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
778 Comments on “Easy No Knead Skillet Bread”
I made this tonight and it was incredible. I’ve never made bread before so it was a big feat for me! Definitely will make this again. Thank you!!
That makes me so happy Katie! So glad it was a success for you!
Hallo! I would love to make this tasty looking bread, but I don’t have a skillet that I can use in the oven. They are all for hot plates and have special protective handles. Is there anything else I could use instead, like a pie dish, for example?
I would also love to know…
As long as the the pan you have is oven proof, you can use it. Just wrap the pan handle in aluminum foil completely. It may leave them a little tacky afterwards, but it won’t ruin them.
Use a casserole pottery dish.
Hi Larona!
You could use a dutch oven or honestly a cake pan or casserole dish would also work fine.
I’m having a similar epiphany! I am currently in my undergrad majoring in music education, but I’m discovering that my passion for cooking is so much stronger!
I shall be trying this tonight. Will give you a feedback!
Is there no way to cook this in a dutch oven while camping?
nobody wants to hear about your boring life;;talk to your shrink;;you need one;;every food bloger wants to talk about themselves;;;just post the recipe!!!!!
I’m so glad someone else has the balls to say what I have thought. I NEVER read their boring blogs, I just want the recipes.
You are always more than welcome to just scroll to the bottom and find the recipe and not read the post! Hope you enjoyed the bread!
Oh, how rude people can be! I am just appalled! The nerve to leave their ugly comments! You are very brave and giving, to take the time and energy to write any blog post, in hopes of your sharing helping someone else. The recipe also sounds delicious, thanks for being out there in the cyber world, doing your thing, sharing and hoping to add value to other people’s day or life. Truly amazing.
Thanks for the love, Nancy!
I always read comments. Thank you for taking the time, you certainly captured my thoughts . We have become a cold world feeling so comfortable to say ugly things.
<3
I can’t believe this rudeness especially considering the entire blog has to do with options in baking this bread!
I do not have a cast iron skillet…can I still cook it in another pot?
You can bake it in any oven proof pan or even in a dutch over. It doesn’t have to be a skillet. I find the skillet easier though.
Ki
I look forward to trying the skillet no knead bread. I like the simplicity that the recepite offers.
I may try adding Jalapeno peppers to give the bread some what of spicy flavor/boost.
Questions how much time do you allow for the bread to cool on the rack before slicing in to it?
Thank you so much for this wonderful recipe. I have baked this bread four times and every time I do it gets better and better. I added a teaspoon of dried rosemary to the dough and doused the bread with a substantial amount of olive oil. It was so good and the best is the “no knead” part. It’s so easy to make. Very suitable for a lazy person like me. Best wishes!
Is there any way to adapt this recipe for bread machine use with bread machine yeast?
I haven’t made this kind of bread before. I’m wondering do you let the yeast rise broke adding the flour like with other recipes or not?
Hi Judy,
In this bread recipe you can just mix everything together! No need to proof your yeast!
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I am so happy I tried your no knead bread. It is one of the best bread to make, very easy and tasted good too. I like baking, but most of the time baking bread was not an easy thing for me as it was not coming out good. This bread of yours came out so good without too much of fuss, I am going to make this very often. Since my cast iron skillet was smaller than 12 inch, I divided the recipe into half. I also replace 1/2 cup of whole wheat. I must thank you for providing this lovely easy and simple bread making experience.
Could you tell me whether I can make this bread as small buns instead of one loaf? Appreciate your help.
Hi Jaga! I am so happy you are finally having some success with bread! I have never tried to make this into small buns, but I suspect you could! That sounds like a really good idea! I think you would maybe want to make a half batch and divide it into 12 pieces, and place them in a 9X13 baking dish so they sort of rise up against each other. Let me know if you try it! I may give it a try myself and if it works out well maybe I’ll post a tutorial! Thanks for the great idea!
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This looks so good and easy! Have you tried it with a Gluten Free flour blend? I can’t eat gluten and would like to try this recipe.
Hi Sandy, great question! I have not personally tried this with a gluten free flour blend but I know other commenters have. If you have access to the “Cup 4 Cup” brand blend, I have heard amazing things about how well it works as a substitution in most baked goods! Let me know if you do try it and how it goes!
My dough wasn’t very sticky when i transferred it to the iron skillet, and i found that it didn’t rise like yours did in the images. Do you have any idea why this could have happened? When you make it into the disk shape, do you stretch the sides, what technique do you use?
Still very good! Thank you!
Hi Julieta! I hope to make a video tutorial for this recipe soon that may help visualize what it should look like. I wonder if there may have been too much flour in your dough? When you measured it did you fluff it up with a spoon, lightly spoon it into the measuring cups, and level it off? For this bread dough in particular, I just pick it all up and sort of move it around in my hands until it is roughly a disk shape. I’m glad it still worked okay for you!
