fine .

You could also use any super sharp knife you have at home .

So we're gonna cut a one quarter inch deep slit over the top and it doesn't have to look beautiful .

It sits there to let the bread expand nicely during the bake .

The only nerve wracking part of the recipe is this .

So that is very hot .

Do not burn yourself , get your oven mitts out or whatever you have .

OK .

So we're gonna carefully plop this right into our pots .

Oh It's hot in there .

This is hot , don't forget .

OK .

This is going into the oven .

450 F for half an hour .

Then we're gonna remove the lid .

Bake it up until it is gold and brown .

Around 15 minutes .

Maybe 13 , maybe 17 .

Really depends .

Right now , this is gonna cool down for a few minutes .

Then we'll carefully remove it and give it a cut once your bread is cool .

Transfer it over .

Look how beautiful that is .

And this was so easy too .

The test is in cutting it open and seeing what's inside .

Look at this .

You heard how crispy that was on the outside .

So soft and it smells amazing and we made it ourselves .

The boys are gonna tear into this but I get the first bite .

Mm That is just delicious bread .

It's freshly baked .

No preservatives made with love so soft on the inside and crisp on the outside .

I hope you had a chance to make this recipe .

And if you like this video , check out my bread playlist .