No knead bread is the way to go! You don’t need a machine. You don’t need any bread making experience. All you need is a bowl, a spoon, a pot, and plenty of time (it rises while you sleep!) and you too can be eating this yummy rosemary no knead bread tomorrow.
I have been making variations of no knead breads ever since Mark Bittman popularized Jim Lahey’s recipe in 2006.
Okay, not quite from 2006, since I will admit I was skeptical that you could stir some flour with yeast and water, just walk away, and come back to bread. But finally the excitement over this bread was too much for me (maybe about year later?) and I had to try it. One taste and I was a convert. 🙂
You really can walk away from dough and it’ll make bread while you sleep. In fact, I’d say leaving the dough alone and simply being patient might even make better bread than some of the more complicated methods.
It’s not that I’m against kneading. I do find it rather meditative. And there are breads which do require more attention that I’m certainly still going to make. But bread that practically makes itself while I sleep? Sign me up!
And of course, once I started making no knead bread, I needed to try different variations! Different flavors. Different shapes. Different additions.
Like this olive oil rosemary no knead bread which is so darn tasty it’s my new favorite version. I even made it for my parents when they visited recently! I was making my lamb and artichoke stew (parent approved and daughter approved – she had two bowlfuls and wanted more) and thought a good, crusty bread was just the thing to serve along side. So, I pulled out my notes and 5 minutes later my dough was hanging out becoming bread.
Oh, and before dinner I made my three cheese broccoli bites. Mom can’t wait to make them herself for her friends. They are seriously tasty and gluten-free! What more could you want?
But back to the bread! It’s:
- easy
- oh so tasty
- much cheaper than store bought
- full of yummy rosemary flavor
- did I mention easy?
- probably better for you than mass produced bread!
- and easy
How do you make rosemary no-knead bread?
To make rosemary no-knead bread, stir together the flour with yeast, rosemary, water, oil, and salt. Cover and let rise overnight and then shape, proof, and bake in a dutch oven until browned and cooked through.
It’s that easy!
If you have a bowl, ingredients, and a spoon you can mix the dough. To finish it, you will need a dutch oven with a lid and parchment paper.
Why parchment paper?
The way the dough works is by adding more water to the flour and letting the yeast do the work to align the gluten. That makes the dough sticky! Parchment paper keeps you from needing to scrape the bread out of the dutch oven at the end.
Why a dutch oven?
This particular style of bread needs a well developed crust.
By using a pot with a lid you are keeping the steam inside the pot and that steam is developing the crust. This recipe will make a great bread without using the dutch oven, but you will not get the same crust that way.
Tips for Making No-Knead Bread
You will need a fairly large oven-safe Dutch oven. You can go cast iron, enameled, stainless. It’s up to you! But you do need a pot with a lid and one that can deal with high oven temperatures.
Depending on your oven, you may need to adjust the temperature. In my oven my bread gets uncomfortably close to burnt at 450F so I use 425F after I’ve fully heated the oven. You want to have a deep brown crust, but not black.
Use fresh rosemary! Dried is just not the same and this is rosemary no knead bread so it should taste of rosemary. Go big or go home. 🙂 I clipped a few tips off of my little rosemary bush, gave them a chop, and tossed them into the flour and it was all good.
I like using an extra virgin olive oil in the bread. You will get a deeper olive flavor with a more intense oil and I like that.
No-Knead Bread Recipes
If you love this bread and want to try some variations on other no-knead breads, I have two great focaccia recipes and one for no-knead dinner rolls (a big hit last Thanksgiving!).
If you try my recipe for Olive Oil and Rosemary No-Knead Bread, I would love to hear from you in the comments with your experience and rating! And I’m happy to answer any questions you might have.
You can connect with me by subscribing to my emails or liking my Facebook or Pinterest (see the form and icons in the sidebar or below the recipe card)
– Happy Baking, Annemarie
Olive Oil and Rosemary No Knead Bread
Ingredients
- 15 oz (3 cups) all-purpose flour
- 1/2 tsp instant yeast
- 1 1/2 tsp table salt
- 2-3 tbsp chopped fresh rosemary
- 1 1/4 cups room temperature water
- 1/4 cup olive oil
Instructions
- In a large bowl combine the flour, yeast, salt, and rosemary. Add the water and olive oil and stir with a large spoon until the flour is completely incorporated. You may need to get your hands in there to finish mixing in the flour. The dough will be wet and sticky. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let it sit in a warm spot in the kitchen for 10-12 hours.
