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The Best (easiest) No Knead Bread. Crusty on the outside, light and airy inside, with just a little rosemary swirled throughout. It’s the easiest bread recipe, yet still impressive. It’s best served warm right out of the oven with softened butter and a sprinkling of sea salt. Serve alongside your favorite soups, chili, pasta dishes, with roasted chicken, or even on its own. This is certainly sure to become a weekly staple!
Every time I make a pot of soup or chili or even a creamy curry, I also make a homemade bread recipe. Many times I’ll go for everyone’s favorite, honey butter beer bread. And if I’m making Indian, I always, always make naan.
But on snowy Sundays in January, I make my no-knead bread. I’ve been making this for years, sometimes with rosemary, it’s delish with or without.
We LOVE it. But my no-knead bread isn’t like others. I have a little secret.
Instead of water, I use beer, which I think enhances the flavor of the bread. You don’t know it’s there, but it gives the bread more of a sourdough flavor, just without all the work.
Kind of like a “cheaters” sourdough bread in a way.
If you have my Super Simple cookbook, I use this recipe for my pizza dough too. Either way, it’s baked up, it’s delicious. But We really LOVE it as bread (plus I have a new and improved pizza dough that I’ve been making all the time now).
Here are details
Step 1: mix the dough
Using a large bowl and dough hook or just a wooden spoon, mix flour with instant yeast, you could also use active dry yeast, fresh rosemary (if you like), and salt. Now, pour over a room-temperature can/bottle of beer. If you don’t drink, use 1 1/2 cups warm water.
Mix just until the dough comes together. Do not do any kneading!
Step 2: let that dough hang out
Now, cover the dough with a towel and let it hang out on the counter in a nice warm spot for at least 12 hours. I usually let the dough sit overnight or even over two nights for more flavor.
Step 3: bake
Preheat the oven to 450°. Place a cast iron Dutch oven into the oven to preheat. Get it nice and HOT.
Shape the dough into a ball or an oval. Let it rise on a piece of parchment paper while the oven is heating. When ready, you can lift the parchment and the dough up and into the hot Dutch oven.
And then you bake it. Nothing fancy at all. Not even a stand mixer. We love this bread. Bake for 45 to 50 minutes.
Step 4: enjoy it
Slice with a sharp knife. Of course, we love this bread most when it’s fresh from the oven. Topped with really good butter and a small amount of sea salt – so yum!
Or serve it up with dinner. Soups, chilis, and slow-roasted meats are our favorites. Or use it for avocado toast. For sandwiches, the options certainly are endless.
Looking for other breads to make? Here are a few to try:
Salted Honey Butter Jalapeño Cheddar Rolls
Jalapeño Cheddar Popovers with Honey Butter
Soft Garlic Herb Cheddar Cheese Bread
Easy Pull Apart Garlic Parmesan Bread
Spinach and Artichoke Stuffed Soft Pretzels
Lastly, if you make this The Best (easiest) No Knead Bread, be sure to leave a comment and/or give this recipe a rating! Above all, I love to hear from you guys and always do my best to respond to each and every comment. And, of course, if you do make this recipe, don’t forget to tag me on Instagram! Looking through the photos of recipes you all have made is my favorite!
The Best (easiest) No Knead Bread
Servings: 1 loaf
Calories Per Serving: 1450 kcal
Nutritional information is only an estimate. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.
Watch the How-To Reel
Ingredients
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons instant yeast (rapid rise)
- 1-2 tablespoons chopped fresh rosemary (optional)
- 2 teaspoons kosher salt
- 1 (12 ounce) can or bottle room temperature beer (or 1 1/2 cups warm water)
Instructions
- 1. In a bowl, stir together the flour, yeast, rosemary (if using), and salt. Add the beer and mix with a spatula until combined. Cover the bowl and let sit at room temperature for at least 12 hours, but ideally overnight. 2. Preheat oven to 450° F. Place a large Dutch oven in the oven to preheat for 30 minutes. 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 on a piece of parchment. Cover and allow to rise for 1 hour, until doubled in size. 3. When ready, carefully lift the dough and the parchment and place in the Dutch oven. Bake, covered, for 30 minutes. Remove the lid and continue baking until the bread is a deep, golden brown, about 15-20 minutes more. Remove from the oven. Enjoy with softened butter and sea salt. YUM!
