This 4-ingredient bread recipe is a hit at every event I host. Here's how to make the easy, crowd-pleasing loaf.
Jordan Parker Erb
- For the past few years, I've impressed my friends by baking homemade loaves of bread.
- I make the bread — which needs just four ingredients — for every dinner party. It's always a hit.
As fall claws its way back into New York City, it's time to revive one of my favorite recipes: a ridiculously easy loaf of bread. It's a recipe my mom has used for years and one I recently started making myself.
For the past few years, I've made the bread virtually every week, using it to compliment the main dish during my and my roommates' weekly Soup Sunday tradition.
Requiring just four ingredients, the bread is almost impossible to mess up, and receives rave reviews every time I make it. The dough does have to rise between eight and 24 hours, so be sure to plan ahead.
Here's how to make the simple, crowd-pleasing loaf.
All you'll need is flour, yeast, water, and salt.
All you'll need to make this low-effort bread is four ingredients:
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons kosher salt
- 1/2 teaspoon yeast
- 1 1/2 cups lukewarm water
For supplies, you'll need a mid-sized Dutch oven — I use my three-quart Dutch oven from Crock-Pot — and a roll of parchment paper if you want to avoid a mess in future steps.
In a large bowl, mix together the flour, salt, and yeast.
When the dry ingredients are mixed together, stir in the water using a wooden spoon until the mixture becomes a cohesive dough.
When you're done mixing, cover the bowl tightly with plastic wrap.
Let the dough sit at room temperature anywhere from eight to 24 hours. The dough will slowly rise.
Typically, I make the dough the night before my dinner plans, then let it sit until I begin making my dinner.
When the dough has risen, preheat the oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit.
The dough should have fully risen by now.
While the oven is heating up, put your Dutch oven, uncovered — with no dough in it just yet — into the oven. Let it heat up for 30 minutes.
While the oven is preheating, place the dough onto a well-floured surface.
With floured hands, form the dough into a ball. Loosely cover it with plastic wrap, and let it sit until the oven finishes preheating.
Tip: I typically put my dough onto a sheet of parchment paper to avoid making a flour mess on my counter.
After 30 minutes, carefully remove the empty, preheating Dutch oven.
With your hands still floured, you can then move the ball of dough into the Dutch oven. If you had it resting on parchment paper, like me, you can lift the paper directly into the Dutch oven.
Place the Dutch oven, covered, back into the oven, and let it bake for 30 minutes. After the 30 minutes are up, remove the lid and bake the bread for another 7-15 minutes, until the top is toasted and golden brown.
Finally, move the bread out of the oven and onto a cooling rack.
Let the bread cool, then use a bread knife to cut and serve it. In my opinion, it's best served warm with a slab of butter placed on top so the butter melts into the bread's fluffy pockets.
Impress your friends and family with the easiest, tastiest loaf of bread.
This recipe never fails to impress and never gets old — no matter how many times I make it.
I've found that after wrapping up the bread in tinfoil or sealing it in a Ziplock, it can last for nearly a week (on the counter), making it perfect for sandwiches or as a side for soup.
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