how to: make your own bread by hand in 5 minutes with no kneading required

These are the pretty much the same steps as my pizza dough recipe (which is incredible – go check it out now!) with a few little tweaks.

1. Grab a BIG mixing bowl. Or big container. Or bucket. I use huge rubbermaid containers that are about the size of a large lasagna pan.

2. Warm the water slightly. It should feel just a little warmer than body temperature. Warm water will rise the dough to the right point for storage in about 2 hours.

3. Add the yeast to the water in your big bowl & wisk. Don’t worry about getting it all to dissolve.

4. Mix in the flour and salt – kneading is unnecessary. Add all of the flour at once. Mix with a wooden spoon. Don’t knead, it isn’t necessary. You’re finished when everything is uniformly moist, without dry patches. It takes a few minutes.

5. Cover with lid (not sealed or it’ll explode off the top) or saran wrap leaving a pea-sized hole in the top to allow for gas to escape. Forget about it and let it rise for 2 hours (or let it rise overnight if you’re making it before bed).

6. Once 2 hours is up, with floured hands reach in and grab a handful of dough about the size of a large grapefruit (for smaller loaves. use twice the amount for a decent size) You can shape it if you want…I usually just glob the dough on the parchment paper so when it’s baked it looks more rustic 🙂

7. Preheat oven to 425 degrees and let it sit on counter for 30-40 minutes on top of a parchment paper covered baking sheet.

8. Dust top with flour and use a serrated knife to make a few long slits on top.

9. Place on middle rack.  On bottom rack slide in a pie plate (or something similar) with 1 cup of water. The steam from the water below helps to make your crust amazingly chewy and not rock hard.

10. Bake for about 25 minutes (or until light golden brown or knock on it to see if it sounds hallow) and you’re done!

Before you bake your bread you could also sprinkle shredded cheese on top (or in the dough while mixing), basil, Italian spices, Parmesan cheese, oatmeal – whatever. The beauty of this recipe is that you can make it anything you want! And TRY not to slice your bread until it’s completely cooled for best result.

(the above picture is of about 2 large grapefruit sized pieces of dough)