You may hate me after this…. or you may you’ll love me forever. I’ll let you decide. HA!

Honestly, this is one of the BEST homemade bread recipes I’ve ever tried! So, you might love me for introducing it to you. But after eating the whole loaf in 1 sitting, you might hate me just a little 😉

One thing pandemic life has done is re-introduce me to my love for baking! And, lucky for me, it’s done the same for my parents who found (and then perfected) this bread recipe!

This summer, when the weather was better, we’d have outside dinners at my parents and this bread was almost always a staple! My kids DEVOURED it (as did I). But, to be honest, I was intimidated to try making it myself.

But we decided to give it a shot — best of all? We made this bread as we took a “cooking class” from my parents via our Alexa Show from Amazon. (Something that we have fallen in LOVE with and therefore gifted it to our parents & grandparents at Christmas time!)

The end result of our little "cooking show?" A DELICIOUS loaf of bread... with a little bit of chaos and mess as I was managing the twins and 3 kiddos (ages 6, 4.5, and 3) all fighting over who poured in which ingredient 😂 Thank goodness my parents are so patient!

A Few Pro Breadmaking Tips:
  • Water temperature is extremely important! Between 105ºF–110ºF is what you're looking for — too cold and the yeast won't activate, too hot and you'll kill it. Use a digital thermometer to make sure you get it right.
  • Make sure you’re not starving when it comes out of the oven... you might eat the entire loaf. Lol!
  • Before starting, be sure you have parchment paper on hand (my neighbor saved us!)
  • If you have leftovers, I've never had a better avocado toast than with this bread — top it with an egg and it was delish.
  • And, finally, getting the dough into a ball can be a little confusing if you're not sure what you're doing, so take a look at this video below.

Note: ignore the "perfecting" they do after flipping the dough over in this video 100% not important here!

 


 

No-Knead Overnight Dutch Oven Bread
 
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This no-knead bread adapted from the Washington Post is to die for and the easiest bread recipe you will ever make!
Author:

Ingredients
  • 3 cups all-purpose flour
  • ¾ tsp instant (rapid/quick-rise) yeast
  • 1¾ tsp kosher salt
  • 2 tbsp uncooked grits
  • 2 tbsp flaxseeds
  • 1⅓ cups warm water*
  • 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil

Instructions
  1. Using a large bowl, whisk together dry ingredients (flour, yeast, salt, and grits, flaxseeds) until well combined.
  2. Using a spoon, create a well in the center of the mixture and add water & olive oil and still well until a sticky, wet dough forms.
  3. Grease a piece of plastic wrap and place it over the bowl (you can use olive oil, spray oil, shortening, whatever you have!) allow the bowl to sit covered for 8–14 hours (overnight) in a warm place.
  4. Flour a 14- to 16-inch piece of parchment paper and scoop the dough out of the bowl onto the counter (using a greased spatula or spoon can help!)
  5. The dough will be wet, but DO NOT KNEAD THE DOUGH, instead, flour the top and sides just enough that you can shape the dough into a ball by pulling the edges up toward the center of the dough. (See video in blog for technique.) Then flip the dough so the fold side is face down.
  6. Dust with more flour wherever sticky dough becomes exposed, and loosely cover with a clean, dry kitchen towel. Allow to rest for 30 minutes. During this 30-minute wait, place a 6-quart Dutch oven with lid inside a cold oven and preheat to 450º with the dutch oven inside.
  7. Once the dough has risen slightly (should bounce back when gently poked), remove the Dutch oven from the oven and set the lid aside.
  8. Remove the towel from the dough, make a big "X" in the center of the dough with a serrated knife.
  9. Holding two sides of the parchment paper, lower the paper and dough into the hot Dutch oven. Re-cover the pot and place in the oven.
  10. Bake for 30-35 minutes (my parents SWEAR by 31 min being the perfect amount of time), remove the lid and bake for another 10-15 minutes (my parent's perfect timing? exactly 11 min) until the bread is golden brown and sounds hollow when tapped.
  11. Remove from the oven, carefully lift the parchment paper & bread out of the dutch oven and place on a wire cooling rack and allow to rest until it’s cool enough to handle, slice and serve!

Notes
*It's vital that the water be between 105º–110ºF, use a digital thermometer to make sure the temperature is correct.

Recipe Adapted from Washington Post

No-Knead Overnight Dutch Oven Bread Recipe