The Cascade Kitchen: No-knead Bread

The Cascade Kitchen is a student-run food column that brings you budget-friendly recipes and cooking tips. Check back weekly for something new to try in the kitchen, or if you want to see your own recipe featured next, get started by reaching out to culture@ufvcascade.ca.

In these trying times, you know what singular activity is able to ground, empower, and feed you? Making bread. This recipe is different because you can make it in an afternoon rather than overnight, there’s no kneading involved, and it’s beginner-friendly. Any YouTube video I watched showing how to make this kitchen staple was flooded with comments talking about making “quarantine” bread. Now it’s your turn. 

Ready in: 4 hours 

Serves: 4

Ingredients

384 g (3 cups) bread or all-purpose flour (or create a mix with brown flour!)

0.6 g (1/4 tsp) of yeast (quick rising or not doesn’t matter)

2.5 g (1 tsp) salt

355 mL (1½ cups) hot water (not boiling)

A dutch oven or a substitute for one

Tip: If you have a jar of old yeast in the back of your cabinet and you’re not sure if it’s still active, you can test it out! King Arthur Flour advises combining 1.2 g (1/2 tsp) sugar in 118 mL (1/2 cup) warm water along with 2 tsp of yeast. Wait 10 minutes. If the mixture is bubbling and smelling like yeast afterward, you’re good to go.

Method

1. Mix your flour, salt, and yeast together in a medium bowl. 
2. Bring your water to a boil and let it rest for 5 minutes or until it’s no longer burning to the touch.
3. Add your hot water to your dry ingredients and incorporate all the flour into the shaggy dough that’s formed.
4. Let the dough sit for 3 hours or more in the bowl with a cloth or towel on top at room temperature. It’s pretty forgiving if you leave it longer.
5. Remove your dough from the bowl and roll all sides in flour on a flat surface. Don’t worry if it’s still sticky at this stage. 
6. Form the dough into a nice ball and place it on parchment paper with a cloth on top to rest. 
7. Preheat your oven to 450 F with the dutch oven inside. Make sure the handle is oven-safe!
8. Place your bread on the parchment paper in the dutch oven with the lid on and bake for 30 minutes.
9. Remove the lid after the 30 minutes are up and brown it for 5-10 minutes or until browned to liking. 
10. Let it cool before cutting the loaf into slices. Serve and enjoy!

Photo: Chandy Dancey/The Cascade 

Chandy Dancey

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Chandy is a biology major/chemistry minor who's been a staff writer, Arts editor, and Managing Editor at The Cascade. She began writing in elementary school when she produced Tamagotchi fanfiction to show her peers at school -- she now lives in fear that this may have been her creative peak.

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