No-Knead Bread
Updated December 28, 2025
Jospeph De Leo for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Monica Pierini.
- Total Time
- 1 hour 30 minutes, plus about 20 hours' resting time
- Cook Time
- 1 hour 30 minutes
- Rating
- Comments
- Read comments
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Ingredients
3 ⅓ cups/430 grams all-purpose or bread flour, plus more for dusting
Generous ¼ teaspoon/1 gram instant yeast
2 teaspoons/8 grams kosher salt
Cornmeal or wheat bran, as needed
Preparation
- Step 1
In a large bowl combine flour, yeast and salt. Add 1 ½ cups/345 grams water and stir until blended; dough will be shaggy and sticky. Cover bowl with plastic wrap. Let dough rest at least 12 hours, preferably about 18, at warm room temperature, about 70 degrees.
- Step 2
Dough is ready when its surface is dotted with bubbles. Lightly flour a work surface and place dough on it; sprinkle it with a little more flour and fold it over on itself once or twice. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rest about 15 minutes.
- Step 3
Using just enough flour to keep dough from sticking to work surface or to your fingers, gently and quickly shape dough into a ball. Generously coat a cotton towel (not terry cloth) with flour, wheat bran or cornmeal; put dough seam side down on towel and dust with more flour, bran or cornmeal. Cover with another cotton towel and let rise for about 2 hours. When it is ready, dough will be more than double in size and will not readily spring back when poked with a finger.
- Step 4
At least a half-hour before dough is ready, heat oven to 450 degrees. Put a 6- to 8-quart heavy covered pot (cast iron, enamel, Pyrex or ceramic) in oven as it heats. When dough is ready, carefully remove pot from oven. Slide your hand under towel and turn dough over into pot, seam side up; it may look like a mess, but that is OK. Shake pan once or twice if dough is unevenly distributed; it will straighten out as it bakes. Cover with lid and bake 30 minutes, then remove lid and bake another 15 to 30 minutes, until loaf is beautifully browned. Cool on a rack.
Private Notes
Comments
Where you use towels to hold the dough, I use parchment paper...then I grab the paper, lower it into the 450 degree pot put on the lid, and bake it. No sticking. No burning.
My results were equally perplexing. I used 3 c of flour. Added 1 c butter and 2 c semi sweet morsels. Two eggs and some vanilla. Instead of forming a loaf, I spooned tablespoon sized balls on a baking sheet. Baked for 10 mins at 350. Came out tasting like chocolate chip cookies!!! Not sure what I did wrong. Maybe a little more tweaking will help.
I'm kidding, but you didn't follow a single thing from the original recipe. Your comment has nothing to do with Bittman's recipe.
I've made this for years. I double or triple the batch and after rising 2 hours I put it, tightly covered, in the fridge. The next day I take out a large handful/grapefruit sized amount of dough, shape it and let it rise on the counter on a lightly floured silpat covered with a kitchen towel for 1-2 hours depending on how much time I have. Follow the preheat directions and use the silpat to transfer the dough to the pot. You'll have dough for days and it will taste more complex as days pass.
Disaster. What went wrong? Weighed all ingredients. Let sit overnight for 12 hours. When I turned it out onto the counter it was a very stringy gelationous mess. There was no way I could fold it onto itself. You can’t fold or shape Jello. Kitchen was warmer than 70 overnight; closer to 75.
Love this and have made it many times. Made the recipe again over the weekend and had to change the rising time: 14 hours at room temperature, followed by 9 hours in the refrigerator, and then 6 hours rising time. I use parchment paper, sprinkle bottom with cornmeal, lower into my vintage Magnalite Dutch oven and bake at 450 degrees, covered for 30 minutes and then uncovered for 20 minutes. Use instant-read thermometer to check internal temperature: 210 degrees. Don't overbake. Needs more salt.
Is it possible to bake without a pot? Just freely in a sheet pan?