No Knead Dutch Oven Bread (Le Creuset)

Use my foolproof No Knead Dutch Oven Bread recipe to make delicious bakery style bread at home. Perfect for beginners and seasoned bread bakers alike. Super easy recipe for a perfect golden crust with a soft and fluffy inside.
Just 4 ingredients, 3 mins prep and a Dutch oven are all you need. Best of all, it’s an unbelievably easy hands off recipe, with no kneading or stretching your dough.

That’s right, zero kneading and zero stretching! Just stir and leave the dough and Le Creuset to do their magic. With a versatile fermentation time of 3 to 48 hours, you can fit it around your day.

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I’m always baking some kind of bread in the Kitchen Shed and I love this method. This is my go to recipe for a crusty airy loaf with a hint of sourdough without all the fuss.
Over the years I’ve tweaked the recipe and and now include malt powder. I love using malt in bread making, it’s actually the essential ingredient in my crusty bread rolls. Malt gives a strong rise, great texture, a golden crust and a wonderful malty flavour. But don’t worry if you haven’t got malt powder, you can use brown sugar.

What is No Knead Bread ?

No knead bread is a white, crusty loaf usually baked in a Dutch Oven. It has a lovely soft texture, making it perfect for sandwiches and toast. Although discussion continues about who deserves credit for popularising the concept, Jim Lahey’s 2006 recipe in the New York Times certainly features.

Regardless of any controversy, no knead bread (and its many variations) took the baking world by storm with its basic ingredients and easy method.
Firstly, no knead bread works because its high water content and long fermentation time replace the requirement to knead. Secondly, it uses a Dutch Oven for a deep crackly crust with an open airy crumb making a perfect loaf of bread.

What equipment do I need ?

You don’t need any special equipment to make the dough, a bowl and a spatula or whisk is all you need.

• Large Cast Iron Dutch Oven – is essential for baking the bread. Baking with the lid on creates steam from the dough and produces a rise similar to a professional oven. It’s also key to getting a perfect crust and soft inside because the pot gets super hot.
• I like to use my Lodge Cast Iron Pot 4.7 litre (5 quart) because it works perfectly and is considerably more affordable than Le Creuset.
• A Le Creuset 26 cm 5 litre Cast Iron Round Casserole is the pot I used in Guernsey whilst tweaking my recipe.
• Baking parchment – a large circle to fit inside your pot. Crumple it to make it easier to lift the dough into the very hot Dutch Oven for baking.

What ingredients do I need ?

• Bread Flour – I like to use Marriage’s Very Strong White Bread Flour, which is 100 % Canadian flour. This flour has the advantage of being high in protein (15%) and so produces more gluten. As a result, the dough holds together well making it perfect for long fermentation periods.
• Yeast – I’ve used instant yeast in the recipe, often called fast action or quick yeast. This yeast has the advantage that you can add it directly to your flour.
• Malt Powder – readily available online and your secret bread making ingredient used to give your rise a boost. Also, it makes for a great texture, promotes a golden crust and adds a malty flavour. Soft brown sugar can be substituted which will give you a brown crust but the texture and rise will be slightly different.
• Salt – I like to use sea salt as it contains less sodium than regular salt but any fine salt will work.
• Oil – a small amount of oil is enough to increase the bread’s shelf life and contributes to a soft crumb. Such a small amount will not affect the lovely crispy crust.
• Lukewarm water – you should be able to comfortably dip your finger into lukewarm water. REMEMBER: too high a temperature will kill your yeast. Just like us, yeast works best at around 37°C / 98°F. Using my Thermapen, I check the temperature is between 37°C / 98°F and no more than 40°C / 104°F.

How to make No Knead Dutch Oven Bread

• Add all the dry ingredients to a large bowl, stir and pour in the water and oil.
• Mix together with a spatula or whisk. Don’t worry, it will look like a very wet shaggy mess but it will work.

• Cover and leave to do its magic for 3 hours at room temperature or overnight in the fridge.
• Sprinkle flour onto a work surface and scrape out the dough.

• Shape the bread by pulling edges into the centre to form a ball.
• Pinch and rotate until it makes a tighter ball.
• Flip it over and tighten a bit more by pulling towards you and rotating.
• Place on baking parchment and cover for half an hour.

• Put your Dutch Oven or Le Creuset in the oven and preheat for 30 minutes.
• Carefully take out the hot Dutch Oven and remove the lid.

• Use the edge of the parchment to lift the bread into the Dutch Oven and score the top of your loaf.
• Replace the lid and bake for 30 minutes.
• Remove the lid and continue baking until golden brown.
• Remove from the oven and use the baking parchment to carefully lift out your loaf. Allow to cool.

Baking tips for Perfect No Knead Bread

• Use the amount of water stated – the loose sticky dough is exactly what you need for developing the gluten strands. This gives you a lighter airier bread.
• Use lukewarm water – you should be able to comfortably dip your finger into lukewarm water. Yeast works best at around 37°C / 98°F.
• Use baking parchment – makes it easier to transfer the dough and prevents sticking.
• Longer fermentation time – we’ve baked great bread after a 3 hour fermentation time. But you’ll be rewarded with even tastier bread if you leave it for longer. Enzymes in the flour convert starches to sugars giving a more complex flavour and a soft and airy bread.
• Never put a cold Dutch Oven or Le Creuset casserole in a very hot oven – it may crack.
• Don’t be tempted to slice while it is still warm, your bread will have a gummy texture.

How Long Will It Keep ?

Like most homemade bread, fresh is best but it will keep for a couple of days.

Can I Freeze It ?

Yes, No Knead Dutch Oven Bread freezes well. Make sure your loaf is fully cooled and placed in a freezer bag before freezing for up to three months. It can also be sliced and then frozen so you can take out slices as you need them and avoid waste.

To defrost, remove your bread from the freezer a couple of hours before you need it and defrost at room temperature.

Serving suggestions

• We love it toasted or as soldiers with a soft boiled egg
• With leek and potato soup or or pea and ham soup
• Sandwiches
• To make croutons
• Breadcrumbs in recipes like fish fingers and Veggie Cassoulet topping
• Simply with butter and strawberry jam

More Bread Recipes You Might Like….

• Crusty Farmhouse Bread
• Rye Bread
• Wholemeal Bread
• Tiger bread
• Multigrain Bread
• Soft Bread Rolls
• Portuguese Bread Rolls

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