No-Knead Dutch Oven Bread

Ingredients

• 640g bread flour (or 320g for half size)
• 160g dark rye or whole wheat flour (or 80g for half size), or 80g rye, 40g each spelt and hard red winter wheat
• 600g water - use 570g if using All-Purpose flour (or 300g for half size)
• 19g salt (or 8g for half size), kosher salt or sea salt is fine
• 1.5g instant yeast - approx 1/2 tsp (or 1g for half size)
• 6g diastatic malt powder - optional (or 3g for half size), don't use if using rye/spelt/winter wheat

Instructions

1. Mix: In a large bowl add the water (this prevents flour from hiding in the corners of a square container), separately whisk together the salt, yeast, malt powder and flour. Combine until a shaggy dough forms and no dry flour remains. Do not knead.
2. Rise: Cover the bowl tightly with plastic wrap or a lid. Let sit at room temperature for 12–18 hours until the surface is bubbly and the dough has more than doubled. Starting volume is about 1.25liters, so mark for 2.5l doubled.
3. Cold House Requirement: If your kitchen is cold, which mine is in the winter, place the bowl on a seed heating pad. Set to ~75°F and use a towel buffer. Note: Avoid settings above medium; 55-60% power can inadvertently cook the bottom of the dough (tested Jan 2026).
4. Preheat: Place your Dutch oven in the oven. Preheat to 475°F for 30–45 minutes.
5. Shape: Gently scrape the dough onto a well-floured surface. Fold the edges toward the center 4 times. Flip it seam-side down and shape into a ball or oval. Transfer to a sheet of parchment paper.
6. Bake: Carefully lower the parchment and dough into the hot Dutch oven. Cover with the lid. Bake for 30 minutes. Remove the lid and continue baking for 10–15 minutes until the crust is dark mahogany brown.
7. Cool: Transfer to a wire rack and cool for at least 1 hour (2 hours preferred) before slicing to allow the internal structure to set.

Storage Tip

Keep the loaf cut-side down directly on your cutting board. The crust acts as a natural seal, maintaining interior moisture while preventing the exterior from going soft in a plastic bag.

Hydration Note

If you substitute All-Purpose flour for the Bread Flour, reduce the water slightly to 570g (full size) to maintain manageable dough strength.

Dutch Oven

This is optimized for a 7-quart Dutch oven. For smaller sizes, just halve the recipe.

Flavor Enhancements

• Cold Cure: After the room temperature rise, refrigerate the dough for 24–72 hours. This retardation slows yeast while bacteria continue producing lactic and acetic acids, resulting in a tangier flavor and blistered crust.
• Pinch Yeast: Reduce the yeast to 0.5g–1g. This extends the rise to 20–24 hours, giving organic acids more time to develop.
• Milled flour: 80g of rye berries, 40g each of hard red winter wheat, and spelt have a delicious flavor. Rye contains Pentosans which hold onto water, and prevent staleness, but may make a gummy dough. If doing this, omit the diastatic malt powder. Also, b/c of the composition of the grains (the micronutrients and enzymes in the fresh milled flour containing the endosperm, and spelt’s stretch), you’ll need to be very precise measuring when it’s physically doubled. Ignore the time-based rise metric.
• 19 is almost spot-on for salinity.