Easy No Knead Skillet Bread
The easiest no-knead skillet bread. The recipe only calls for 4 simple ingredients! Mix together, let the dough rise, pan and bake. You won’t get your hands or counters messy!
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If there is anything I know about yeast bread it is that for those who haven’t made it before it can feel intimidating. I know this because I once was that person.
I thought yeast was this scary ingredient that I didn’t understand. And people tell me all the time that they are nervous about working with yeast.
Well I’m here to get your feet wet with working with yeast! This easy no knead skillet bread recipe will build up your baking with yeast confidence! And it only calls for 4 simple ingredients!
This bread really could not be more simple! The make the dough, you just stir all of the ingredients together.
The dough then sits few an hour so the yeast can activate and feed for a while, and then it is baked. That’s it!
There are many things to know about yeast and bread making. If you are interested in learning more in-depth information about baking yeast bread, I suggest you check out my Yeast Bread Essentials Course!
But for this bread you really only need to know 1 thing: Yeast likes warm temperatures, but not hot temperatures! Your water should be warm, slightly warmer than body temperature, but not hot!
You will kill the yeast if you use too hot of water. But other than that, this no knead skillet bread is virtually fool proof!
Now that I am a more experienced bread baker, I still find myself coming back to this bread recipe. It is great for having fresh bread on a busy weeknight. That feels so decadent!
I love to add fresh herbs to my bread- rosemary is a favorite. You could add olives, nuts, roasted garlic, or really anything your heart desires!
Garlic Puree recipe: Simmer peeled garlic cloves in canola oil for 45 minutes stirring frequently. Strain oil, reserving for other uses. Mash garlic cloves and store in the fridge for 3-4 days for spreading on breads, stirring into soups. or flavoring mashed potatoes.
One of the things that continues to fascinate me about bread is that it only requires a few simple ingredients: just water, flour, salt, and yeast.
Those humble and few ingredients result in such a beautiful and comforting product! It feels like magic!
I hope this recipe inspires you to start making yeast bread a habit in your home!
Easy No-Knead Skillet Bread
This is the easiest no-knead skillet bread. Just mix all of the ingredients together, let the dough rise, put it in a pan and bake! You won't get your hands or counters messy!
Ingredients
- 4 1/3 cups (520 g) bread flour or unbleached all-purpose flour
- 1 package (2 1/4 tsp, 7 g) active dry or rapid rise yeast
- 1/2 TBSP (8 g) fine sea salt or kosher salt
- 2 cups (450 g) warm water (about 110-120 F, NOT HOT water)
- about 3 tbsp olive oil (or you can use vegetable oil or canola oil)
- rosemary (*optional)
Instructions
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, yeast, and the salt. You can also add in spices or herbs of choice here. I like to add about 1 1/2 tbsp of fresh rosemary.
- Add the warm water to the bowl. Make sure the water is just warm and not hot. Stir with a spoon or rubber spatula until well combined. It will be a very wet dough, almost like a thick batter.
- Cover with plastic wrap or a towel and let sit at room temperature until about double in size. This will take about 45 minutes for rapid rise yeast, and an hour and a half with active dry yeast.
- Do not punch down the dough. Add about 1 TBSP of oil to the bottom of a cast iron skillet or any other oven safe skillet (a 10" or 12" skillet works well).
- Drizzle about a tablespoon of the oil over the dough and also drizzle some on your hands. Rub the oil on your hands, this will help the dough not stick. Gently release the dough from the sides of the bowl and then gather it all up in your hands. Gently shape it into a ball. This will be kind of difficult because the dough is sticky, but just do your best. It doesn't need to be perfect.
- Place the dough in the oiled skillet, cover loosely with a towel. Let it rise again until full of air - about 30 minutes for rapid rise yeast and 1 hour for active dry yeast.
- Preheat the oven to 400ºF.
- Drizzle a little more oil over the top of the bread, and score the dough with a knife creating an X or a few slices across the top. Sprinkle with coarse salt and rosemary leaves if desired.
- Bake for 35-40 minutes until the top is starting to brown. Then turn on the broiler for about 5 minutes and watch the bread closely. This is just to help the top brown up some more.
- Allow the bread to cool for at least 1 hour before slicing and preferably longer. Letting the bread cool before slicing will solidify the texture and also help it to stay fresh longer.
- Store sliced bread open at room temperature, sliced side down on a cutting board for up to 48 hours. After that, more it to a bag and seal it. I prefer to slice it up and freeze it after 2 days. It refreshes well from frozen in the toaster.
