Rustic Homemade Bread Recipe
I’m excited to share this simple and easy, four-ingredient homemade rustic bread recipe. This recipe comes from one of my husband’s favorite patients. We call this recipe Jeff’s Bread. Every evening, Jeff mixes up two batches of this rustic homemade bread recipe and then lets it rise overnight. The next morning, he bakes it up and delivers two of these delicious loaves to wherever he goes that day. He always brings some into my husband’s office and he and his staff love this bread so much!
It’s simple to make and tastes so good! I asked Jeff if I could share his recipe and he said yes! I hope you love it as much as we do!
For these photos, I doubled the batch and baked it in a rectangular Dutch oven baker but I usually do it in a single batch and shape it into dough balls, as some of the other photos show. It can be baked in any type of Dutch oven but for the round loaves, I find that the 7-10 quart enameled Dutch ovens work the best.
Ingredients
I prefer to use a kitchen aid stand mixer.
I raise the dough in a parchment paper-lined bowl.
I use a damp dish towel to cover it. This keeps the dough from drying out.
Let rise for about 6-12 hours.
Heat up the oven with the pot inside and then place the dough into the pot, drizzle with olive oil and sea salt. Cover and bake as directed below.
Rustic Homemade Bread Recipe
Equipment
- Stand Mixer
- Cast Iron or Cast Iron Enameled Dutch Oven with Lid (7-10 quart is best)
Ingredients
- 3 cups flour (I use bread flour but any kind is fine)
- 2 tsp fine sea salt
- ½ tsp yeast
- 1⅓ cup water (does not need to be warm)
Instructions
- Add 3 cups flour, 2 tsp fine sea salt, and ½ tsp yeast into the bowl of a stand mixer or a bowl if you're making without a mixer.
- Stir in 1⅓ cup water gradually until the dough is just wet enough to stay together in a ball. Cover with a damp dish towel and let sit for a minimum of six hours or longer to a maximum of twelve hours.
- Place the cast iron pot and lid into the oven and preheat to 475°.
- Dust a clean countertop with flour, pour the dough ball onto the floured surface, and fold it into the center about four times, forming a round ball. Cover with a towel again while oven and pan continue to heat up to 475°.
- Once the oven is up to temperature, take the lid off and put the dough ball into the very hot cast iron pot. Sprinkle or brush with olive oil and sea salt and replace the lid onto the pot.
- Set a timer for twenty minutes to bake the bread, then remove the lid and bake for another ten minutes or so until golden brown.
- Remove bread carefully and let cool on a wire cooking rack.
PIN THIS FOR LATER:
Thanks for sharing your bread recipe, Holly! It looks so delicious and is so easy to make! I’m going to make this bread tonight.
So excited to find this recipe! It is rising on the counter right now. I do not have a cast iron casserole, so will try a heavy calphalon pot with lid. Happy to pick one up though. I do a lot of cooking and have not wanted to add bread in, but this took max 10 minutes. We have an excess of flour in the garage fridge to use up— so hopeful for this bread, do you think it could be made with a mix of flours such as whole wheat, spelt etc? Planning some variations with herbs, olives, nuts, seeds, cinnamon, raisins… Thank you so much.
So Glad you found it! I think you could try it with other flours. Try Kamut flour if you can find some! I’m going to try it soon.I used a large metal cake pan for the longer loaf so I think anything will work! Let me know how it goes!
Wow. This is just the best! So simple and tastes so yummy! Thanks for sharing holly!!
Why thank you so much Mr Jolley. You are very kind!
love mom