Name: No-Knead Bread
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 45 min
Total time: 16 h
Yield: one large loaf
Ingredients: 500 g strong white flour; 375 g water; 10 g fine salt; 1 g instant yeast; for dusting semolina or flour; 1 tbsp cornmeal

500 g

1 Stir to a shaggy mass — 30 seconds, no kneading 3m

2 Ferment at room temperature 12–18 hours 13h Ready when the surface is bubbled and it smells faintly of yoghurt.

3 Shape, prove 90 minutes, and heat the pot empty for the last 30 1h 35m The pot must be screaming hot before the dough goes in.

4 Bake at 230°C / 450°F — lid on 30 minutes, off for 15 45m The lid traps steam, which keeps the crust soft while the loaf expands.

375 g

10 g

1 g

for dusting

1 tbsp

Time replaces kneading

Kneading aligns gluten strands by force. Left alone in a wet dough, the same strands find each other anyway — the proteins are mobile enough in that much water that twelve hours of gentle movement achieves what ten minutes of work would. The catch is that you cannot rush it, which is why the yeast quantity is so small.

Notes

One gram of yeast is not a typo. More yeast finishes the ferment before the flavour develops.
Preheat the empty pot for a full 30 minutes. A cool pot means a flat loaf.
Cool on a rack for an hour before cutting. Bread finishes setting as it cools, and a hot cut loaf goes gummy.

Method

Stir to a shaggy mass — 30 seconds, no kneading

Ferment at room temperature 12–18 hours

Shape, prove 90 minutes, and heat the pot empty for the last 30

Bake at 230°C / 450°F — lid on 30 minutes, off for 15

Time replaces kneading

Notes