No-Knead Dutch Oven Bread

This is the loaf that made me fall in love with baking bread. No kneading, no stand mixer, no sourdough starter to babysit — just four ingredients, a long slow rise, and a screaming-hot Dutch oven that does all the hard work for you.

The magic is steam. When you drop the dough into a preheated covered pot, the trapped moisture lets the crust stay soft long enough for the bread to spring up tall before it sets into that deep, crackly shell.

Ingredients

• 3 cups (430g) bread flour
• 1¼ tsp instant yeast
• 2 tsp fine sea salt
• 1½ cups (360g) cool water

Instructions

1. Whisk the flour, yeast, and salt. Add water and stir into a shaggy dough.
2. Cover and rest at room temperature for 12–18 hours, until bubbly and doubled.
3. Preheat your Dutch oven to 450°F for 30 minutes. Shape the dough into a round.
4. Drop the dough in, cover, and bake 30 minutes. Uncover and bake 12 more until deep golden.