This No Knead Sourdough Bread is simple to make and delicious to eat. It is made with just three ingredients: flour, water and salt, is traditionally fermented and makes the best sandwich bread.
Before we get started you will need a sourdough starter. If you do not have one yet, here is a Day by Day Guide to help you make your own Sourdough Starter. If you’d like to learn more about the benefits of sourdough, check out my “Why Sourdough?“
Watch How to Make Simple No Knead Sourdough Bread
Story Behind the recipe
I first heard of no knead sourdough bread from my brother and sister in law. They recently started their own sourdough journey and have found this method to be their favorite.
They visited our farm this Spring and we made a whole lot of sourdough together! I baked some of my recipes for them and they baked some of their recipes for me. The recipe I was the most curious about was the one with their No Knead technique.
I was impressed with how many less steps this method took and with how good the bread turned out. A few weeks later I experimented with my own No Knead Sourdough Bread recipe and came up with this one. I’m excited to share with you the simplicity of this loaf.
Why Make No knead sourdough bread
- It’s so simple. Mix all ingredients together. Ferment. Proof. Bake.
- Simple ingredients and fermented benefits. Find out more here Why Sourdough?
- I love that this loaf can be prepared quickly, can ferment throughout the night with no folds needed and can then be baked fresh in the morning.
- Because it is a no knead bread, it is a little more dense than my Sourdough Artisan Bread. But the benefit to that is that it makes for great sandwich bread. It stays firm as you slice through it and the condiments spread easily over the top of it.
- You may just prefer this bread to any other because of it’s simple convenience!
Ingredients to make No knead Sourdough Bread
- Sourdough Starter
- Water
- Flour
- Salt
How to Make No Knead Sourdough Bread
To start, zero out a large measuring bowl on your scale. Measure out your sourdough starter and add it to the bowl. Add water. Whisk the starter and water together by hand until the starter dissolves into the water. Add the flour and sprinkle the salt on top. Mix together the wet and dry ingredients until a wet ball forms. Your hands will be sticky but that’s okay.
Cover the bowl with a towel, and ferment for 8-12 hours. The dough will over double in size.
Remove the dough from the bowl. Shape it into a tight ball and either place it into a banneton, towel lined bowl, or greased loaf pan. Proof for 2 hours.
Preheat your oven to 450 degrees F. If you shaped your dough in a banneton or towel lined bowl, place a square piece of parchment paper over the top of the dough and flip it over onto the paper. Score the top of your loaf. If you’re baking in a loaf pan, just score the top of the dough and bake right into the loaf pan.
2 methods for baking:
- Dutch Oven: Allow dutch oven to preheat in the oven. Once preheated, place bread into the dutch oven. Bake for 40 minutes with lid on, then 10 minutes with lid off. I highly recommend baking your bread on parchment paper inside the preheated dutch oven. The steam releases from the dough and is captured within the dutch oven to give your bread that delicious, crunchy outer layer. I love my dutch oven, but I’ve also seen them for a few dollars at thrift stores. So if you’re in the market but don’t want to spend a lot on a new one, do a little thrifting and see what hidden gem you find.
- Water on Cookie Sheet: If you do not own a dutch oven, preheat your oven for 30 minutes with a cookie sheet on the bottom rack. When you add your scored dough wrapped in parchment paper to the upper oven rack, pour two cups of water into your cookie sheet. Quickly close the door to capture the steam in the oven. This will help your dough rise and give it the crunchy outer layer we all love. Bake for 40-50 minutes until golden brown.
Try This!
To keep my Sourdough Bread moist and soft much longer (if it even lasts that long) I add 1 Tablespoon Avocado Oil and 1 Tablespoon Raw Honey to the water and starter mixture at the beginning of the bread making process.
This addition keeps my bread nice and soft and prevents it from becoming a little dry as it sits on the counter for a few days. Give this a try and let me know how you like these simple additions.
Struggling to make sourdough rise in the winter?
Try this Seedling Heat Mat. It’s a 20×10 mat that lays flat on your counter. It plugs into the wall and gives off a very small amount of heat (like really small).
Simply place your dough on this mat to help your dough rise during the cool winter months.
I get asked often how to rise dough in a cold house during the winter. My suggestions are to place your dough in the oven with the light on, or slightly warm your oven a few seconds and then place dough into a warm oven, or add dough on top of your refrigerator where it’s warm OR this using this Seedling Heat Mat. I have had great success with it, and would recommend it to anyone to use when the house gets cold.
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Let’s Bake some No Knead Sourdough Bread!
No Knead Sourdough Bread
Ingredients
- 200 grams Active Sourdough Starter
- 250 grams Filtered Water
- 425 grams Unbleached Flour (I always recommend organic)
- 12 grams Unrefined Salt
Instructions
- In large bowl add 200 grams starter and 250 grams filtered water. Whisk starter and water together by hand until the starter is dissolved into the water and the water is cloudy.
