Cozy Artisan bread

This rustic, artisan-style loaf is shockingly easy to make at home—with just flour, water, yeast, and salt. It bakes up crusty on the outside, tender and chewy on the inside, and is perfect with a pat of butter, dipped in soup, or turned into a hearty sandwich.

Equipment

• Dutch oven

Ingredients

• 3 ¾ cups bread flour divided (450 grams)

• 2 ¼ teaspoons instant yeast

• 1 ¾ teaspoons kosher salt (10 grams)

• 1 ½ cups warm water between 120°F and 130°F (360 grams)

Directions

1. Mix the dough: In a large bowl, stir together the flour, yeast, and salt. Add warm water and mix until sticky and no dry flour remains.

2. Let it rise: Cover the bowl and let it rise in a warm place until doubled in size (about 1½ to 2 hours). For more flavor, you can refrigerate it overnight instead (up to 24 hours).

3. Preheat the oven: Set your oven to 450°F and place a Dutch oven with its lid inside to preheat for 30 minutes.

4. Shape the dough: Let the dough rest at room temperature for 15 minutes. Then stretch and fold the dough over itself a few times until it forms a ball. Turn it seam side down on parchment paper, dust with flour, and cover loosely for 10 minutes.

5. Score and bake: Slash the top of the dough with a sharp knife. Carefully transfer the dough (with parchment) into the hot Dutch oven. Cover and bake for 30 minutes. Then uncover and bake for another 15–17 minutes until deep golden brown.

6. Cool before slicing to let the crumb set—20 minutes is ideal!

Fun ideas!

1. To make this bread more exciting you could add different types of flavors such as honey, rosemary, garlic... any works well!