You’re just 3 hours away from fresh baked bread…

There are a lot of no-knead bread recipes out there, but this is our favorite. French flavor, not too yeasty, crispy crust, and only 3 hours to make, start to finish.

Ingredients:

• 2½ - 3½ cups all purpose flour

• 2¼ tsp active dry yeast

• 1½ tsp kosher salt

• 1 tsp sugar

• 1¼ cups warm water (Water should be warm to the touch, but not hot. Hot water will kill the yeast!)

Instructions:

1. Combine the yeast, sugar and warm water in a large mixing bowl (the stand mixer bowl if you’re using a stand mixer). Let the mixture proof for about 5 minutes, until it’s foamy.

2. Add the salt and flour. Mix with your hands or a wooden spatula, or mix on low speed with a stand mixer until all the flour is incorporated and dough is just starting to pull away from the sides of the bowl. The dough should be “slack” which means sticky. And sticky in this case is very good.

3. Lightly flour the outside of the dough on all sides. Cover the bowl with a clean tea towel and let the dough rise on the counter for about an hour, until it’s doubled in size.

4. When the dough has risen, lightly flour a large cutting board or clean countertop to work on. Tip the dough out of the bowl and onto the cutting board. If the dough is sticking to the bowl, wet your hand with a bit of cold water and gently coax it out and onto your work surface. DO NOT punch the dough down – you want to keep all those air bubbles from the rise in the dough.

5. Dust the top of the dough with flour, and begin shaping it into a round loaf by pulling each “corner” of the dough in towards the center (like you’re folding an envelope, but without pressing it down) and repeat until the dough feels tight and elastic and begins to resist your folds. Pinch the folds together, flip the dough over, and lightly tap it into a round loaf.

6. Flour a proofing basket or a medium bowl and place your dough into it seam-side down. Cover with a tea towel and let it rise another 30 minutes or so while you preheat the oven with your empty 3.5qt Dutch Oven (with the lid on) inside, heating to 460º F.

7. Using mitts, remove the Dutch Oven, and take off the lid. Gently and carefully (without burning yourself!) place the dough into the Dutch Oven, seam-side down and score the top of the loaf with your desired pattern. Put the lid back on, and return everything to oven. Bake for 30 minutes.

8. After 30 minutes, remove the lid. The bread should be taller, crusty, and very lightly browned. Continue baking uncovered for 10-15 minutes more until you have a beautiful brown crust.

9. Once it’s done baking, remove the bread from the Dutch Oven and let it cool for 20-30 minutes on a cooling rack before cutting into it.

You can use your Dutch Oven with the lid on as a bread box for the next day or two to keep the loaf relatively preserved.