Next Post
Autumn Braised Chicken Escabèche with Roasted Apples and Grapes.
This post may contain affiliate links, please see our privacy policy for details.
It’s about that time of year when I begin to crave bread baking, and this cheaters no-knead dutch oven sourdough bread is my newest homemade obsession.
Did anyone else’s moms bake bread when they were growing up? As I’ve mentioned…over and over, my mom is not much of a cook, but she has always loved to bake. Most of the time her baking was limited to chocolate chip cookies and pecan pies, but during the fall and winter months my mom would bake up a fresh loaf of bread for Sunday night dinner.
The woman loves bread like no other. Give her fresh, homemade bread and there’s a good chance she’ll end up eating the entire loaf within a day…the warmth, the carbs…the butter!
Anyway, mom baking bread on Sunday night is always such a relaxing and comforting memory for me. The house smelled incredible, the kitchen was warm from the oven, and often times there was also a roaring fire.
So basically the perfect fall night.
Recently, I’ve been seriously craving those comforting smells of homemade bread. A lot of this is due to my anxiety being kicked into high gear lately, but it’s also the extremely chilly nights and much cooler days we’ve been experiencing here that totally have me wanting to bake.
Also, it snowed up in the mountains while I was hiking on Saturday morning, so yeah, there’s that too.
Warm, baked things are clearly what needs to happen over here.
One of my favorite loaves of bread is a really good loaf of crusty sourdough. For years now I have been wanting to develop a sourdough bread recipe for the blog, but the involvement of making homemade sourdough always scared me off. It can take weeks to make a really great loaf of sourdough and let’s just be honest, that’s kind of way too much time for most of us.
I mean, right?
I make my homemade naan with plain greek yogurt, and it’s probably the most popular recipe here on the site…and with good reason. It’s incredible and I’m not sure I can really top that naan, but the use of yogurt in the recipe got me thinking.
Greek yogurt has some of the same cultures as a sourdough starter, so I thought I might try adding some to a no-knead bread recipe and see how it turned out.
The results? Sourdough bread perfection. YES.
Like any other no-knead bread recipe, this cheater’s sourdough is EASY. The dough is made with a total of six ingredients, including the water, and it all goes into one bowl, gets mixed up, and is then left to sit and rise. You can literally be done with the actual mixing of the bread in five to ten minutes. The rest of the time involved is rising and baking time.
Meaning hands-on work is so minimal. Mix. Let Sit. Bake. EAT. Simple as that.
As the title of this recipe states, you need a good dutch oven for baking the bread. It’s a must for getting a bread that’s crusty on the outside, but extra soft on the inside. I love my Staub 5 1/2 Quart Cocotte for this bread, it’s the perfect size. Any heavy cast iron pot that’s 4 quarts or larger will be great though!
Another key to success? A super hot oven and keeping the lid tight on the pot for the first half of baking. This traps the heat inside the pot, which in turn creates the extra hard crust, but extra soft interior.
Again, perfection and so easy!
I’ve made this multiple times now in the last few weeks, most of the time on Sunday, because I just love the smells and memories it brings.
Plus, serving it up with a bowl of chili is pretty much the best Sunday night dinner.
And of course, any leftovers are delicious when toasted the next day for breakfast, or used as a base for your favorite lunchtime sandwich. I’ve been spreading my homemade apple butter over toasted pieces of this bread, and it’s quickly becoming my go-to breakfast and/or afternoon snack…and yes, the apple butter recipe is coming soon. I’ll be sending out the recipe exclusively to all the HBH email subscribers, so if you aren’t signed up yet, I’d do so soon!
Cheaters No Knead Dutch Oven Sourdough Bread
Servings: 12 servings
Calories Per Serving: 241 kcal
Nutritional information is only an estimate. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups warm water
- 2 teaspoons instant yeast
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 5 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon kosher salt
- 1 cup plain greek yogurt (any % fat will do, but I use full fat)
Instructions
- 1. In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine the water, yeast, honey, flour, salt, and yogurt. Using the dough hook, mix until the flour is completely incorporated. Alternately, you can mix the dough with a wooden spoon until it comes together. Cover the bowl with a wet towel or plastic wrap and let sit at room temperature 2 hours or until it doubles in size.2. If time allows, punch the dough down, cover the bowl, and transfer to the fridge to let sit overnight. This will help develop a stronger "sourdough" flavor. 3. Generously dust a work surface with flour. Scrape the dough out of the bowl. It should be loose and sticky. Form the dough into a ball and place in a parchment lined 4 quart or larger dutch oven. Allow to rise 1 hour or until doubled in size. 4. Preheat to 475 degrees F. Bake, covered for 20-25 minutes. Using oven mitts, remove the hot lid and continue baking until the bread is a deep, golden brown, about 20-30 minutes more. Remove from the oven. Carefully lift the bread out of the pot and place it on a rack to cool completely, about 2 hours. Don't slice into the bread right out of the oven, the bread continues to cook as it cools. Enjoy!
