Artisan White Honey Bread made with 5 Ingredients.
This recipe is made with 5 ingredients: water, flour, yeast, salt, & honey.
If you have never made bread before then this recipe is a great place to start! I love that this recipe doesn’t require the use of a bread machine or for you to spend any time kneading dough. You just mix it up in a bowl & let it rise. The only thing hard about this recipe is having the patience to wait for the dough to rise. From start to finish it takes about 3 hours but the majority of that time is spent just waiting for the dough to rise & then bake in the oven.
Source: This recipe is adapted from the amazing book Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day by Jeff Hertzberg and Zoe Francois. The authors also have a great video on YouTube that is very helpful: Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day.
- 1½ Cups warm water
- ½ Tablespoons + ¼ Teaspoon Salt
- ½ Tablespoon Yeast (I used Red Star Quick-Rise Yeast)
- 3¼ Cups unbleached all-purpose flour
- ½ tablespoon raw honey
- Add yeast to large mixing bowl, next add warm water to activate the yeast.
- Add flour, honey & salt to the large mixing bowl & stir all the ingredients together.
- The bread should be just a little sticky but not too much, if it's really sticky & wet add a little extra flour, if the dough is super dry then add a little more water (sometimes I have to add a little extra water to mine).
- Cover the bowl but not airtight (I placed a clean kitchen towel over the top of the bowl) & let it rise for 2 hours.
- After 2 hours place the dough onto a well floured surface. If you want to make 2 smaller sized loafs of bread then divide the dough in half.
- Shape the dough by picking it up & using your hands to fold the edge of the dough under until you have a round loaf shape with smooth edges. Place onto a greased cookie sheet.
- Using a serrated knife cut the loaf (about a ¼ inch) into the center & then also make one about 1 inch to the left of center & one to the right so the top doesn't crack while its baking (See picture above).
- Let it rise for 40 more minutes.
- After the 40 minutes, preheat oven to 450 degrees BUT first place a metal 9x13 inch pan onto the bottom rack of your oven (*WARNING*: Do Not use glass, it can explode or shatter!)
- When the oven is preheated place cookie sheet with bread onto the middle rack of your oven then quickly add 1 cup of water to the bottom 9x13 pan you have on the bottom rack. This pan is used to create a steam in the oven while the bread bakes, in the end it will make your bread have a nice hard crusty texture on the outside but still be soft inside.
- Bake for 18-30 minutes or until the top & bottom are a nice golden brown color. If your making 2 small loaves it will probably be done in 18-20 minutes but if your making one large loaf it will take longer.
- Remove from oven & let it cool for awhile so it will slice easier, then enjoy!
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Would a dutch oven yield the same results as the water in the oven? In most of the recipes I have used, it has held in the steam well and yielded a similar result
I have used a dutch oven to bake bread and the results were not quiet the same. The crust was not nearly as crisp on the outside but it still works.
I’ve made it both ways. Without the dutch oven, the boule spreads too much for me. I preferred the shape, and the crust, using the Dutch oven.
Hi, I’m glad the recipe works for you using a dutch oven. They do produce a nice round loaf. I find that without one I need to wrap it tightly in a ball shape or else it does end up flatter then I would like. Thanks for taking the time to comment, we appreciate it.
Does this work well in a loaf pan?
I’ve never tried a loaf pan but it should work, you might need 2 pans and you might need to adjust the oven temperature and bake times,
I tried it with a dutch oven and it came out perfect!!, It had a great flavor!!
Cheryl, So glad the bread turned out for you using a dutch oven. Thanks for taking the time to comment, we appreciate it.