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Nutrition Information:
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 98
775 Comments on “Easy No Knead Skillet Bread”
Hi,
I hope you are well. I tried out your recipe of the no-knead bread today… unfortunately mine turned out hard instead of fluffy :(. I followed all the measurements and method except that i used gluten free flour due to our gf diet. is that why?
and btw I wish you all the best in all your undertakings. I am also not currently working and sometimes other people who do not know my current situation thinks i am not “applying myself” whatever that is.. so just don’t worry about them and let’s focus on ourselves and our immediate loved ones, they are the ones who matter!
Hello…I plan on making this bread today…if you wanted to add roasted garlic and/or olive pieces to the bread at what point during the process would you do that?
Thanks
Tom
I would mix it right in right before I put it in the skillet to rise and bake.
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I would like to get this recipe and more
People need to stop judging….period! Anyone who can bake is a cross between a scientist and a magician! This recipe looks lovely and As a non baker, I hope to pull it off. thank you. Happy baking!
Hi all. I’m very new to baking (bread or otherwise) and I’ve just finished trying to make this for the second time. I’m really struggling with step 4, in particular transferring it from the bowl to the skillet. How are you supposed to do that and keep it whole? I end up having to rip it into pieces and then it’s all over my hands no matter how much flour I have on them. Should I pour the dough from the bowl to the skillet? I imagined that it would come out like a ball or something from the directions. Any help would be appreciated!
Hi Matt, It is a very wet dough so yes, you can kind of pour it out of the bowl into the skillet. I use a rubber spatula to help free it from the sides and just sort of pour it into the skillet. It doesn’t have to look pretty. As it proofs and rises it will spread out and even out.
OK, sounds good. I’ll definitely try that next time. When it’s done, does any part of yours stick above the rim of your pan?
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I made this bread and was delicious and easy. I appreciate you don’t have to wait 12 hours like with other no-knead breads.
My bread turned out really crumbly though — any idea of what didn’t work out?
can wheat flour be used in place of white flour and are measurements the same? LOVE this recipe but gaining weight eating home made bread !!! LOL
I have not used this recipe yet. But it looked so good. I will make it tonight.
Hope you enjoy it Carolyn!
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I made this bread tonight for the first time. Wow! Thank you for a great recipe!
Superb! I made this tonight and my husband (not normally much of a bread eater) and I demolished half of the loaf right away. It was definitely very easy and worth the time. The one thing I will do differently next time is I won’t try to shape the dough into a disk. It was far too sticky to handle and I left a lot of it behind stuck to my counter. Next time I’ll just blop the whole thing into my skillet and call it a day!
We made this bread tonight for dinner . It was easy Peasy! It looked lovely and tasted Devine. We added fresh lemon zest from one lemon. Thank you for sharing this! It will also be perfect to fix in the rv where time and room to kneed is scarce.
I am making this bread for the second time today – it is so easy and tastes fantastic!! A great hit with the family.
Came across your recipe on Pinterest, and it sounded so easy that I made it on an impulse this afternoon. It was wonderful. Few things compare to a slab of homemade bread still warm from the oven, topped with butter. Have you ever tried refrigerating the dough for a couple days? I’ve done that with other no-knead breads (I like the slightly sourdough-y tang the dough takes on) and am wondering if it will work with this dough. I’m also tempted to mix some caraway seeds into the dough instead of rosemary next time. Thanks again; the recipe went straight into my box!
Whoa, Nellie!!! This is some awesome bread. The crust, the dense but yummyness (is that a word?) of the inside. I admit I had my doubts. No eggs, no butter or oil! My family absolutely loved it. I hate when a reviewer says I made it right by the recipe, but did this or that. BUT! I confess I did make a few additions. I roasted a head of garlic and squished it in the batter and added some dried rosemary too. I’m telling you, this was one of the easiest and most delicious breads I’ve made and I’ve made bread for more years than I want to admit. And it’s beautiful! Thanks so much. Hugs from League City, Texas!!
Thank you so much for the inspiration. I tried this out today with basil and garlic cloves and it turned out amazing! Got over in no time 🙂
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Love this!
Oh and I’m evidently NOT a nurse.
I am a teacher. ♥
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Awesome, just the type of recipe I was looking for. Do you think this would work in foil round cake pans? I am looking to make bread (different types) for edible centerpieces for a series of church dinners. Probably looking at doing 10 loaves at a time, and I don’t have that many skillets! 🙂
Looks awesome!! People ask me what I do? I bake!! What is my gift? It is my love of baking and seeing other people enjoy it. I love coming across recipes like this! So excited to try. 🙂
Hi Bettie!
