Food Recipes No-Knead Crusty Boule Be the first to rate & review! You are four simple ingredients (and some time) away from a crusty, yet tender, loaf of bread. With just bread flour, salt, yeast, and water you can make a bakery-style loaf right in your own kitchen. By Pam Lolley Pam Lolley Pam Lolley has more than 30 years of experience in the culinary industry. She was the owner and operator of a catering and baking company for eight years prior to joining Southern Living Magazine in their test kitchen in 2003. While at Southern Living, Pam developed nine of the iconic Big White Cakes for the Christmas issue along with several desserts, cakes, and pies that have been featured on Southern Living covers through the years. Real Simple's Editorial Guidelines Updated on September 4, 2022 Print Rate It Share Share Tweet Pin Email Photo: Victor Protasio Hands On Time: 15 mins Total Time: 19 hrs 35 mins Yield: 8 serves All-purpose flour will work, but the beauty of bread flour (we love King Arthur Unbleached Bread Flour) is that its high gluten content will give the loaf extra structure. When measuring out the ingredients, a digital scale is the most accurate, but if that's not an option just make sure to use dry measuring cups for the flour and a liquid measuring cup for the water. (Bread is easy; the hardest part is being diligent while measuring the ingredients.) Ingredients 3 cups (14¾ oz.) bread flour, plus more for work surface 2 teaspoons kosher salt ½ teaspoon active dry yeast (from 1 [¼-oz.] packet) 1 ½ cups tap water Directions Whisk together flour, salt, and yeast in a large bowl. Gradually stir in water until no dry bits of flour remain and mixture is well combined. Cover bowl tightly with plastic wrap and let stand at room temperature until very bubbly and consistency resembles pancake batter, 12 to 18 hours. Turn dough out onto a generously floured surface or floured parchment paper. (Dough will be very loose.) Incorporating as little flour into the dough as possible, shape into a taut ball by folding edges of dough in toward middle and repeating folding process until dough begins to develop structure and hold its shape, 2 to 3 minutes. Line a medium (9-inch diameter) bowl with a large piece of parchment paper that goes up sides bowl; flour parchment. Gently lift and place dough, seam side down, into prepared bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and let stand in a draft-free warm place until doubled in size, 1 to 2 hours. Preheat oven to 500°F. About 20 minutes before baking, place a cast-iron Dutch oven (5-quart or larger) with lid in oven to preheat. Once Dutch oven is fully preheated, remove from oven and carefully remove lid. Carefully lift dough using the parchment paper as handles and place dough into hot Dutch oven. Using shears or a very sharp knife, make one or multiple slits down the middle into the dough about ½-inch deep. Replace lid to cover pot and return to oven. Reduce oven temperature to 450°F. Bake, covered, until loaf has increased in volume and turned a light golden brown, 28 to 30 minutes. Remove lid and continue baking until a deep golden brown, 12 to 15 more minutes. Carefully transfer loaf, by lifting parchment paper and using as handles, to a wire rack. Remove parchment and let cool on wire rack, at least 1 hour before slicing. Rate it Print