This easy (and we mean EASY!) homemade bread recipe is sure to be a hit! Homemade dutch oven bread that's ready in just a few hours - no overnight rise. Crispy crust on the outside and soft, airy bread on the inside! Vegetarian.
WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT THIS BREAD. ⬆⬆⬆ ⬇⬇⬇
What you need to know about this crusty bread:
- It's ready in under three hours. No overnight rise necessary!
- It's ultra-forgiving. Read through ALL of our recipe notes for best results!
- No Dutch oven? You can still make great bread - check out this post for our best tried-and-true alternatives.
- YOU CAN MAKE THIS BREAD ⬇⬇⬇. I PROMISE.
The basic order of operations for this artisan bread:
The instructions may look a little long, but they're all basically just notes on technique - so don't let the number of steps intimidate you!
After a couple of adventures with this bread, you'll be able to throw it together in your sleep.
- Mix the dough (10 minutes) This is a very slack dough (also known as a wet or sticky dough) - it won't form a ball or be immediately elastic like some recipes you might be used to! The dough will be shaggy and somewhat sticky, but it will smooth out as the gluten develops while it rises and again when it's time to shape.
- Let the dough rise (1 hour) Kick back, relax, and let your dough do it's thing!
- Shape the dough (5 minutes) Lightly flour a cutting board, tip the dough out, and gently form it into a round loaf (watch the videos below to see exactly how we do this!)
- Let the dough rise one final time (30 minutes) When your dough is shaped, pop it into a medium-sized bowl or proofing basket to rise for 30 minutes while you preheat the oven.
- Bake (45 minutes) Carefully transfer the bread to your preheated Dutch oven (or use an alternative method!) I like to use a piece of parchment paper to make it easier to lift the bread in and out of the pot. Bake for 30 minutes with the lid on, then remove the lid and bake another 10-15 minutes to help the bread develop more color.
- Let the bread cool, slice, and enjoy!
If you're serious about homemade bread, you may enjoy using a proofing basket (it's one of my favorite kitchen tools!) to help the bread keep its shape while it rises. You also end up with beautiful flour rings on the crust! We like to use an 8- to 9-inch proofing basket for a single loaf of bread.
If you don't have a proofing basket, no worries! Just use a medium-sized (8- or 9-inch diameter) mixing bowl to let the bread do its final rise before you bake it. Flour the bowl well to prevent sticking!
The crackly brown crust here is the result of baking this bread in a Dutch oven. By keeping the lid on while the bread bakes, you create a nice steamy atmosphere inside the pot - and the steam is what gives the bread that crispy, magical crust. (Read more about the importance of steam in bread baking here!)
HOMEMADE BREAD FAQ
This section is LONG - but we wanted to cover the most frequent questions we get! Feel free to skip right to the recipe, but please do utilize this section if you run into questions while you're baking. For additional training videos, tips, and recipes, check out Everyday Artisan Bread!
- My dough feels too wet. This is a very slack (wet) dough - the dough should feel quite shaggy and a bit sticky when mixed. This dough should NOT pull away from the sides of a bowl into a smooth, elastic ball like other recipes you may have used. Don't worry - it will become more elastic as gluten develops while the dough rises! If you are still worried about the consistency of the dough, feel free to mix in more flour ¼ cup at a time - especially if you measured your flour by volume (in cups, which can frequently result in using too much or too little flour) rather than by weight with a kitchen scale.
- Related: Please use a kitchen scale! If you already have a scale, please use it. Just set the scale to grams, place an empty bowl or container on top, set the scale to zero, and add your ingredients until it reaches the right weight. If you don't have a scale, you can still make great bread without it - just make sure to follow the notes in the recipe below - but if you plan to bake bread a lot, a scale is definitely worth the investment!
- Can I use rapid rise or instant yeast for this recipe? Yes - just reduce the amount of yeast to 1 ½ teaspoons (about 25% less than we use with Active Dry Yeast).
