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It’s about that time of year when I begin to crave bread baking, and this cheaters no-knead dutch oven sourdough bread is my newest homemade obsession.
Did anyone else’s moms bake bread when they were growing up? As I’ve mentioned…over and over, my mom is not much of a cook, but she has always loved to bake. Most of the time her baking was limited to chocolate chip cookies and pecan pies, but during the fall and winter months my mom would bake up a fresh loaf of bread for Sunday night dinner.
The woman loves bread like no other. Give her fresh, homemade bread and there’s a good chance she’ll end up eating the entire loaf within a day…the warmth, the carbs…the butter!
Anyway, mom baking bread on Sunday night is always such a relaxing and comforting memory for me. The house smelled incredible, the kitchen was warm from the oven, and often times there was also a roaring fire.
So basically the perfect fall night.
Recently, I’ve been seriously craving those comforting smells of homemade bread. A lot of this is due to my anxiety being kicked into high gear lately, but it’s also the extremely chilly nights and much cooler days we’ve been experiencing here that totally have me wanting to bake.
Also, it snowed up in the mountains while I was hiking on Saturday morning, so yeah, there’s that too.
Warm, baked things are clearly what needs to happen over here.
One of my favorite loaves of bread is a really good loaf of crusty sourdough. For years now I have been wanting to develop a sourdough bread recipe for the blog, but the involvement of making homemade sourdough always scared me off. It can take weeks to make a really great loaf of sourdough and let’s just be honest, that’s kind of way too much time for most of us.
I mean, right?
I make my homemade naan with plain greek yogurt, and it’s probably the most popular recipe here on the site…and with good reason. It’s incredible and I’m not sure I can really top that naan, but the use of yogurt in the recipe got me thinking.
Greek yogurt has some of the same cultures as a sourdough starter, so I thought I might try adding some to a no-knead bread recipe and see how it turned out.
The results? Sourdough bread perfection. YES.
Like any other no-knead bread recipe, this cheater’s sourdough is EASY. The dough is made with a total of six ingredients, including the water, and it all goes into one bowl, gets mixed up, and is then left to sit and rise. You can literally be done with the actual mixing of the bread in five to ten minutes. The rest of the time involved is rising and baking time.
Meaning hands-on work is so minimal. Mix. Let Sit. Bake. EAT. Simple as that.
As the title of this recipe states, you need a good dutch oven for baking the bread. It’s a must for getting a bread that’s crusty on the outside, but extra soft on the inside. I love my Staub 5 1/2 Quart Cocotte for this bread, it’s the perfect size. Any heavy cast iron pot that’s 4 quarts or larger will be great though!
Another key to success? A super hot oven and keeping the lid tight on the pot for the first half of baking. This traps the heat inside the pot, which in turn creates the extra hard crust, but extra soft interior.
Again, perfection and so easy!
I’ve made this multiple times now in the last few weeks, most of the time on Sunday, because I just love the smells and memories it brings.
Plus, serving it up with a bowl of chili is pretty much the best Sunday night dinner.
And of course, any leftovers are delicious when toasted the next day for breakfast, or used as a base for your favorite lunchtime sandwich. I’ve been spreading my homemade apple butter over toasted pieces of this bread, and it’s quickly becoming my go-to breakfast and/or afternoon snack…and yes, the apple butter recipe is coming soon. I’ll be sending out the recipe exclusively to all the HBH email subscribers, so if you aren’t signed up yet, I’d do so soon!
Cheaters No Knead Dutch Oven Sourdough Bread
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups warm water
- 2 teaspoons instant yeast
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 5 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon kosher salt
- 1 cup plain greek yogurt, (any % fat will do, but I use full fat)
Instructions
- 1. In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine the water, yeast, honey, flour, salt, and yogurt. Using the dough hook, mix until the flour is completely incorporated. Alternately, you can mix the dough with a wooden spoon until it comes together. Cover the bowl with a wet towel or plastic wrap and let sit at room temperature 2 hours or until it doubles in size.2. If time allows, punch the dough down, cover the bowl, and transfer to the fridge to let sit overnight. This will help develop a stronger "sourdough" flavor. 3. Generously dust a work surface with flour. Scrape the dough out of the bowl. It should be loose and sticky. Form the dough into a ball and place in a parchment lined 4 quart or larger dutch oven. Allow to rise 1 hour or until doubled in size. 4. Preheat to 475 degrees F. Bake, covered for 20-25 minutes. Using oven mitts, remove the hot lid and continue baking until the bread is a deep, golden brown, about 20-30 minutes more. Remove from the oven. Carefully lift the bread out of the pot and place it on a rack to cool completely, about 2 hours. Don't slice into the bread right out of the oven, the bread continues to cook as it cools. Enjoy!
