Easy Homemade Artisan Bread Recipe

Our entire family is home, and I’ve been baking bread every day. In this easy Homemade Artisan Bread Recipe, there are only four ingredients required. This simple recipe takes items straight out of your pantry such as all purpose flour, water, salt and yeast. We enjoy slow living and a back to basics lifestyle. What could be better than fresh bread smothered with sweet honey butter. The full recipe is at the bottom of this article.

Simple Ingredients:

I love recipes that only have a few ingredients, and this is one of them. We use all purpose flour and instant yeast. I enjoy using the coarsely ground pink Himalayan salt, but you can substitute any salt you have. It will be added to the water and will dissolve.

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Mixing Ingredients & Forming Dough:

Add the yeast to the water and lightly stir it. No need to wait, you can start mixing in the flour immediately. What makes this bread recipe special is that there is no kneading. You can form the dough on a baking stone or into the pan of your choice. A light dusting of flour on the surface and your hands will help you manage the sticky dough. Your children will love to help with this recipe, so get them involved in the baking.

Homemade Artisan Bread Recipe

1 tablespoon yeast (active dry, instant, quick rise, or bread machine)
3 cups lukewarm water 100°F
1 1/2 tablespoons pink Himalayan salt or other coarse salt
6 ½ cups of all-purpose flour

Add 3 cups of lukewarm water to a bowl. It should be slightly warmer than your body temperature at 100°F.

Mix the yeast, warm water, and salt. The yeast does not need to dissolve.

Add the flour to the yeast mixture and fully incorporate it with a spoon. Do not knead the dough, but be certain there are no dry patches of flour.

Loosely cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let the dough sit at room temperature to rise 2 hours. It should double in size.

You can refrigerate the dough for later use, but I like to use it that day. It will be sticky, so a flour dusting can help you to handle it.

Prepare your pan with butter or nonstick spray, if you want it formed into that shape. However, I like the rustic round loaves on a baking stone. Try not to overwork the dough when forming it.

To make your preferred shape dust your hands with flour and gently stretch the surface of the dough, tucking the ends underneath the ball and rotating as you go. Before baking, you can allow the dough to rest uncovered for an additional 45 minutes.

Bake your bread at 450° for 25 minutes or until the top starts to golden. Remove the bread from the oven and let cool. Serve with honey butter or your favorite spread.

Honey Butter Recipe

2 sticks of softened butter
¼ cup honey
½ cup powdered sugar

Whip butter, honey and powdered sugar with mixer until fluffy. Form into a log and refrigerate or freeze. You can also serve it scooped from a small dish.