- How do I stop the bottom of my loaf from burning or overbaking? There are a bunch of ways to adjust if the bottom of your bread is burning! 1. use an oven thermometer to check the true temperature of your oven (I've had ovens that are off by as much as 40 degrees in one direction!) 2. Make sure your oven rack is in the center of your oven (or, if burning occurs while baking in the center of your oven, move your rack one notch farther away from your heat source). 3. Try placing a sheet pan directly underneath your Dutch oven when baking to redistribute some of the heat, or 4. preheating your Dutch oven for half the time. 5. Some testers also have good luck placing a baking steel or pizza stone on the rack directly below the Dutch oven, again to redistribute some of the heat. 6. Make sure to use a piece of parchment paper to lift the bread in and out of your Dutch oven. 7. Dust the bottom of your loaf with a thin layer of cornmeal before placing it into the Dutch oven to form a barrier between the dough and the hot surface. 8. Try preheating and baking at a slightly lower temperature (between 425 and 450 degrees F) OR preheating at the suggested temperature of 460 and then turning the oven down to 425 degrees F once you put the bread in. Don't worry if it takes a few tries to find your sweet spot - ovens and equipment can vary wildly when it comes to heat distribution, and a big part of bread baking is figuring out your oven's own unique quirks so you can consistently get the results you want!
- Can I double this recipe? Yes - double everything except the yeast in this recipe for best results*. After the first rise, divide the dough in half and form two loaves (our preference) or form one large loaf. If you bake a large loaf, you will likely need to extend the bake time and it may not cook quite as evenly - just keep an eye on it and use your best judgment! (*the converter in the recipe card below may tell you to double the yeast as well, but you really don't need to. We just can't figure out how to turn the converter off *facepalm*)
- Can I halve this recipe for a smaller loaf? Yes! We have a scaled-down version of this recipe (with adjusted measurements and instructions!) in our Small Batch Crusty Bread post.
- How hot should my water be? A good rule of thumb is "warm to the touch." Too-hot water (typically 130-140 degrees F and above) will kill your yeast, but use too-cold water and your yeast will take too long to activate. We typically use water that's between 95 and 110 degrees Fahrenheit for our Active Dry Yeast. You should be able to comfortably hold your hand under water running at about 100 degrees - it should feel warm, but not hot. Use a kitchen thermometer for a precise measurement if you like!
- A note about salt: Every brand of salt will perform a little differently. If you're measuring by volume, using Morton Kosher Salt, 1 ¼ teaspoons is usually plenty. If you're using Diamond Crystal Kosher Salt, you may want to use 1 ½ teaspoons since it's significantly lighter/less salty than other brands. If you're using table salt, you'll typically be fine sticking to 1 ¼ teaspoons, but if you prefer less salt in your food, you can dial it back to 1 teaspoon. We recommend measuring your salt by weight to keep things simple!
- What kind of Dutch oven should I use? We recommend using a 4- to 6-Quart Dutch oven. We have tested our artisan crusty bread recipes in Le Creuset, Lodge, Staub, and Marquette Castings Dutch ovens. All work well! Le Creuset and Staub are generally our favorite brands - they do a great job of controlling and evenly distributing heat, and are especially easy to clean. Lodge and Marquette Castings also work well (though if you're used to a Le Creuset, you may notice some differences) and are perfect if you're looking for a budget-friendly option.
- Can I bake this bread without a Dutch oven? Definitely! Read this post for our favorite Dutch oven alternatives (you likely have most of them in your kitchen already!)
- What kind of flour should I use? After extensive testing, we recommend King Arthur All Purpose Flour or Bob's Red Mill All Purpose Flour. If you have bread flour and would like to use it, you certainly can! But it's not necessary. If you don't have Bob's or King Arthur, use whatever All Purpose Flour you have on hand (but add one of those brands to your list for next time - you'll notice a difference!) The only flour we do NOT recommend is Pillsbury - it was consistently the toughest flour to work with in our testing and always created a dough that tore rather than stretched (which we don't want here!)
- How should I store this bread? Store half-loaves cut-side down on a cutting board on the counter for up to 24 hours (no need to cover!) to keep the crust crispy and the interior moist. Store sliced bread in an airtight container in the freezer for 3-4 months (toast it up as needed!) or in an airtight container on the counter for 3-4 days. Freeze a full loaf by wrapping the bread in plastic wrap and popping into the freezer for 3-4 months, then defrost on the counter for a few hours when you're ready to eat (we prefer to avoid plastic, but haven't found a better alternative for this yet - bee's wrap just doesn't do as good of a job here!)
- Can I make this bread with whole wheat flour? Yes! Check out our whole wheat crusty bread recipe.
