If you’ve always wanted to try your hand at bread making but are intimidated by long proofing times, elbow grease, or special equipment, you’re in luck. Here at Ooni, we’ve come up with our easiest bread recipe yet for a mouth-watering loaf with a golden-brown crust and soft interior. It’s perfect for slathering with butter, sandwiches, or served with dips; all you need is a bit of time and a healthy appetite. 

For this oven-baked bread, we were inspired by New York-based author, baker and owner of Sullivan Street Bakery Jim Lahey's no-knead bread recipe, who “[...] first saw it in use in 1991, while working on a farm in Tuscany, when he was 23.” As expected, no kneading is required here (just a few folds), and no wild or hard-to-find ingredients to scare you off – just flour, yeast, salt, water and a bit of cornmeal or wheat bran. Pop the dough in a cast-iron Dutch oven (a lidded pot) and voila: you’ll have fresh-baked bread in no time.

If you’ve never used a Dutch oven before (we’re partial to Cuisinel) it’s ideal for home-made artisan loaves – the steam that’s created in the pot ensures that the bread’s crust will be crispy and the inside crumb soft and open. The steam also helps the bread to rise, as well as keep the surface of the dough cooler for longer. Cooler dough allows enzymes to reduce starches in the flour to simple sugars, which results in that irresistible yeasty, freshly baked smell and flavour. 

The key to getting that coveted steam when you put your dough in the Dutch oven is to preheat the pot about 30 minutes before baking – just be sure to have your gloves handy because you're going to be managing hot cast iron! As a final touch, we like to take our bread out of the Dutch oven for the last 10 minutes or so to get a glossy, golden colour and finish. 

The only danger with this recipe? You just may get hooked on baking and find yourself moving on to sourdough, cakes and baguettes…