- Add 425 grams flour and 12 grams salt. With your hands, mix the wet ingredients into the dry until well combined.
- Scrape down sides of the bowl, and place dough back into bowl. Cover with towel and ferment 8-12 hours, until over doubled in size.
- After ferment, remove dough from bowl. Shape dough and form into tight ball. Place dough ball into banneton, towel lined bowl or greased loaf pan.
- Proof dough another 2 hours.
- Preheat oven to 450 degrees F. Allow dutch oven to preheat in oven. If baking in loaf pan, score top and add straight to preheated dutch oven. If you proofed in bowl flip dough out onto parchment paper. Dust with flour, score your bread and pick up dough ball with parchment paper carefully placing into preheated dutch oven.
- Bake 450 degrees F for 40 minutes with lid on. Remove lid and bake additional 10 with lid off.
- Enjoy!
Notes
-If you do not own a dutch oven, you can preheat your oven for 30 minutes with a cookie sheet on the bottom rack. When you add your scored dough wrapped in parchment paper to the upper oven rack, pour two cups of water into your cookie sheet. Quickly close the door to capture the steam in the oven. This will help your dough rise and give it the crunchy outer layer we all love. Bake for 40-50 minutes until golden brown.
-After 2 hour proof you can place dough into fridge for an additional 12 hours, or until you're ready to bake it.
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Hi,
I’m excited to try this! Thank you! I’ve been using purified water in my starter. Is that ok to use or should I switch to filtered? I’m not sure the difference. I’m brand new to this.
Thanks,
Christine
I use filtered because I have a countertop Berkey Filtration System. Before that I purchased a gallon of spring water vs purified. If purified is working for you, keep using it. I just don’t recommend distilled water!
Thank you!
Hi there! My ball was kind of hard this morning on the top when it was finished resting. Also, yesterday when I was forming it into a ball it wasn’t smooth. Any advise for me? It’s in the oven now so we will see how it turns out. Thanks so much!
Try sealing off the bowl either with a shower cap or a bowl with a tight sealing lid to prevent the top from getting hard. The no knead bread dough has less of a smooth texture because the gluten was never worked during the ferment (for example with stretch and folds like in other recipes, that process works the gluten yielding a smoother dough consistency) So when forming the ball in the no knead loaf, it is going to have more of a rough texture because it’s the first time that gluten gets worked, if that makes sense. But it should still bake great! I hope this was helpful and your loaf still turned out!
Hi Tara do you have the conversation to cups/tablespoons? I don’t have a scale
I will be making your no knead bread recipe for the 4th time tomorrow. It has been such a success for me that I wanted to thank you for your post and the video. I have added the honey and oil each time, and last week I decided to use 2 Tbsp of honey. IT WAS PERFECT! I work full time, and my days off are split so I had given up, until I tried yours. Thank you so much!
Yay Paula! Thank you so much for taking time to write about your success. I’m so happy to hear this!
Hi, I would like this to be 2 loaves instead of one. How would I change the baking times?
Bake for around 30 minutes instead of 40. If they are not golden brown, keep baking for another 5 minutes. The time doesn’t change all that much.
I’m making this for the second time! I’m new to this and was wondering if my dough is supposed to be so sticky that it’s difficult to handle and form into a tight ball? Or am I doing something wrong in the process somewhere?
It sounds like its over proofed. When dough gets to be sticky and difficult to handle it more than likely over proofed. Try proofing for less time
Hello!
Is this the recipe you used in the Simple No Knead Sourdough Bread YouTube video where you made a loaf? Thanks!
yes it is 🙂
Following the recipe, After fermenting for 12 hours, and then I put the dough in the refrigerator for an additional 12 hours. Should I bring the dough back up To room temperature before I bake?
Thanks
Jennifer
You do not need to bring it back to room temp. You can bake from the fridge, and just increase the cooking time by 10-15 minutes.
I’m a sourdough newbie, so forgive me if my questions are elementary. (1) I have an active sourdough starter that I feed once daily. For this recipe, when should use my starter — at its peak 4 hours post feeding (when its doubled) or right before feeding (when its hungry)? (2) What hydration is your starter at? Mine is at 100% hydration (1:1:1 feedings). Will that work for this recipe? Thanks!
I love questions! Never be afraid to ask 🙂 Use you starter at its peak, that will be best for a no knead bread. A flat starter may result in a more dense bread because you do not knead or do stretch and folds for this recipe. Your hydration is going to be perfect for this recipe. Enjoy!
This recipe is amazing! It’s the only sourdough bread recipe I’ve ever used and comes out perfect every time! I’ve never done a stretch and fold in my sourdough journey and don’t think I’ll start! I’ve tried with cinnamon sugar inclusion as well and it was amazing! Trying rosemary garlic today! Also love your bagel recipe!
Yayyy!!! I love to hear this Lauren! Thanks so much for sharing!!