Nutrition
Nutritional information is only an estimate. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.
Did you make this recipe? Please rate & comment below.
Honestly though…it’s doesn’t get better than this bread…with a little salted butter. YUM.
Is instant yeast the same thing as “Active Dry yeast”?
Hi Carrie! It is not. If you have active dry yeast, just allow the dry yeast to sit in the warm water with the honey for 10 minutes until it gets foamy and proofs. That will work great! Let me know if you have other questions. Hope you love the recipe! Thank you! xTieghan
Hi! This looks incredible. I only have gluten free flour at the moment, would that work?
Thank you!
Liz
Hi Liz! I have not tried this recipe with GF flour, so I do not feel comfortable recommending it! Please let me know if you do try! xTieghan
Found yeast in Breckenridge this morning!! So excited to try this!!
Amazing! I hope you love this Linda! xTieghan
Absolutely LOVE this recipe. ThIs bread is so delicious! (Thank you for all your delicious recipes). Is it possible to swap it to gluten free? Any suggestions of how to do this or just swap 1:1 the flours? Thanks!!
Hi Leslie! I have not tried it, but I have heard cup4cup works really well for swapping. I hope you love this recipe. Please let me know if you have any other questions! xTieghan
This may be a bit random, but could this recipe also be used for pizza? I desperately want your book which contains the super simple dough, but it’s currently sold out in Germany and not available in the kindle version. So, I’m thinking this may be the next best option? Sure hope so!
Hi Kate! I have a pizza dough recipe on my site if you would like to use that! I can link it below for you. Please let me know if that does not work for you or you have other questions! xTieghan
https://www.halfbakedharvest.com/french-onion-mushroom-pizza/#bo-recipe
Can I use this method for making your pumpkin bread bowls? Maybe replace the yogurt with pumpkin?
I don’t have a 4 quart Dutch oven! Can you divide this in 1/2 then bake in smaller Dutch oven? Same cooking time?
Hi Marge,
That would work, or you can use a cast iron skillet and cover with foil in place of the large dutch oven. I hope you love the recipe, please let me know if you have any other questions! xTieghan
The bread was delicious and wonderfully crusty, my only problem was that the parchment paper stick to the bottom like glue. I had to cut it off, any suggestions? Followed the recipe exactly as written so not sure what happened. Thank you!
Hi Anjana,
Thanks so much for trying the recipe, I am sorry to hear about the parchment paper. Next time try leaving that out and just make sure to oil the bottom of your pan! Please let me know if you have any other questions! Tieghan
Quick question!
In this quarantine; flour is scarce and I need to ration my supply. Do you think it’s possible to half this recipe?
Hi Liz,
I haven’t tested cutting this recipe in half, but you should be totally fine doing so. I hope you love the recipe, please let me know if you have any other questions! xTieghan
Hi! I don’t have instant yeast, but I have active yeast. Any tweaks I need to make or should I be ok to follow the recipe as is? Thanks!
Hi Cristi! Just allow the dry yeast to sit in the warm water with the honey for 10 minutes until it gets foamy and proofs. That will work great! Let me know if you have other questions. Hope you love the recipe! Thank you! xTieghan
I would love to make this bread as it has been one thing I’d love to learn is to bake sourdough bread. My question is that I have learnt to make my own sourdough starter and have some. So can I use it instead of the yeast in the recipe? If yes how many grams should I use?
Thank you x
Hi Nargess,
I personally haven’t tried this recipe with sourdough starter but think you would have great success. I would recommend using 1/3 cup. I hope you love the recipe, please let me know if you have any other questions! xTieghan
I’m about to make this and realize my Dutch oven is too small. I’m going to make two smaller loaves, do I need to adjust the time for baking?
Hi Marisol,
I would recommend cutting the baking time in half, but definitely keep an eye on them. I hope you love the recipe, please let me know if you have any other questions! xTieghan
Thank you so much – came out perfectly!!! As its lockdown Ive proceeded to just about finish the entire loaf by myself!!
Hi Annie! I am so glad this turned out so well for you! Thank you for trying it! xTieghan
Dude this is NOT sourdough bread. You do not make sourdough with 2 teaspoons of instant yeast. You need a sourdough starter.
Hey Wes! To each their own.. if you do not like this recipe simply do not try it! I hope you have a great week! xTieghan
Been baking dutch oven no knead bread and it seems like most recipes call for dutch oven to be preheated with the oven (for at least 30mins) Is that not necessary with this recipe? Can’t wait to try making this version. Thank you!
Hi Cindy,
You do not have to do that for this recipe, but can if you would like to! I hope you love the recipe, please let me know if you have any other questions! xTieghan