Mark Bittman and Jim Leahy (owner of Sullivan Street Bakery) made this bread famous back in 2006. I was a little late to the party and made my first loaf in 2017. Boy, was it worth the wait!
This bread is one of the easiest things I’ve ever made and is a fantastic loaf. When you want to impress your foodie friends, bake a loaf (or two) and be on the ready to discuss the recipe with some happy eaters. Hands on time is quite short (I would say 20 minutes total, if that). The trick is in the preparation and timing. You need to make the dough about a day before you want to serve. You can use all-purpose flour, but I use bread flour because it has more gluten. This makes for more rise in the loaf and adds to the chewiness of the interior.
I use a large cast iron dutch oven when cooking, which does a fantastic job of maintaining enough steam when cooking. No worries if you don’t have a dutch oven; just use any sort of pot with a lid. This helps to retain the heat and create the steam needed to keep this a light and airy bread. When you’re ready to bake, place the dutch oven in when preheating oven so it is piping hot when you place the dough inside. This is a slightly different and less precise recipe than the original New York Times’ version but it turns out great time and time again. As most bakers know, baking is a very precise art but this recipe is quite forgiving. If you want to be more precise, you can find the original recipe here, along with a great video showing how its done!
If you are looking to make your own sandwich rolls, check out my Homemade Sandwich Rolls post. We found it really difficult to find fresh rolls during the pandemic so we made our own! We even included a video tutorial. My kids had a blast making their own rolls and the accompanying video!
New York Times No Knead Bread
In a large mixing bowl combine dry ingredients and mix to incorporate. Pour in water and stir with a spoon until blended (about 1 minute). The dough will be rough, clumpy, and a bit sticky. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and let sit on counter for at least 12 hours and up to 24 hours. Dough is ready when the surface is level and bumpy. Preheat oven to 450 degrees F. Place dutch oven in preheating oven with the lid on. Heavily flour your work surface. Heavily flour your hands, too. Take out the dough from the bowl; on the floured work surface, pull and fold the dough from each end (twice in total) and turn over onto folds. Shape into ball with your well floured hands. Place on parchment paper and cover with plastic wrap. Let rest for 30 minutes. When ready, remove plastic wrap from dough. Open oven, remove dutch oven lid and place parchment paper (with dough) inside the dutch oven. Put lid on and close oven. Bake for 40-45 minutes. *You can experiment, by taking the lid off with 15 minutes left in the 40-45 minutes cooking time. I like mine better with the lid on but others like the lid off at the end. The crust retains its crispiness longer when taking the lid off for the remaining 15 minutes. Remove from oven and let cook on a wire rack. You will be tempted to cut right into the loaf, but be patient. Give the loaf time to cool down so it retains its density. Otherwise, you'll have some squishy bread. I encourage you to experiment with different flavors by mixing various goodies inside the dough (sun-dried tomatoes, fresh herbs, roasted garlic, olives, nuts, etc). I like to sprinkle sea salt on top of my dough before putting in the oven because I absolutely love a little bite of salt with my bread!New York Times No-Knead Bread
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11 Comments
jentowkaniuk
May 28, 2020 at 9:30 amThere is nothing better than a good loaf of crusty bread. I grew up with a mom who would drive way out of her way to get bread from the best place. This recipes looks right up her alley. Thanks for a bit of nostalgia and a great looking recipe!
Libby
May 28, 2020 at 9:59 amI love how simple this recipe is!!! Can’t wait to try it.
intoyourmoment
May 28, 2020 at 10:18 amI just made my first dutch oven bread last week and it came out so good with a really crispy crust; I’m excited to give this one a try! Thanks for sharing!
mlulu1212
March 3, 2021 at 7:43 pmHow much of each sunflower seeds and black sesame seeds should I incorporate into the dough ? When should I add the seeds to the dough? Thanks in advance, Mary Lou
egrant.salvi
March 3, 2021 at 8:17 pmThanks for the question, Mary Lou! Add the seeds to the dough when wet and formed; I add them right after I put the dough in my Dutch oven and before it goes in the oven. I also simply sprinkle the amount that looks good to me, but I would say about 2tbsp of seeds in total. Hope this helps!
Linda Dally
April 12, 2022 at 12:34 pmI mixed the bread yesterday and baked this morning. I followed your directions to the latter. The bread turn d out so beautiful! And it tastes yummy. Thank you for all your hints!!
egrant.salvi
April 18, 2022 at 3:27 pmI’m so happy to hear, Linda! Thank you for sharing your experience. I absolutely love this bread bc of its ease to make and amazing results!
Susie
May 12, 2022 at 10:14 amI want to make cranberry walnut bread. How much dried cranberries and how muc chopped walnuts?
Anna
November 29, 2022 at 11:00 amCan a sourdough starter be used instead of yeast? If possible, how much starter?
egrant.salvi
November 29, 2022 at 9:18 pmHi Anna- that is a great question. I have never used a sourdough starter to make bread at all. I have chef friends who have and they love it. You would have to experiment with that. Good luck!
Amalia
July 3, 2023 at 4:41 pmI love your bread receipt, only problem I had is the parchment paper sticks to the bread, is there something I am doing wrong?