By J. Kenji López-Alt
- Total Time
- 1 hour, plus 14 to 20 hours’ resting
- Rating
- 4(2,410)
- Notes
- Read community notes
This recipe is based on Jim Lahey’s recipe from 2006, with a few modifications for the sake of precision and a touch of acid to improve dough strength. Unlike Mr. Lahey’s recipe, this one does not require handling a hot Dutch oven. You’ll need one metal heatproof bowl (no rubberized bottoms) around 11 to 12 inches in diameter, a second bowl of any material around 8 to 9 inches in diameter, a scale with gram-accurate resolution, a baking sheet and a clean cotton dish towel. (Freshly washed is fine; it doesn’t need to be brand new.) If you prefer, you can still bake in a Dutch oven instead of using the overturned bowl method described in the steps; see this article on no-knead bread for full details. For a loaf of bread with significantly improved hole structure and flavor compared with this no-knead version, and without much extra work, take a look at our low-knead bread recipe.
Featured in: No-Knead, Revisited
or to save this recipe.
Print Options
Include recipe photo
Advertisem*nt
Ingredients
Yield:1 loaf
- 400grams bread flour (about 2⅔ level cups; see Tip)
- 8grams salt (about 1½ teaspoons table salt, 2 teaspoons Morton kosher salt or 2½ teaspoons Diamond Crystal kosher salt)
- 2grams instant or “rapid rise” yeast (about ½ teaspoon; see Tip)
- 280grams warm water (about 1 cup plus 3 tablespoons; see Tip)
- ⅛teaspoon white vinegar or lemon juice
- Rice flour or extra bread flour, for dusting
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (6 servings)
246 calories; 1 gram fat; 0 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 0 grams monounsaturated fat; 0 grams polyunsaturated fat; 49 grams carbohydrates; 2 grams dietary fiber; 0 grams sugars; 8 grams protein; 267 milligrams sodium
Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
Powered by
Preparation
Step
1
Mix the dough: Combine the flour, salt and yeast in a large bowl and mix with your hands until mostly hom*ogenous. Combine the water and vinegar or lemon juice, then add to the bowl. Form one hand into a stiff claw, and stir with it until no dry flour remains and the dough forms a sticky, shaggy ball. Roll the ball around the bowl until most of the dough is part of the same large mass. The mixing process should take no more than 30 to 45 seconds.
Step
2
Scrape your dough-covered hand with your clean hand or with a metal or plastic dough scraper to get most of the dough into the bowl, then invert a tall-sided medium metal or glass bowl (or a cutting board) and place it on top of the large bowl, tapping it to ensure a tight seal. Let dough rest at least 12 hours and up to 18 hours at room temperature, 60 to 70 degrees. When the dough is done resting, it should appear very bubbly and wet.
Step
3
Shape the loaf: Wipe out any moisture collected inside the medium bowl. Dust a dish towel thoroughly on one side with rice flour or bread flour, then line the medium bowl with the towel, floured-side up. Generously flour your work surface. Sprinkle flour around the edges of the dough in the large bowl, then tilt the bowl over your floured work surface, using your fingertips to ease the dough away from the bowl until it all tips out. (Some bits of the dough will stick to the bowl, this is OK; leave them behind.)
Step
4
Working gently but quickly to avoid deflating the dough, using one hand, reach under one side with your fingertips, stretch the dough, and fold it over itself into the center. Repeat three more times until each side of the dough has been folded over the top. Using the sides of your hands instead of your fingertips and as much extra flour as necessary to prevent sticking, flip the dough over. With your palms up and hands placed flat on the work surface, gently tuck the dough together underneath until the top surface is relatively smooth and taut.
Step
5
Proof the loaf: Carefully lift the dough, place it smooth-side up into the towel-lined bowl, and dust lightly with rice flour or bread flour. Cover the bowl with a large baking sheet and allow the dough ball to rise until it roughly doubles in volume and doesn’t spring back readily when you poke it with a fingertip, about 2 hours. Meanwhile, wash out the large bowl and have it ready.
Step
6
Heat the oven: At least 30 minutes before baking, adjust oven rack to lower-middle position and heat oven to 500 degrees. When dough is ready, invert the bowl and baking sheet so that the dough is lying on the sheet. (The sheet will end up inverted.) Lift off the bowl and carefully lift off the kitchen towel. If it sticks at all, be very gentle when coaxing the dough off; the goal is to minimize the loss of gases trapped inside.
