How To Make A Rustic Bread Loaf For Pennies

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No Mixer No Kneading No Kidding

When you go to a fancy bakery or bread shop, a gorgeous loaf of rustic bread like this one might have a price tag of $5.00 or more. Why not bake it yourself at home for pennies and enjoy the amazing fragrance of yeast bread in every corner of your house while you do? It's ridiculously easy!

The crispy crust and chewy middle were born to dunk in soup, slather with butter, or top with a thin slice of sharp cheddar cheese. This bread is incredible, but best of all, it's incredibly easy to do!

I was shocked by the outstanding results, even on my very first attempt!

Start A Perfectly Baked Loaf Of Rustic Bread Tonight

All you need is a bowl, a spoon, and four ingredients to make the dough. While you are doing dishes or before you go to bed, stir up a batch. Cover the bowl tightly with plastic film once you've mixed up the ingredients.

While you're away, the yeast gets busy forming oodles of bubbles in the dough. Look at the bubbly dough and look at all that busy yeast action!

Then, the dough can sit on the counter and wait for 8 hours or up to 24 hours until you are ready to bake it! The slow rise is what gives this rustic bread its distinctive flavor. This gives you amazing flexibility to have a fresh, hot loaf of rustic bread right when you want it!

How To Bake Your Gorgeous Rustic Bread

Then, when you're ready, it only takes a few minutes to gather the shaggy, bubbly dough with floured hands and form it into a plump round loaf. Cover the loaf with plastic film and let it rest for about a half-hour.

Meanwhile, preheat your oven to 450 degrees. Put your Dutch oven with the lid on it into the oven to preheat right along with it. Both of them need to be very hot!

When you are ready to bake the bread, put the loaf on a sheet of parchment paper large enough to use as a sling to lower the bread into the Dutch oven. Carefully take the Dutch oven out of the oven and put it on a heat-resistant surface.

Remove the lid and use the parchment paper "sling" to lower the bread into the Dutch oven. Replace the cover and put your beautiful rustic bread loaf into the oven to bake.

Bake the bread with the cover for half an hour while the steam that forms works its magic. The steam gives the rustic loaf its characteristic texture.

Finally, remove the lid and bake it for about fifteen minutes longer until the crust crisps and browns to a lovely honey-gold color. Voila! You have created your very own beautiful, professional-looking rustic loaf!

Let it cool a bit before slicing it with a serrated knife. Just look at all those butter-catching craters!  

This bread is a perfect accompaniment for soup, makes wonderfully chewy sandwiches, toasts beautifully, and is ideal for a panini press! It is so easy and so inexpensive you can make it often! My friends go wild when I give them a loaf, and I love doing it!

No Dutch Oven No Problem Try This Instead

Not every kitchen has a Dutch oven, but don't let that stop you from baking this glorious rustic loaf! A Dutch oven offers tall, thick walls and a snugly fitting lid that holds the steam inside. The steam produced inside the pot is the key to creating the crisp crust and chewy middle.

The vessel you use needs to withstand 450 degrees in the oven. You can adapt any oven-proof stockpot, ceramic baker, casserole dish, roasting pan, or deep skillet. You can fashion a cover using a rectangle of heavy-duty foil secured to the edges of a pot without a lid.

I had someone tell me they used the insert from their crockpot with good results, but slow cooker liners are only rated to 400 degrees when I checked.

The finished loaf will be about an eight or nine-inch round and about six inches tall. I hope this will help you select a vessel to bake it in.

Chances are, though, that you will find loads of things you can do with a Dutch oven, which may turn out to be a really good investment for your kitchen. It's great for soups and stews; use it as a roaster or make a batch of jam! A Dutch oven is a pretty great piece of equipment to have!

This no-need bread recipe has become an internet phenomenon because it's so easy to make and looks exceptionally professional! Even someone without experience with yeast bread can create a delicious, gorgeous loaf.

Yield: 16 slices

Simple Rustic Bread

Print

Incredibly easy rustic bread loaf with a crisp crust and chewy middle. No mixer, no kneading, no kidding.

Prep Time 10 minutes

Cook Time 45 minutes

Additional Time 8 hours

Total Time 8 hours 55 minutes

Ingredients

• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 cups warm water (about 110 degrees)
• 1/2 tsp fast rising dry yeast
• 2-3 tsp kosher salt

Instructions

1. Mix the flour, salt, and yeast thoroughly in a large bowl, then add warm water.
2. Stir with a wooden spoon until everything is combined, forming a somewhat sticky dough.
3. Cover the bowl tightly with plastic wrap. Leave out at room temperature for 8 hours or up to 24 hours. The dough will bubble up and rise.
4. When you are ready to bake it, preheat the oven to 450 degrees.
5. Put your empty Dutch with the lid on into the preheated oven for 30 minutes so it's nice and hot.
6. While your Dutch oven preheats, turn the dough onto a well-floured surface and, with floured hands, form the dough into a ball. Kneading the dough is unnecessary; gently form it into a ball. Cover the dough loosely with plastic wrap and let it rest.
7. When the Dutch oven is preheated for 30 minutes, remove it carefully. Working quickly, place the ball of dough on a sheet of parchment paper and carefully place it in the Dutch oven. Put the lid back on the Dutch oven and return it to the hot oven.
8. Bake the bread, covered, for 30 minutes.
9. Remove the cover and continue baking for 10 or 15 minutes more until the crust is a beautiful golden brown.
10. Watch to make sure the bread does not get too brown.
11. Use the edges of the parchment paper to remove the loaf from the Dutch oven and place it on a rack to cool.
12. Allow bread to cool slightly, then slice with a serrated bread knife and serve.

We love to make yeast bread, and here are some of our favorite recipes! Simple Cinnamon Rolls, One Great Yeast Bread Recipe, Quick French Bread. What's your favorite yeast bread?

If you liked this recipe, you are my people! If you like this recipe, please share it on your social media accounts like Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, and Twitter! It would sure tickle me, and I would be ever so grateful!

If you haven't already, please look for me on Facebook and Pinterest, where I will share easy, delicious, family-friendly recipes every week!

Love, GB (Betty Streff)

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