- My bread didn't rise, or it doesn't have enough big air pockets. Because this is a quick bread recipe with a short rise time, it will typically be a shorter loaf with a tighter crumb (fewer air pockets) than a sourdough recipe or a yeast bread that rises for 8+ hours. If you'd like bigger air pockets and/or a taller loaf of bread, give the gluten in the dough more time to develop by mixing the dough, covering with plastic wrap or a reusable bowl cover, and letting it rise in the fridge overnight. The next day, bring dough to room temperature on the counter, shape and bake as directed! PS - We have a ton of different baking timelines and tips like this in our course!
- Can I add fruits, flavors, or other mix-ins to this bread? Yes! Check out our Roasted Garlic & Rosemary Crusty Bread or our Easy Crusty Asiago Bread for a few of our favorite flavors. Add fresh or dried herbs, spices, roasted garlic, nuts, or dried fruit to the dough right when you mix it. For anything that may release more moisture - fresh fruit, olives, etc. - we recommend folding it in as you shape the bread. Pull the dough into a large circle, spread an even layer of mix-ins across it, then fold dough into the center as directed and repeat until you've added all of the mix-ins.
- Why did my loaf flatten or not hold its shape? Typically, this happens when we haven't built enough strength into the dough before baking. Because this is a relatively quick bread recipe, we lose out on the strength that builds while gluten networks develop over a long rise - so we build strength into the dough by folding it over on itself many times during shaping. If your loaf isn't as tall as you'd like, first be sure to thoroughly mix the dough so that no dry bits of flour remain. You may also want to knead the dough a few times by hand (you can do this right in the mixing bowl) or let your mixer run an extra minute or two with the dough hook attachment. Next, while the dough does its first rise, you can perform one set of "stretch and folds" at the half hour mark to increase strength. Finally, when shaping the dough, be sure to fold the dough over on itself several times until the dough feels tight and begins to resist your folding. Keep in mind that because this bread is made on a quick timeline, it won't typically rise as high as a hearty sourdough loaf or other bread that has had hours or even days to proof. We cover a ton of techniques to bake taller, more open bread in our online course.
- Why don't you transfer the dough to an oiled bowl during the first rise? We don't find it's necessary to add this extra step with this quick recipe, and we wanted to keep it as simple as possible. We just let the dough rise right in the mixing bowl and then run our hands under cold water to coax the dough out without sticking when it's time to tip the dough onto the cutting board. You can absolutely transfer the mixed dough to a lightly oiled bowl for its first rise if you like! A previous version of this recipe had you add a dusting of flour during this first rise; we omitted this step in later revisions to simplify the instructions.
- What is the hydration of this loaf? If you're familiar with baker's percentages, this bread is about 75% hydration by weight as written.
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VIDEO 1: HOW TO MAKE CRUSTY BREAD WITH A STAND MIXER (NO PROOFING BASKET)
VIDEO 2: HOW TO MAKE ARTISAN BREAD BY HAND (WITH PROOFING BASKET)
VIDEO 3: HOW TO SHAPE A LOAF OF BREAD (TUTORIAL)
This video tutorial is an excerpt from our online course, Everyday Artisan Bread!
📖 Recipe
Easy Crusty French Bread
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Inactive Time: 1 hour 30 minutes
- Cook Time: 45 mins
- Total Time: 2 hours 30 minutes
- Yield: 1 loaf (about 6-8 servings) 1x
- Category: Bread
- Cuisine: American
- Diet: Vegan
Description
Easy dutch oven bread ready in just a few hours - no overnight rise needed.
Ingredients
- 2 ¼ teaspoons active dry yeast (9 grams)
- 1 teaspoon sugar (4 grams) (use honey if you prefer)
- 1 ¼ cups warm water (300 grams)
- 1 ¼ teaspoons (8 grams) kosher salt
- 2 ½ to 3 ½ cups All-Purpose Flour (400 grams) plus extra for dusting (see recipe notes)
Instructions
MIX THE DOUGH & FIRST RISE (1 HOUR):
- Combine yeast, sugar, and warm water in a large mixing bowl (you can also use a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook).
- Let the yeast proof for about 5 minutes, until the mixture is foamy.