Step
7
Bake the bread: Splash some water inside the larger metal bowl, then invert it onto the baking sheet over the dough. Transfer the whole thing to the oven, reduce oven temperature to 450 degrees, and bake for 25 minutes. Using oven mitts or dry kitchen towels, remove the bowl and continue baking until the loaf is as dark as you’d like it, 15 to 25 minutes longer. Remove the bread, transfer to a cooling rack, and allow to cool completely before cutting it open.
Tips
- It is strongly recommended to use a gram scale for accuracy and success in this recipe. This recipe calls for bread flour, ideally King Arthur brand flour, which has a protein content of 12.7 percent. If using all-purpose flour, decrease water content by 20 grams. If using active dry yeast instead of instant or rapid rise, increase the amount to 2.25 grams (a heaping ½ teaspoon). The water should feel warm to the touch and register around 90 degrees on an instant-read thermometer.
- To make a rye or whole-wheat version of this bread, substitute 100 grams of the bread flour with an equal quantity of rye or whole-wheat flour, and increase the water by 10 grams.
Ratings
4
out of 5
2,410
user ratings
Your rating
or to rate this recipe.
Have you cooked this?
or to mark this recipe as cooked.
Private Notes
Leave a Private Note on this recipe and see it here.
Cooking Notes
Cath
I do the last 2 hr proof in an 8 inch round cake pan lined with parchment. I have a second 8 inch round heating up inside my Dutch oven. To bake I lift the bread dough out of the proofing pan by the parchment and settle it into the hot pan in the Dutch oven. This gives me a lovely round loaf.
Mary K
Way way WAY too complicated and too many "steps". No need to use cloth towels. I follow Lahey method very loosely and could write the directions in about 5 short sentences. Last proof on big parchment sheet. When ready, plop it with the risen dough into hot Le Creuset (I have handled 1000s of hot pans in my life and it is not that scary!). Yes, the risen dough is flatish. But it always turns into a perfectly round loaf for me. Original recipe is not fussy. No need to make it so complex.
Jacqui
Quoted from the article:Mr. Migoya suggested that a small amount of acid could improve the formation of gluten bonds; in side-by-side tests, a drop or two of vinegar or lemon juice made an appreciable difference in dough strength.
Adriana
Several years ago I did side by side tests of preheated enamel bakers vs inverted $5 stainless steel bowls with identical results. This eliminates the risk of burns associated with the heavy enamel,pots. ( side by side tests of preheated stainless steel bowls vs room temperature bowls yeiled almost identical results as well.)
JimJ
I've done the original recipe a number of times. The only thing that really bothered me was handling the screaming hot Dutch oven. My sister passed on a tip that I have used to great success. Do whatever you need to do to get the dough to the baking stage. Then put the dough into a cold Dutch oven, lid on, and put that into a cold oven and set the temperature at 425. Once the temperature reaches 425 begin timing. 30 minutes lid on, 20-30 lid off. I really can't tell the difference.
Leading Edge Boomer
I'll use Lahey's classic recipe with the bit of lemon juice added next time.
Terry Paula Hoffman
When the oven temperature dial states it has reached your desired baking temperature (such as: 450 F or 500 F), the Dutch Oven is not that hot yet. The additional time is to allow the Dutch Oven itself to reach your desired temperature.
Kevin D.
"Form one hand into a stiff claw." This has to be one of the better recipe instructions to come out of the NYT. I am practicing, now, at my desk.As always, brilliant work from Kenji. In my experience, it is possibly more rewarding to try different tricks and improvements, as he did, on the way to something special, than it is to repeat the successful recipe more than a few times. Bread is fun and rewarding and that really comes through in this article.
kniterati
I am fairly intrepid when it comes to bread-baking and did it for a living years ago. I am university educated with a baccalaureate of science and this is the most unclear, complicated way of baking bread I have ever seen. Also, I find that there is as little consistency between cooking scales as there are between volume measures and that, while weighing ingredients is imperative for large scale commercial baking, for home cooks, really not so much. Consistency is more important.
Ela
have been baking no-knead and other loaves for years now. love the addition of acid.also, since I live in a small apartment and store lots of different types of flour, I find it convenient to add wheat gluten to King Arthur AP flour to achieve bread flour. their organic flour its 11.7% protein vs 12.7 in bread flour, thus in a 400g recipe I use 396g of flour and 4 g of gluten (about 2 tsp). works great!
Liz
I always add a touch of vinegar to bread baking liquids because our water has a pH that is above 7, ie our water is alkaline. If yours is, too, you will likely get better results if you add 1/4 tsp rather than 1/8th. Or use a pinch of fruit fresh with the dry ingredients.
