This bread was a surprising and positively wonderful kitchen success.

A beautiful loaf of homemade Artisan Bread and there’s NO-KNEADING? It’s crusty on the outside and fluffy on the inside and there’s NO-KNEADING? It will impress every human soul with a heart for carbs and there’s…..NO-KNEADING? Yup. Truth.

This bread will change your life for so many reasons. The possibilities of deliciousness are endless: simply slather a toasted slice with lots of salted butter. Dip it in a big bowl hearty vegetable soup. Use it as the perfect side to your eggs-any-style. Make it the perfect slate for your avocado toast. Try it sprinkled with cinnamon-sugar or covered in copious amounts of peanut butter, honey, and bananas!

Okay…I’m getting up now to take my flour canister out of the cupboard. This bread is happening. Thank you to Frugal Living NW for this amazing recipe. I, and my carb-loving husband, are forever grateful.

Here’s a couple of facts/tips from hers truly:

1. This bread is consistently good. It’s a staple for the home.
2. This bread comes out to roughly 0.74 cents/loaf!
3. Don’t be afraid of all the steps. The steps are there to help and this bread is possible for bakers of all skill levels.
4. This bread requires a significant rising time…12-18 hours to be truthful. This allows for more fermentation which yields more flavor (yay for flavor). Start your rising the night before and you’re set to go for the next day! No problem.

Amazing Artisan Bread
slightly adapted from Frugal Living NW

Ingredients:

• 6 cups of bread flour (recommended) or all-purpose flour (which I used and it worked great), plus more for work surface
• 1/2 tsp. of instant or active-dry yeast
• 4 tsp. of kosher salt
• 2 2/3 cups of cool water

Directions:

1. In a large bowl, combine the flour, yeast, and kosher salt. Add the water and stir until all the ingredients are well incorporated. The dough should be wet and sticky. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap. Let the dough rest 12-18 hours on the counter at room temperature. When the dough has: risen, color has darkened slightly, smells yeasty, and bubbles…it is ready! Suggestion: Start this first step the night before and then you are set to go the next day!
2. Flour your hands and your work surface. Place dough on work surface and sprinkle with more flour. Fold the dough over on itself once or twice to form a ball.
3. Take a clean cotton or linen (not terry cloth) tea towel and sprinkle its surface with flour, cornmeal, or wheat germ to prevent the dough from sticking to the towel as it rises. You can also use a floured piece of parchment paper on the towel to make the dough ball easier to handle. Place the dough ball, seam side down, in the middle and dust with more flour. Cover the dough with the (parchment paper and) towel and let it rise for 1-2 hours at room temperature, until it has doubled in size.
4. After about 1 1/2 hours, preheat oven to 425 degrees. Place a 6-8 quart heavy covered pot, such as a cast-iron Dutch oven, in the oven as it heats (Martha Stewart makes a great one for those of us who can’t afford Le Cruset). When the dough has fully risen, carefully remove pot from oven. Remove top towel from dough and slide your hand under the bottom towel; flip the dough over into pot, seam side up. Shake pan once or twice if dough looks unevenly distributed; it will straighten out as it bakes. Suggestion: For that little something extra, drizzle the dough with some Extra Virgin Olive Oil and sprinkle with more kosher salt.
5. Cover and bake for 40 minutes. Uncover and continue baking for 10-15 more minutes, until the crust is a cracked and golden. The internal temperature of the bread should be around 200 degrees. You can check this with a meat thermometer, if desired.
6. Remove the bread from the pot and let it cool completely on a wire rack or cutting board before slicing.

More Suggestions: It would be an amazing addition to add rosemary or roasted garlic to the dough before baking. Adding honey and oats might be an option as well. Or try drizzling the top of the dough with Extra Virgin Olive Oil and a sprinkle of your favorite spice or seeds before it goes into the oven!

Please enjoy this recipe for years to come. Let the carb-scarfing begin!

xo sarah