Easy Rustic Artisan Bread

Have you ever wanted to make your own bread from scratch but were afraid you would mess it up? This quick and easy recipe is a great way to dip your toe in the water. In fact, this recipe is SO easy, you’ll be asking yourself why you didn’t try it sooner.

This recipe makes a nice loaf of bread that is crusty on the outside and doughy on the inside. You can eat it plain, toasted, as sandwich bread…the possibilities are endless.

Once you have mastered this bread, you will have the confidence you need to expand your bread making skills.

First, a word about bread.

You can make bread with just two basic ingredients…flour and water. When you mix the flour and water and leave it out on your counter (and feed it regularly) you will end up with a sourdough starter, which is basically bread that uses natural yeast in the air to help it rise.

For this and other bread recipes, yeast was created in order to help the process along. Instead of waiting days or weeks for a starter to develop, you can make your bread today using yeast.

Yeast is a living thing…treat it with kindness and it will return the favor.

Salt, while not needed to make bread, does bring out the doughs natural flavors. This recipe does not call for a lot of salt but you can reduce the amount or even omit it. Just know that it WILL affect the flavor.

The same goes for the sweetener. You can use sugar, brown sugar, honey…whatever you like. What you use will be reflected in the end product.

Ingredients

4-4 1/2 cups flour (See notes below)

2 Tablespoons yeast

2 Tablespoons sugar (Or other sweetener)

2 cups warm water

1 1/2 Tablespoons salt

Directions

Add warm water, sugar and yeast in the bowl of a stand mixer with the dough hook attachment. Add salt to the flour and turn on your mixer to low. Gradually add flour to your yeast mixture one cup at a time.

Mix dough for 2-3 minutes until it comes together in a ball.

(If you don’t have a stand mixer, mix all the ingredients in a bowl with a fork, then turn out onto a lightly floured surface and need for 4-6 minutes until you have a cohesive and slightly sticky ball of dough.)

Place the dough in a greased bowl and cover the top lightly with a damp towel. Let it rise until it doubles in size. The time this takes will depend on the temperature of the room.

Place your Dutch oven inside the oven and preheat to 400 degrees.

When the dough has risen and the oven hits 400 degrees, carefully take out the dutch oven and remove the lid. Sprinkle flour on the top of the dough and take out the ball. Without deflating it too much try to coat the dough with a bit of flour on all sides. Carefully drop the dough in the center of the Dutch oven. Make three quick slices on the top of the bread with a sharp knife. That will give it that artisan top.

Cover and cook for 30 minutes. Then take off the lid and cook for another 7-10 minutes, until the top is golden and crunchy looking.

Remove the Dutch oven from the oven and careful dump the loaf onto a cutting board. Let cool about 10-15 minutes.

Slice and serve warm with flavored dipping oil or fresh butter. Serve with wine and cheese.

Note: Want your bread to have more flavor? Put the dough in the fridge for a couple of hours after it has risen. Then take it out and let it warm up to room temperate. (About an hour)

This recipe works fine with all-purpose flour, but if you want to get creative, you can substitute up to one cup of whole wheat flour for the white flour. You may need to adjust the water slightly. You can also use bread flour for this recipe.