Easy No-Knead Bread

Your house will smell like a bakery when making this easy no-knead bread. It has that old-fashioned homemade taste like my MawMaw’s, but with less mess and less time spent in the kitchen. Baking bread is a joy after discovering this no-knead way!

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The Missing Bread Recipe

Do you ever have food memories? You know, when something somehow triggers the taste of yummy food from way back when. That’s what I’ve been experiencing lately with thoughts of my MawMaw’s homemade bread.

I have an envie, “pronounced ahnvee” (meaning longing), for her yeast rolls these days. Memories of walking through her kitchen and eyeing a certain large white Tupperware container on her counter only meant one thing. There’s homemade bread in the house! They were rectangles of puffy, dense clouds with a bit of sourdough taste.

PawPaw called it “Pain de Femme” or “Bread of the Wife.” We believe it was his way of complimenting her. Momma said MaMaw would make 3 loaves at a time and bake them in a black dutch oven. She’d slice the fresh bread and slather them with butter and fig preserves, stick a slice into her children’s 4 pairs of hands and tell them to, “Go outside and play!” What a fond memory! I can imagine the screen door slamming behind them as they ran out caudling their warm bounty.

There’s all that to say, but without the “Pain de Femme” recipe. Sad, isn’t it? After inquiring about it to many, no one has it. Then my Aunt Martha sent me an easy no-knead bread recipe she thinks is close to MawMaw’s. It’s not as dense, but it’ll do for now.

The instructions call for milk or water and 1 egg, but after researching about breadmaking I discovered another egg yolk and milk adds more fat to help with the dough’s denseness.

I also tried using rapid yeast to save a step, but with no success. This bread is better with 2 rises. What was her secret? I know she’d laugh before answering this question then she’d be surprised when I’d tell her she didn’t have to do all that kneading. Maybe.

The Esy No-Knead Bread Way

I am now a fan of bread making! It’s so easy. It takes less than 3 hours from start to finish and worth the reward with its simple to remember steps and ingredients.

You can do it too! Just follow the recipe below, and you’ll have delicious aromas throughout your home and flavorful bread in your tummy before you know it.

Easy No-Knead Bread

Easy bread making with less mess and time spent in the kitchen.

• Author: Louisiana Woman
• Prep Time: 2 hours and 25 minutes
• Cook Time: 20 minutes
• Total Time: 2 hours and 45 minutes
• Yield: 12 rolls 1x
• Category: breads
• Method: baking
• Cuisine: American

Ingredients

Scale 1x2x3x

1 whole egg plus 1 egg yolk

1–1/3 cups warm milk, around 100 degrees (microwave cold milk for about 1 minute on high)

2 (.04 ounce) packages active dry yeast (or 4 1/2 teaspoons)

1 teaspoon sugar

5 tablespoons butter

4 cups pre-sifted all-purpose flour

1/3 cup sugar

1 teaspoon salt

3 tablespoons butter, melted

Instructions

Butter the sides of a large mixing bowl and a 9×13 baking pan.

Crack the eggs and put the whole egg and egg yolk in a small bowl, set aside.

Stir the active yeast and 1 teaspoon sugar into the warm milk and let sit 5-7 minutes to allow yeast to bloom.

Meanwhile, mix together flour, salt, and the rest of the sugar into a large bowl. 

Melt the 5 tablespoons of butter in a small bowl.

Add eggs to the flour mixture and begin stirring then alternately stir in the 5 tablespoons of melted butter along with the yeast mixture stirring until all of the ingredients are thoroughly combined, the dough will be sticky.

Put bread dough into the buttered bowl turning once to butter all side of the dough and cover the bowl with a damp cloth, let the dough rise for 1 hour or until doubled in size in a place where the temperature is around 70 degrees.

Punch dough down with the back of your fist then make 12 equal sized rolls and butter tops of rolls with the 3 tablespoons of melted butter.

Cover with same damp towel and let rise again for 1 hour or until doubled in size.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Bake for 25 minutes.

Brown under the broiler for no more than 1 minute if desired.

Brush with the rest of the melted butter and serve or store in an airtight container.

 

Notes

Using a silicone coated spoon to stir the sticky dough makes less mess.

A stand mixer can be used with the dough attachment to mix the dough thoroughly with no-kneading. 

Use a 2-ounce ice cream scoop and fill with bread dough to make 12 equal sized rolls. 

Bread can easily be baked into 2 small loaf pans.

Keywords: easy no-knead bread

Helpful Hints

A helpful tip in making rolls is using a 2-ounce ice cream scoop. It makes evenly shaped rolls, and the sticky dough comes out clean. Another tip is stock your kitchen with USA PANS like the one shown above and you will be doing yourself a favor. I got this one at LaGrone’s Drug Store in my hometown of Hamburg. They are non-stick, have a quick release coating, made in the USA with aluminized steel, sturdy, and heat evenly producing excellent baked goods.

Here are more bread recipes you may like:

• Oatmeal Rolls
• Foolproof Biscuit Making 101
• Iron Skillet Corn Bread
• Easy Spinach Bread
• Savory Monkey Bread, Two Ways

I hope this whets your appetite enough into giving this Easy No-Knead Bread recipe a try at least once. Happy breadmaking! . . . And eating!

Let us never forget that what we are is more important than what we do.

J. Hudson Taylor