I made this bread tonight – so simple – and it’s beautiful and crusty and chewy. But a little bland. The salt and rosemary on the top helps, but do you (or anyone else) have any suggestions for things to add to the dough that will make it tastier? Perhaps more salt? Honey? Oil? I don’t know because I don’t bake bread (except tonight). Thank you!
What a great blog post! Yes, do what you love and figure out a way to make money at it. If you dream it, you can achieve it! I know! #dentalentrepreneur #DeW.Life
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HI,
I have a couple of questions. I know I have seen one or two blogs in which it was stated that sugar is not needed for yeast, most of the information I’ve found mentions that sugar should be added because sugar is what helps the yeast multiply and helps with the rising. I noticed there wasn’t sugar in the recipe. Have you tried using any sugar to see if it produces a different result?
Also, do you think bread flour would produce a better result than plain all-purpose flour?
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Would it be possible to make cinnamon bread or sour dough bread from this recipe.
I saw your recipe yesterday and just knew I had to try it. I made it in a 10 in. skillet. It came out delicious. I did add 3 T of sugar . I like just a tad of sweetness. My breads texture was a little more holey then yours. That is why I asked if you sifted and also if you used the spoon into the cup method for the flour. I have made the no knead artisan bread before with the 12 hr rise. The only difference I can see is that this recipe is a tad bit softer inside and out. This recipe is so much faster and easier.
Thanks for the recipe
Kat
Made this skillet bread, and it was OUTSTANDING!
I love this recipe! I’ve made it twice now and it’s been gone within a few hours each time. The texture along with the rosemary really reminds me of focaccia. I baked it with a little bit of steam at the beginning for that nice glossy crust. It’s fantastic with a hearty stew such as coq au vin or just dipped in olive oil or spread with butter.
Just so needed to hear this today. I convince myself that at 57 I am too old, but your words are inspiring ! Thanks !
Cindy.
I want to make this for a dinner we’re going to on Friday night but I work all day Friday and won’t have time to make it before we go. Can I make it the night before? Is there a way for me to do steps 1-3 the night before, then finish steps 4-8 the next afternoon? Or is that too long for the dough to be sitting out? Would I leave it in the fridge overnight? I’ve never made bread before so I know nothing about how yeast works or if it’s a delicate and time-sensitive recipe.
I’d really appreciate the help/tips! 🙂
This was a huge hit with my family!! The first loaf didn’t last a day!! Very simply and easy. My 8 year old made it the very next day. Thank you so much!!
Thanks for the recipe. This bread was easy to make, came away from the pan easily, has good texture and taste.
I added in herbs to the dough and made a few little changes to the flour because that’s what I had on hand. I used 1/2 cup white all purpose, 1/2 cup whole wheat pastry flour and the rest hard whole wheat flour.
I took a photo of it and copied the recipe link and sent both to my brother. He’s going to make it today.
I, too, have had that moment. I’m sure you’ve heard this many times, but I applaud your bravery, it is in short supply in this world. And I’ve learned you are never to old to learn new tricks! I never post comments but I actually read your post and not just the recipe and I felt compelled to respond. Thank you. There are not enough women of power in this world and I appreciate and respect that you are.
Hey stumbled upon your blog as I was looking for a no-knead bread. I was just thinking today that I got all excited writing in my blog about my attempts at cooking and baking while doing postgraduate studies, when at the same time my peers and friends are writing about legal issues and current events, and climbing the ladders in their careers. Then I realized, and similar to what you wrote – what matters is what makes us happy, and not what people expect from us 🙂
Great post. Refreshing honesty. Have you tried baking with GF flour(s)? I would love to try this recipe with buckwheat. Any suggestions?! Thanks!
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could you put this in a bread pan I don’t have a skillet
Loved your blog. So many amazing recipes here and oh my gosh, I just want ALL of them. I’m totally drooling over here!
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Add anything! Onion, garlic, salt, pepper, cumin, etc… Nuts, seeds, vegetables, etc…
Making this bread and feeding it to people just made me so happy. Baking therapy is totally a thing. Three of us ate 1/2 the loaf in about 20 minutes, and I’m not even ashamed. It’s so fluffy, light, and flavorful. I added onions to the dough before rising, and that added even more complexity to the flavor!
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Hi, this looks amazing, but i do not have a cast iron skillet, and not sure if i can get one in Sri Lanka, would it work with a round not stick cake tin ???