Honestly though…it’s doesn’t get better than this bread…with a little salted butter. YUM.
This post was originally published on September 19, 2017
This looks amazing! Can’t wait to try it. Do I need to make adjustments for altitude? Home is Pasadena at sea level, but winter cabin is June Lake at about 7500ft. And not gonna lie, in Pasadena where it’s still in the 90s, I’m gonna try to the crock pot! I’ll let you know how it turns out!
Hi Andrea! No adjustments needed, I am at 9,000 feet and this works great! Let me know if you have other questions. Hope you love the recipe! Thank you!
Hey there! Can bread flour be used instead, and if not, why not? Just trying to understand the intricacies of bread which is fairly new to me! 🙂
Yes, bread flour can be used in place of the purpose! Let me know if you have other questions. Thank you!
I want to try this but my Dutch Oven is not cast iron, will that make a difference?
Hi Wendy! I am sure that will be fine, but your crust may be not as hard/crusty. Let me know if you have questions. Enjoy!
T-
This … was … so … easy! Mine wasn’t as pretty as yours (it was a smooth brown across the top … didn’t have the interesting ‘wrinkle’ of yours.) BUT … great flavor, texture, smell (that’s half the reason to bake bread anyway), and, did I mention, SOOOOO EASY! Thanks for this one.
Hey Dean! I am so glad to hear that this turned out great for you! Thank you so much!
Made this last week. It was delicious! Can bread flour be used instead of all-purpose flour?
So happy you loved the bread! yes, bread flour can be used.
Hey this looks delicious, do you think it would work with Wholemeal flour instead of white flour? Thanks
Hi Sophie! I am sure that would be great! I would recommend starting out with half wholemeal flour and half white to see how that it goes. Let me know if you have questions. Hope you love the bread!
Found this recipe on Buzzfeed and it was awesome! I’m sure it will be a staple for my large family. So of course I had to check out the blog. How do I subscribe for email updates? I can’t find a link.
Hi Tara! I am so glad you found this recipe, and yes it will be great for a large crowd! To subscribe, just go to halfbakedharvest.com and scroll down. It is on the left side under my bio! I hope this helps! Let me know if you have any other questions or still have trouble finding it!
Hi Tieghan, this looks amazzzinnnnng!!! Do you think I could bake this in a loaf pan, assuming I still have it inside something with a lid?
Hi Sara! I am not sure how that would turn out, but I think if you split it into 2 loaf pans that might work out ok. I dont think the crust will be the same, but I am sure it will still be delicious. Let me know if you have questions. Hope you love the bread and let me know how it turns out!
I have my own sourdough starter and make routinely but this recipe looks amazing. . . can it be adapted to use actual starter?
HI! I am not sure. I would try using about 1/4 cup of your starter in the dough and see how that taste. I think it should be delicious! Please let me know if you have other questions. Hope you love this recipe! Happy Holidays!! 🙂
If it’s made with instant yeast, surely it isn’t an actual sourdough, right? Please correct me if I’m wrong, but my understanding was that sourdough is distinct because of the starter used – a variety of wild yeasts in the form of a ‘mother dough’.
Hey Amy!! She does specify in the title and first sentence that this is a ‘Cheater’s’ version of sourdough. Yes, you are right that this does not contain a liquid levain starter/mother. However, it does still contains lactobacilli (found in the yogurt) which ferments the dough like a traditional recipe. (Also, dry yeast and instant yeast are totally interchangeable, only difference is dry yeast needs to be dissolved in water first)
Thanks for the support, Sara!
Hey Amy!! I never claimed this was a real sourdough, that is why it is called “cheaters” sourdough. A true sourdough is made with a starter and takes a week or longer to make. Let me know if you have questions.
What a great idea! Can’t wait to try this!
Thank you Karen!!
Has anyone done this with sour cream instead? Kind of want to try that….I often sub Greek yogurt for sour cream and vice versa….
Hi Sarah! I have not and I don’t use sour cream, so I can’t really say how that would turn out. Let me know how it goes!
This looks too good to be true! I gotta try this. I too love to bake in my Dutch ovens and am known by my family as a passionate baker. My adults kids request their favorite artisan bread I make year-round. This recipe looks like a serious contender for replacing that fav. I will let you know my results this coming Oct/Nov.
That is so sweet! I hope you love this bread Carla, and yes let me know! Thank you!
This recipe sounds like a dream! As an alternate how would I adapt this recipe to the sourdough starter I have in the fridge??
Thank you! I would omit the yogurt and use about 1/4 cup of the starter, but I can’t say for sure how that would turn out as I have never tested the recipe that way. Please let me know if you have any other questions. Enjoy the bread!
What can you use if you do not have a dutch oven? How would the baking times change?
Use and oven safe pot or pan and bake for the same time. Just know you may not get the crust extra crusty without the dutch oven. Please let me know if you have any questions. enjoy the bread!
No knead bread is the best, and as a carbaholic, this has my name all over it! 🙂
Haha yes! I hope you love it!