No-knead Dutch oven bread — Jim Lahey method

The recipe that revolutionized home baking when Mark Bittman published it in the New York Times in 2006. Just 4 ingredients, no kneading, and a tiny amount of yeast that ferments slowly over 12-18 hours for bakery-quality flavor. The Dutch oven creates steam for a shatteringly crisp crust impossible to achieve in a regular home oven.

Yield: 1 round loaf | Prep: 10 min | Ferment: 12-18 hrs | Bake: 45 min

Ingredients

• 400g (3 cups) all-purpose or bread flour
• 1g (1/4 tsp) instant yeast
• 8g (1 1/4 tsp) salt
• 310ml (1 1/3 cups) lukewarm water

Instructions

1. Mix: Combine flour, yeast, and salt. Add water and stir until a shaggy, sticky dough forms. Do not knead. Cover with plastic wrap.
2. Long rise (12-18 hours): Leave at room temperature (about 70F). Walk away. The dough is ready when the surface is dotted with bubbles and it has more than doubled.
3. Shape: Flour your hands generously. Turn dough out, fold over on itself once or twice. Rest 15 minutes. Shape into a ball on parchment paper, cover, and let rise 1-2 hours until it holds an indent when poked.
4. Preheat: Place Dutch oven with lid in the oven. Preheat to 450F for at least 30 minutes.
5. Bake: Lower dough on parchment into the hot Dutch oven. Cover with lid. Bake 30 minutes covered, then 15 minutes uncovered until deep golden brown.

Tips

• Start the dough at 9 PM, bake at noon the next day
• Time replaces kneading — the long slow fermentation develops gluten and complex flavor naturally
• Any heavy oven-safe pot with a lid works: cast iron, enamel, ceramic, even stainless steel
• At 75F+, check at 12 hours; at 65F, allow the full 18 hours