Cracked Pepper & Garlic No Knead Bread

Ready for some no knead magic? This savory, peppery bread is crazy easy, some may even call it foolproof. I’ve got a few tips and tricks up my sleeve for creating the perfect loaf, but you can bake the best bread of your life on your very first attempt! READY?

Ok, first watch the video below and you’ll see how super simple this is. The printable recipe (available at the bottom of the post) has detail instructions, but first, some video inspiration!

The secret of no knead bread:

The secret to making awesome, rustic, artisan bread with very little effort is so simple…it’s just TIME.

This recipe only includes one fourth of a tsp. of yeast, which in bread baking is really very little. But that little bit of yeast will work all the starches in your flour into a delighful, sticky dough, if only you can be patient and let it do it’s work.

This dough needs to rise, alone and undisturbed, but 12-18 hours. Basically for me, that’s just set and forget overnight, and bake when I get around to it the next day. So. Easy.

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Quick note on choosing the right ingredients:

Quality flour will make all the difference here! I love Bob’s Red Mill Artisan Bread Flour. Any Bread Flour will do well, and even an all purpose flour will make a very good bread.

But if you have the chance to try out some high quality bread flour, you’ll notice how much more “artisan” the texture becomes with a great flour! I also like King Arthur Bread Flour.

I have use minced garlic for this recipe, I consider it a pantry staple! Fresh or canned minced garlic will also work. The dried garlic is quite potent so you may need to experiment with the amount of fresh or canned garlic that you use. It’s very flexible and mostly a matter of your personal taste!

Ingredients for Cracked Pepper & Garlic Bread:

3 cups bread flour

¼ tsp. dry active yeast

1 ¼ tsp. salt 

1 T. dried minced garlic

1 tsp. cracked black pepper

1 ⅝ cups water

Mixing Instructions:

You’ll want a big mixing bowl and a wooden spoon for this. Mix together everything except the water in the bowl, then dump the water in all at once and mix it up into a big shaggy ball of dough!

It will be sticky and lumpy and weird looking. That’s good! Cover it with plastic wrap or a lid, and set it out of the way for the 12-18 hour rise.

You’ll be tempted to mix it around. Resist! Those little yeasts are working away beneath the surface, be patient!

After the dough has risen, it will be a bubbly, stick substance. Don’t worry, this is great!

Forming the loaf:

(Note: before you start forming your loaf, get your oven good and hot to 500 degrees Fahrenheit. Put a cast iron skill in the oven to heat up, too!)

Dump the sticky dough out onto a very well floured surface. Don’t knead, just stretch the dough and fold it over itself a few times. Tuck all the edges under to form a nice ball, or “boule”. Be careful not to mash the bubbles out of the dough!

I leave plenty of flour on my loaf because I like the rustic texture it creates, but this is up to you. I let the loaf rest for about 15 minutes.

After the dough has rested, I slash the top with a serrated knife. I do have a special “scoring tool” called a lame, and it’s super awesome. However, a sharp serrated knife also works very well. Slash quick and deep, and don’t smash the bubbles out of the dough!

Baking your loaf:

Your oven should be very hot at 500 degrees Fahrenheit, and you should have a cast irons skillet heated in the oven. Transfer your loaf to the hot pan and get ready to pop it into the oven.

This next step is optional, but it will help your bread to form an amazing crust. For the best artisan style crust, you need to form steam in the oven just as the loaf goes in.

Some bakers us a spray bottle of water and spray inside the oven to create this steam. I have found that the easiest way for me is to just throw a few ice cubes in right before I pop the bread in.

The steam in the oven will allow your bread to expand for longer before the crust hardens, and give you bigger bubbles and a better texture!

Just look at those bubbles!

This bread bakes for 30 minutes. If you divide your dough to make smaller loaves, you will not need to bake for that long. Also, take note that different ovens cook differently (especially if you have a convection oven) so you may need to adjust your bake time by a few minutes.

Your printable recipe (below) has an area for notes. Use area this to improve your method every time!

I know it can seem intimidating to attempt artisan bread. I mean, don’t bakers spend years perfecting their skills?

You bet they do! But please don’t let that stop you from just going for it right now! Of course you will learn things along the way, but you can make killer bread with this method right from the get go! Don’t wait!

And grab my FREE ebook on no knead breads. The recipes are very simple, no baking experience required. You’ll be a legendary bread wizard in no time! Bake on!

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