I finally bought a cast iron skillet and have been dying to use it. This will be perfect! It sounds so easy and really delicious! I can’t wait to try it. Thank you.
That’s so awesome D! If you do make it, let me know how it goes!
This bread is so simple but yet so good! My family loves vest it! Do you know if you can freeze the dough?
Hi Danielle! I have not tried that yet so I’m not sure. I know many people do freeze yeast dough with success! Let me know if you try it. I will be making it again soon and I will try to freeze some as well!
I did freeze the dough and baked it tonight. The bread was just as delicious as it was with fresh dough. I don’t use a skillet because I don’t own one. I just bake it in a glass pie plate, and it works great!
Fantastic! Way to go, Danielle!
Can I add cheese and jalapeños to this and when would I add them!
Hi Debbie!
I have not tried adding jalapenos to this bread yet, but I think I would add them as I’m stirring all of the ingredients together. I don’t think you should have a problem with the yeast with those ingredients added. Let me know if you try it and how it goes!
Just made this. I did add rosemary in the bread dough along with it on top. I love rosemary. Thanks for the recipe. Definitely making this many more times.
Good call on the rosemary, Tammey! I love it too. Enjoy the recipe!
If you are using instant yeast, should you use the same amount?
Hi Kate,
Yes, you would use the same amount of instant yeast if substituting.
After the umpteenth time making this bread I feel I need to tell you how much we LOVE this recipe. I gave my daughter a pan and the recipe to take to university with her, it’s a huge hit at the appie table dipped into olive oil/balsamic and I always make it for a crowd when I make soup or chili. If there are any leftovers I whirl them in my food processor to make bread crumbs for meatloaves or to top a baked gratin or I cube them to make stuffing for poultry (I keep the crumbs in my freezer). This is literally the easiest, most impressive no-fuss bread recipe I’ve found and the olive oil/rosemary/kosher salt topping is delicious. The recipe also works great with 1 cup or so of whole wheat flour to replace the white. Thank you so much for posting!
This made my day, Carolyn! I love all the uses you’ve found for this simple recipe. Thanks for sharing!
This bread looks great! I am not a newbie to baking with yeast, and with reading through some of the comments I saw that people sometimes had problems with the amount of flour they used (often too much). It would be great if you could provide a weight measurement for this recipe, either in ounces or grams.
Have you ever made this with instant yeast?
Thanks.
Hi Jackie! Thanks for the suggestion. It is actually something that I have started doing with all of my newest recipes and it is a big project I am working on to go back and edit all of my old recipes to include weights. I’ll go ahead and update this one now.
I have not made this with instant yeast, but it should work just fine!
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I had to try this recipe, and it turned out wonderful. We ate half the loaf the evening I made it. I sliced the rest yesterday morning & it is great for toast & sandwiches. My rosemary cuttings haven’t grown enough yet to start snipping pieces off, so I used Italian seasoning instead. Looking at some of your other recipes I found that your weight for a cup of flour is just over 4 ounces, so I went with that. I made a couple of minor tweaks, I added 3 tsp of vital wheat gluten & only used 2 tsp of instant yeast. The gluten really helps with the rise, especially if you are using whole wheat flour, or making a no knead bread. I followed your directions & floured my hands to form the disc of dough, it would also work to use wet hands. My skillet is about 15″, with sloped sides, but it still worked fine. I baked at 375 in my convection oven for 30 minutes & the bread had reached a perfect internal temperature of 200 F.
Thanks for posting this recipe. I will make it often.
Thanks so much for the feedback Jackie and sharing your tweaks! I’m so glad you loved the bread!
Made the no-kneed skillet bread. Horrible! I must have done something wrong. Bread was tough and we had to grind it up and feed it to the birds. They loved it.
I’m so sorry to hear that, Theresa! Please let me know if I can help troubleshoot any areas for you.
Thank you for this wonderful recipe. I need to get more brave on using yeast.
You’re welcome, Kathy!
I’ve made this in a Dutch oven and it is amazing. I’d love to try the skillet but worry it won’t have that crispy crunchy crust as when done in the Dutch oven. Can you confirm pls
It will have a crunchy crust if you preheat a baking sheet and when you put your bread in, pull out your baking sheet and put some ice cubes in it and put it back in the oven. It creates steam. I forgot to add that comment on my post but saw your question and thought I’d reply to it instead.
Made this tonight. It was very good but a tad bland. Super easy to make and now that I know what it tastes like, next time I think I’ll add roasted garlic and shredded cheese.
That sounds like an excellent variation, Margaret!
How would you recommend storing it if it isn’t all eaten at once? Right now I just have a towel over it but I’m afraid it is going to dry out!
Hi Susie!
In a paper bag works well for a few days. After the first day the bread really is best after being refreshed in a toaster. Enjoy!