This post was originally published on January 16, 2024
Do you leave parchment paper on when you bake
Has anyone tried this using freshly milled wheat? Wonder what adjustments would have to be made. TIA!
Can you use Gluten free flour for this recipe?
Hi Annette! I haven’t ever tried this with GF flour before! So sorry! xT
Love your blog- great recipe!
Thank you sooo much Monica! xT
Hi! Do you think a can of NA beer would work okay? I’d love to try your secret! 🙂
What is the recipe for your new & improved pizza dough? I have your Super Simple cookbook but you mentioned that you make a different recipe now
I have been baking this bread since 2006 when food critic for the NY Times Mark Bitman published, (and made a youtube video) on Jim Lehey’s No Knead Bread. If you are going to publish someone elses recipe at least credit them. This is plagerism plain and simple. By the way if your readers would like to see mor of Lehey’s bread recipes with full explainations why they work buy his book “My Bread”. And itis HIS bread not yours
Before you come on here spouting crap at her, maybe do some research first. They are completely different recipes. His recipe is 390g (3 cups) bread flour (not all-purpose) + more for dusting
¼ teaspoon instant yeast
1¼ teaspoons fine sea salt
320g (about 1 1/3 cups) water.
Totally different!
His recipe doesn’t call for beer.
And it calls for a second 2 hour proof.
Also. Bread is bread. The hydration ratio is often the same in the same style of bread.
People come up with new or different recipes all the time. Maybe she just came up with this one herself.
Have YOU ever thought that she created this recipe and didn’t know about his? She has been baking a long time and you seem like quite a piece of judgmental work!
Russ, I’m sure you realize by now that your review was in haste. I’m sure there was a no knead bread recipe long before the man you mention. People do however adapt and change recipes to their liking all the time. Let us all be less quick to condemn and more quick to love and respect each other.
To be fair, every blogger out there has a recipe for no knead bread now and I see few that actually credit the original. It’s a well established method now rather than a specific recipe.
My main problem with this version is for some inexplicable reason she is taking the yeast quantity of a two hour rise bread recipe and turning it into a 1-3 day rise recipe.
Everyone is currently making versions of his bread which you can find on the NYT recipe app., his book or by a google search. He doesn’t use beer in the recipes I have seen, but as folks have begun experimenting with that method, lots of new recipes have sprung up. No need to be so ugly.
The nutrition information says 1450 kcal. That has to be for the whole loaf, right ?
While I love all your recipes , this one is a rift on Jim Lahey’s Sullivan Street No-knead bread. I think credit should be given where it is due.
I don’t have a cast iron pot, too expensive. Any way a cast iron 10″ frying pan would work?
What size Dutch oven do you use?
Hi there! I usually use a 5 or a 7 quart dutch oven! xT
Do you place the dutch oven pan WITH the cover in the oven to preheat or just the bottom of the Dutch oven pan and not the cover?
The whole thing, lid included.
Hi Tieghen
This sounds great. How much beer is it in ml? Im excited to try the bread.
Recipe says 12 ounces of beer. 12 ounces is 1-1/2 cups.
12 oz is ~355 mL.
Hi Iris,
355ml is typically one can. That’s what I used and it was the perfect amount. Hope this helps!
Can this be made with Whole Wheat Flour in place of All Purpose Flour?
Made this twice over the Christmas break.
Second time I added a little sugar to help make it less dense. It worked but was hoping for a little fluffier ? Any suggestions?
It is delicious and both loaves were finished by the end of the day !!!!
Hi there! Hmmm I would maybe add less flour if you’re wanting it to be less dense? xT
Did you use whole wheat flour ?
Bread flour ? Or all purpose flour!