Edward B. Blau
I have always used a Lodge Dutch over preheated to 450 degrees and use large silicon oven gloves to handle the pot.I let the white, wheat, kamut and rye flour stand about 24 hours at room temperature before baking.I use 2 tsp of proofed active yeast. I used to spread by hand into a rectangle on a floured cloth before baking but now just carefully scrape the dough into the hot pot.I estimate when I have added enough water.More water means bigger holes.The bread is very tasty.
Marbarre
This says nothing about slashing the top of the bread before baking, is this not necessary with this recipe?
GregBPortland
Mr. Lopez-Alt's Cook's Illustrated version of the Lahey/Bittman recipe for No-Knead Bread had a great idea for using a parchment sheet to support the proofed loaf into a screaming hot Dutch oven. I use a 16" x 24" sheet of brown paper that I order on Amazon. I spray the paper with a circle of cooking spray and let it proof in a 10" non-stick skillet, which helps the dough to keep its shape during the proofing. I lower the bread into the Dutch oven when ready to bake and never burn my hands.
Christine
Instead of just mixing with your hand "in the form of a stiff claw", squeeze the mixture in your hand to incorporate the water and flour (so the motion is to repeatedly "make a fist.") Do this for a minute before proofing. This hydrates the flour much better and improves the structure of the final loaf. Doing 3 stretches of the dough over the course of the first 3 hours of proofing also improves the structure--either a one-handed lift-and-fold or a two-handed lift-from-the-middle.
Mickela
I followed the ingredients list from this recipe. Used the instructions from the Bittman recipe. Turned out nice. Wish I could post photos.
John
The Venn diagram of people complaining that Kenji's method of using bowls instead of a Dutch oven is too complicated and the people that are going to end up big mad about burning themselves on a scorching hot Dutch oven is a perfect circle.
Leslie T
Amazing! Great crust, excellent crumb! Will be my go-to bread from here on out!
M
Great taste and perfect crumb. My oven cooked this too browned though so I’ll reduce cooking time or oven temp.
NSH
Did it as suggested and it made a lovely loaf. OK,I am not sure I did the towel business the way it said. And I used my pizza stone and metal cazuela over it (which is the updated version). But some of the best bread I've made (and yes I've done a ton of sourdough).
Clara
I've now made this many times and feel confident to offer the following summary : 1. The wetter the mix the bigger the holes. So add a bit if your flour is absorbent and/or you're using a mix2. Don't leave out the acid by mistake :-) 3. The tea towel thing is to be avoided. Use baking parchment with lots of flour (it feeds the mix) 4. The 2 x cake pans idea is a really good one- thanks Cath 5. Use a dutch oven. It has handles.
DCNative
What would be the proportion if I wanted to use spelt?
kswl
“Cool enough to slice”, sorry! The bread is good but for some reason did not rise as much as I expected. It was a smaller loaf than I make with Lahey’s recipe but proportionally less lofty. I’m going back to the original, not even using the vinegar as it made no appreciable difference in taste or texture.
kswl
I just pulled this out of the oven and am waiting for it to cook enough to slice. Made according to the instructions and my initial reaction is that it is a very small loaf for all that trouble; I’ll probably go back to Lahey’s original recipe and incorporating the suggested vinegar. Many thanks to the commenter who suggested using an 8” round cake pan inserted into the Dutch oven to promote a rounder loaf.
Pat
I've only ever made this bread with sourdough starter, the dough is never particularly wet at any stage of the process, even in humid weather, and it's never doubled in size, but it still makes a tasty loaf that I've been baking in a Dutch oven every week for friends and nonprofits every week for many years.
Gratteciella
Very long and complex recipe. Not as delicious as sourdough, but a nice alternative if you’re low on time!
Pam from NJ
I followed all the technique and weight measurements, down to the claw-shaped hand, with superb results. Only mistake I made was to take someone’s advice and bake dough on parchment, which stuck to the bread terribly and had to be cut free. Baked per Bittman in cast iron Dutch oven. Fantastic bread full of crusty flavor.
Robin
Some suggestions re parchment - pull it out when you remove the pot lid. That usually works though it does sometimes get stuck.
Elizabeth
For my purposes, this recipe lacks the most attractive feature of the original recipe - simplicity. Just figuring out the flipping around, right kind of bowl that can go in the oven, where the towel is supposed to go - my brain does not form a picture of written instructions.
Jill
So effortless and yet so tasty!!
Easybakeoven
Step one: reference a tried and true easy recipeStep two: complicate it unnecessarily Step three: go back to original recipeThe improvement, if there is any, of this version over the original, is limited to the addition of a small amount of acid to improve structure. Otherwise this is just adding steps and technical / precision “enhancements”.Stick with the original Bittman adaptation. Easy, low effort and excellent results.
Private notes are only visible to you.