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I am making this for the 3rd time in 3 weeks. We are loving it. My first time making bread also..
Love that it is 4 ingredients and No ADDITIVES.
Thanks for the recipe ♡
That is wonderful Barbara! So glad you are loving it and you are very welcome!
Thank you, thank you, oh yeah… thank you! The bread turned out great! I didn’t put the rosemary on top but the bread was still delicious. I use a little less salt and only salted the top of one loaf. I am definitely using this bread as my go to bread. I think I’m going to make an olive loaf next time substituting the brine from the olive jar with part of the water. Thank you again!
Hi Connie! I’m so glad to hear that you enjoyed this! Let me know how the olive loaf turns out! Have you ever tried making a yeast bread with the brine from olives? I haven’t tried that, but curious if the saltiness of the brine will effect the yeast. Let me know how it goes!
Just made this for the second time, using a Dutch oven this time. Such an easy recipe and the bread tastes wonderful!
Wonderful! Thanks for sharing, Teresa!
I use a similar recipe to make no-knead sourdough bread. I just love it. It always comes out perfect and is so, so easy. – Margy
Sounds delicious, Margy!
I make this all the time. I take it to parties and people flip! One of the hidden secrets here is the cast iron skillet. Makes a big difference!
You are so right, Keith! Glad you love the recipe!
I am going to make this on Christmas Eve for visitors and am looking to add a little Corn Meal to the mix. Versus making cornbread for our Fish Chowder that we will serve. I will start out with maybe a Tablespoon, and I have fresh rosemary and will crush some up and put into the mix as well, along with some Italian herbs.
This looks really good and to answer the “Rolls” question. Can’t you just make into balls and let them rise in the cast iron skillet and treat like rolls that way, adapting the cooking time? Looking forwards to making this. I have 5 Cast Iron Skillets, I’m sure I have one to fit this receipe.
Hi Nada! Because this is a no-knead recipe the dough is very very wet. It is difficult to shape in that way. You definitely could split it up into a few different small cast iron skillets if you wanted to make individual ones, but I’m not sure if they will hold their shape if you try to shape into rolls but I have not tried it. If you do, let me know how it goes!
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I am making this for the first time, I did want to add the olives, but you don’t say when to add them, I scrolled a bit on the comments, nothing there, so I will make it as the recipe is, wishing me luck
Hi Beth! You would add them in all at the beginning. Hope it turned out well for you!
Made it tonight. Yum. Those negative comments — just remember it’s about them and not about you. I appreciate your recipe. Thanks.
Thank you, May <3
What size compared to the pan should the dough be shaped to before baking? Should it fit to the edges or should I leave a gap? Thanks
Hi there, you don’t have to be very precise about it. In fact you could actually just pour it right into the skillet. It will shape to the pan as it proofs!
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Can you use self rising flour
Hi Michelle, No, unfortunately self-rising flour will not work well for this recipe.
You don’t need to proof the second time? I didn’t see it in the instruction.
Hi Sue,
Yes, you do a second short rise in step 6: “Place in the skillet, cover loosely with a towel, and allow to rise for another 30 minutes.”
Hope you enjoy the bread!
Thank you. Should have read more throughly. Baking as we speak.
I hope you enjoy it Sue!
Hey Baker Betty,
Just joined your email list. I have been using your bread recipes for a few days. Absolutely fantasic! I’m trying this one as we speak for a friend’s birthday party. I doubled my recipe and used a larger cast iron skillet. I really wish I had the ability to upload a photo here in the comments so that your readers could see how great it looks. Thanks for the Fantastic recipe. I look forward to trying more. This one was very simple to make. I found that your water temp at a hundred and ten degrees worked out to be perfect. I would say if you get that right your in the clear for a delicious rosemary loaf at your next dinner party. Thanks again!
That makes me so happy Amber! If you ever want to show me a pic of something you make you can always tag me @bakerbettie on social media! I love to see what you guys are making!
Sorry I misspelled your name Baker Bettie ❤
I also added Herbes de Provence as well as and olive oil infused with rosemary and pink peppercorns. Food Lion makes a very good version of this for a more affordable option.
We just ate our first piece and it was absolutely amazing. I definitely recommend this recipe. Our family will be cooking it again very soon.
Thanks again baker Bettie ❤
All of those additions sound amazing Amber! So glad you enjoyed it!
Hi baker Bettie! My husband and I LOVE this recipe! We make it literally all the time! I was wondering if you’ve ever made it with bread flour vs all purpose. I know bread flour has more protein but I’m not experienced in what this means for this type of bread. I appreciate your thoughts! Thank you for sharing your recipe!
Hi Jessica! Yes, you can use bread flour! The higher protein content will produce a stronger gluten structure which will add more chew to your bread. I haven’t made this specific recipe with it, but it will work well! You might not need quite as much flour! let me know how it turns out!