No Knead French Bread
This no knead french bread recipe is one I have used for many years because it always turns out so delicious. This is a soft french bread and the recipe makes three loaves. The dough is stirred down every 10 minutes five times and then shaped into loaves. It literally takes about two hours to have yummy, french bread fresh from the oven. This bread is great with soup or pasta such as my Spinach Lasagna Rollups, Autumn Hamburger Soup, Easy Chicken Noodle Soup, or Vegetable Minestrone Soup.
Ingredients for no knead french bread:
- 2 1/2 cups hot water (active dry yeast works best with 105-115F)
- 3 packets active dry yeast (or 2 tbsp)
- 2 tbsp sugar
- 1 tbsp salt
- 2 tbsp canola oil
- 6 cups all purpose flour (Don’t use bread flour for this recipe since we are going for a soft bread consistency.)
- non-stick spray
- cornmeal for bottom of baking sheet
- 1 beaten egg
- sesame seeds, poppy seeds or everything but the bagel seasoning for top of the bread
How to make no-knead french bread:
- Mix water, yeast and sugar in a large mixing bowl. You can either test water temperature with an instant read thermometer or test water on your wrist. You want hot tap water temperature, not scalding water. If water is too hot it will kill the yeast. Dissolve the yeast in the hot water and let it sit for 7-10 minutes or until it is bubbly like the picture above.
- Add salt, oil and 3 cups of the flour and stir well.
- Add the last 3 cups of flour, one cup at a time, stirring after each addition.
- Let dough rise, stirring down with a wooden spoon every 10 minutes (do this 5 times).
- Divide dough into three portions.
- Roll each portion into a rectangle, then roll up like a jelly roll.
- Spray cookie sheet with non-stick spray and sprinkle cornmeal over the cookie sheet. Place bread on the sheet and let it rise 30 minutes.
- Take the beaten egg and brush top of the loaves. Make slits in the top of each loaf with a sharp knife. Sprinkle sesame seeds, poppy seeds or everything but bagel seasoning on top of the loaves.
- Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes or until the loaves are golden brown.
Storage of french bread:
- Cool the loaf of french bread.
- Store bread in a ziplock bag or wrap in tinfoil. If you have a breadbox that is the best place to store your fresh bread and you don’t need to cover it. Use bread within 2-3 days for maximum freshness. Freeze bread that you can’t use within a few days. Don’t store in the refrigerator as it dries the bread out.
- Use leftover bread in french toast, garlic bread or in a sandwich.
- For freezing place loaf of bread in a ziplock bag or wrap it twice in tin foil. If you are going to freeze the bread do so when it is fresh.
- Bread should keep for up to 3 months in the freezer.
- To unthaw remove and let sit at room temperature until completely unthawed.
- To reheat bread, wrap in tin foil and heat at 350 degrees for about 15 minutes or until bread is warm.
Other bread recipes to make:
No Knead French Bread
This no knead french bread is ready-to-eat in about two hours. It makes three loaves of soft delicious french bread.
Ingredients
- 2 1/2 cups hot tap water (active dry yeast works best with 105-115F)
- 3 packets active dry yeast (or 2 tbsp)
- 2 tbsp sugar
- 1 tbsp salt
- 2 tbsp canola oil
- 6 cups all-purpose white flour
- non-stick spray
- 1 tbsp cornmeal to sprinkle on cookie sheet
- 1 egg, beaten
- sesame seeds, poppy seeds or everything but the bagel seasoning for bread topping
Instructions
- Mix water, yeast and sugar in a large mixing bowl. You can either test water temperature with an instant read thermometer or test water on your wrist. You want hot tap water temperature, not scalding water. If water is too hot it will kill the yeast. Dissolve the yeast in the hot water and let it sit for 7-10 minutes or until it is bubbly.
- Add salt, oil and 3 cups of the flour and stir well.
- Add the last 3 cups of flour, one cup at a time, stirring after each addition.
- Let dough rise, stirring down with a wooden spoon every 10 minutes (do this 5 times).
- Divide dough into three portions. Roll each portion into a rectangle, then roll up like a jelly roll.
- Spray cookie sheet with non-stick spray and sprinkle cornmeal over the cookie sheet. Place bread on the sheet and let it rise 30 minutes.
- Take the beaten egg and brush on top of the loaves. Make slits in the top of each loaf with a sharp knife. Sprinkle sesame seeds, poppy seeds or everything but bagel seasoning on top of the loaves.
- Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes or until the loaves are golden brown. Makes 3 loaves.