- Once the dough is covered in bubbles and looks puffy the dough is ready to be shaped.
- Lightly dust a work surface with flour and sprinkle a little more flour over the top of the dough. Using your fingertips, scrape the dough out of the bowl onto the floured surface. Fold over the dough a few times to give the dough a little structure. Then gather the dough into a ball. Brush a piece of parchment paper with oil. Put the dough onto the parchment and cover it with a damp kitchen towel. Let the dough rest for 1 hour.
- 30 minutes before you are going to bake the bread, put a large (oven safe) pot with a lid into the oven and heat the oven to 500F.
- When you are ready to bake, you can either cut a slit in the top of the bread with a serrated knife or grease another piece of parchment and flip the bread onto the new piece so that the seam side of the bread is facing up. Either will let the bread expand during baking.
- Then pick up the bread by the corners of the parchment and lower it into the large pot. Cover the pot and put it back in the oven. Lower the heat to 425F. Bake the bread for 30 minutes.
- Remove the lid and bake for an additional 15 minutes. Transfer the bread to a rack and let cool.
Notes
- Rosemary: Fresh rosemary is a must for this recipe! Dried just doesn't provide the flavor.
- Slashing the dough: While I have flipped the dough to its seam side, I do prefer to make a cut in the dough. Use a sharp, serrated knife and gentle pressure to saw into the dough.
- Flour/Water Balance: Depending on how you measure your flour and how dry your kitchen is, you may need to a more water to bring the dough the right wet and sticky consistency. If your dough is dry after you mix it, add water by the tablespoon until it feels right.
- Yeast: If you wish to use active dry yeast, mix the yeast with the water and let it rest for 10 minutes to dissolve the yeast before continuing with the recipe.
elaine f alampi says
I’ve never made bread. Did not have a warm place and use regular, not diluted yeast. I put pots of hot water in the oven but it was ice cold in the morning. I was so disappointed when I saw it did not rise. I went ahead and made it into about a 16 flat beads which I fried in a cast iron skillet. Tasted divine. I’ll see what I can do for next time
Jackie says
I make this several times a week. Not kidding! Avocado toast for breakfast. Husbands lunch. Sandwiches for the kids! Pizza toast. Garlic bread. Honestly endless possibilities. I just mix everything before I go to bed and bake it once I wake up. It’s dangerously easy! Will keep with this recipe until I’m ready to move to sourdough
I do mix 5oz whole wheat flour and 10oz bread flour and it works perfectly!
Judy says
I’ve just eaten the first slice of my yummy first loaf. It was wonderful! And I followed your recipe exactly. I will be making this a lot. Thank you.
Erin says
I make this recipe at least 2 times a month. It is my family’s favorite to have with soup and chili. I have a loaf going right now to have with tonight’s chili..
Bernadette says
I’m no novice to no- knead bread, but this recipe is my favorite. The crust is crackly without being tough, probably thanks to the olive oil. The ratio of liquid to flour produces a dough that’s wet, but not too wet to shape. The result is a perfect little boule.
brenda Aly says
So easy and delicious! Perfect for my dinner party. I made it the day before let it proof about 16 hours and baked it several hours before dinner. Then reheated in foil in the oven. I used a med size le cruset stock pot after unscrewing and removing the lid knob which was only rated to 400 degrees cor so. The parchment paper was a great idea.
Bernadette says
With a rosemary plant and some experience with no-knead bread, I gave this a try. The first time, the bread was a bit dry, but tasty. The second time, I added tablespoon of water and it was perfect. I used a 5.5 quart cast iron dutch oven dedicated to bread making only. My husband, who doesn’t like a hard crust, is a fan of this. The crust is nice and crackly without being hard. Such good bread for so little effort.