No-knead dutch oven sourdough bread recipie

By Sofia Ramsay

Now that we are practicing social distancing and staying inside for the most part, we have been given a rare opportunity to embrace small, domestic joys like baking. This recipe is a great introduction to loaves. It takes about 24 hours, consisting mostly of waiting, and requires very simple ingredients and supplies. I adapted this version of no-knead dutch oven sourdough bread from Jim Lahey's recipe for the Times with Mark Bittman.

As a full-time WFHer, I get lots of joy out of my day from taking breaks to do things like bake bread. To make something so simple and nourishing that also brings warmth and lovely smells into your space turns confinement into comfort. If you are struggling in the transition to work from home, I hope you can embrace this domesticity with a simple activity like this.

You'll need about 10 minutes of prep time on day one. Try to get it started 12 hours ahead of whenever you want to start on day two, which will require 20 minutes of work, 2 more hours of resting, then 45 minutes of baking. I like to mix up my dough while I'm making dinner, then I can pick it up first thing in the morning.

3 cups flour, plus more for dusting

1/4 teaspoon yeast

1-1/4 teaspoon salt 

1-5/8 cup of water

large mixing bowl

spatula

plastic wrap

kitchen towel

dutch oven

In a great big mixing bowl, combine the flour, yeast, salt and water with a spatula until it makes a shaggy lump of dough. Cover the bowl tightly with plastic wrap and let it rest for 12-18 hours in an area free of drafts. If you are using yeast from little packets like Fleischmans or Red Star, save what is left by sealing it up tightly and keeping it in the fridge or freezer. Once the packet is opened, the culture will start to die if left out at room temperature.

The next day, your dough should have risen significantly and be dotted with bubbles. Flour a work surface on your counter and dump the dough out of the bowl. Use your hands to separate the dough from the sides of the bowl, It should peel away in long stringy strands. Pull the far side of the dough away from you, then over towards you, folding the dough like a blanket over itself. Do this three more times on each side. It will pick up some of the flour from the table and come together in a more unified blob. Cover it gently with the same plastic wrap you had covering the bowl and let it rest for 15-20 minutes. Clean out and dry the mixing bowl during this time.

Shape the dough into a ball by cupping your hands around the back and pulling it towards you, rolling it away while slightly spinning it, then pulling it towards you again. Do this 2-3 times, try to create some tension around the sides while shaping the dough into a ball. Place the plastic wrap in the bottom of the cleaned mixing bowl, dust it with flour, then plop the dough inside. Cover the bowl with a kitchen towel and let it rise for another 2 hours, but set your timer for 1.5 hours. You'll want to preheat your oven and dutch oven for 30 minutes before baking, so when that timer goes off, place the dutch oven and its lid inside your oven and set it to 450º F.

Once this two-hour rise is complete, the dough should have doubled in size again. Being careful not to burn your hands or the plastic wrap, gently remove the dough from the bowl and flip it directly into the center of the hot dutch oven, put the lid on, and bake for 30 minutes. The flour you dusted on the plastic wrap should be showing on the top of the dough. After 30 minutes, remove the lid and bake for another 10-15 minutes to create a golden-brown crust.

Remove the dutch oven and let it start to cool. To remove the loaf from the pan, replace the lid and let the steam from the bread loosen the loaf for 3-7 minutes. You can use a wooden spoon to gently pry the bread loose from the enamel interior. Carefully remove the bread from the pot and let it cool on a wire rack for at least 30 minutes. Cut the loaf in half as soon as you can touch it to release the aroma. Then, enjoy a warm slice of bread fresh out of the oven.

Common issues with easy fixes:

My bread comes out flat: 

You may have dead or otherwise inactive yeast. Before you get started, mix the 1/4 teaspoon of yeast into a lukewarm 1-5/8 cup water. If after 10 minutes some small frothy bubbles appear on the surface, your yeast is active and you should be good to go. Combine the rest of the ingredients and get started.

My dough isn't rising so nicely and/or still coming out flat:

Try folding the dough 2-3 times during the long rise, the same way you would at the end of the long rise. Just take the cover off the bowl and fold it over from each side, then cover it up again. You'll see a huge increase in activity and a smoother surface on the dough. 

My bread is burnt at the bottom:

You can line your dutch oven with either parchment paper or cornmeal to prevent the dough from burning, with the added bonus of preventing it from sticking to the pot. By either dusting the dutch oven with cornmeal right before you flip the dough in, or flipping the dough over onto a sheet of parchment paper before sliding it into the dutch oven, you avoid burning the crust, while also eliminating that last steaming step to remove the bread. However, parchment paper can leave little creases in the sides of your loaf, and cornmeal can be messy when slicing and serving.

How do I store it?

I like to let the bread steam out on my countertop for 3-5 hours, or until it's room temperature, then I store it in a zip-lock bag on my counter. You can freeze one-half of the loaf for later, but fresh bread never lasts more than a few days in my house.