- Add flour to bowl. Mix with a sturdy spatula until the dough starts to come together, then add salt and mix until all ingredients are incorporated. For best results, mix until no dry bits of flour remain. Note: This is a relatively slack (wet) dough, so it may seem a bit shaggy and sticky at this point. Don't worry - it will become more smooth and elastic as we go!
- Cover bowl with a clean tea towel and let rise on the counter for about 1 hour, until dough has doubled in size.
SHAPE THE DOUGH & FINAL RISE (30 MIN):
- When dough has risen, lightly flour a large cutting board.
- Tip the dough out of the bowl and onto the cutting board. DO NOT PUNCH THE DOUGH DOWN - you want to keep all those nice air bubbles intact so you have an airy, delicious loaf of bread. (Note: If the dough is sticking to the bowl a little bit, wet your hand with a bit of cold water and gently separate the dough from the bowl to get it all out).
- Shape the dough into a round loaf: Pull each corner of the dough in towards the center (like you're folding an envelope) and repeat until the dough feels tight and begins to resist your folds. Flip the dough over and pull it into a round loaf. Watch the video(s) above to see exactly how we do this!
- Flour a proofing basket or a medium bowl and place your loaf into it seam-side down. Cover with a tea towel and let rise another 30 minutes or so while you preheat the oven. Note: I like to line my proofing basket or mixing bowl with a clean linen napkin to distribute the flour more evenly and help with cleanup.
HEAT THE OVEN :
- While bread is rising, place an empty dutch oven (with the lid on) in your oven and heat to 460 degrees Fahrenheit.
BAKE!
- When the oven is hot, you're ready to go! Use oven mitts to pull the dutch oven out and remove the lid.
- Lay a piece of parchment paper down on your counter or cutting board (optional - it makes transferring the bread easier!)
- Tip your bread dough gently out of the proofing basket onto the parchment paper. Make sure the seam side is up this time - this is what will create those beautiful cracks on top of the bread!
- VERY CAREFULLY (without burning yourself!) use the sides of the parchment to lift the bread up and place it into the hot Dutch oven.
- Put your oven mitts back on, place the dutch oven lid back on the pot, and slide the whole thing back into your hot oven.
- Cook bread for 30 minutes.
- After 30 minutes, remove the lid from your dutch oven. The bread should be taller, crusty, and very lightly browned. Continue cooking the bread, uncovered, for 10-15 minutes more until the bread has deepened in color and you have a beautiful brown crust.
- When bread is done, use oven mitts to pull the pot out of your oven.
- Use a long spatula or the corners of your parchment paper to lift the bread out of the dutch oven and onto a cooling rack. Let cool for at least 30 minutes before cutting into it.
- Slice, slather with butter, and enjoy!
Notes
How to measure flour: If you have a kitchen scale, please use it! Measuring by weight is MUCH more accurate than measuring by volume (with cups) and will give you more consistent bread. That being said, you can certainly make great bread without a kitchen scale! To measure flour in cups: If you measure flour by dipping your cup straight into the bag or bin and shaking off the excess, plan to use about 2 ½ cups of flour. If you measure by stirring the flour with a spoon or scoop before scooping it into a measuring cup and leveling it off, plan to use about 3 cups of flour. You can always add more flour if you need to - just be aware that this is a relatively slack (wet) dough, so it will be a bit shaggy and sticky at first (but it will smooth out and become more elastic as it rises and again as you shape it!)
Equipment. We recommend a 4- to 6-quart Dutch oven for best results. Le Creuset and Staub are our favorites, but Marquette Castings and Lodge also make solid options that are more budget-friendly. If you don't have a Dutch oven, see this post for alternative baking methods (you can still make great bread without fancy equipment!) Please make sure that your Dutch oven is fitted with a metal (rather than plastic) knob on its lid for best results, and please check the care instructions on your individual equipment before baking. We use this 8.5-inch proofing basket, but an 8- or 9-inch banneton or medium-sized mixing bowl also work well for the final rise.
PLEASE READ THE POST ABOVE FOR OUR COMPLETE FAQs, TIPS, AND ADVICE. We've gotten so many amazing questions from you - we wanted to be sure to answer as many as we can as thoroughly as we can, but if we put our answers here in the recipe it would make it very annoying to print. Please check the FAQ section in the post above if you have a question or run into a problem!
Love this recipe? We'd love to see you in our online course, Everyday Artisan Bread, where we share exclusive training videos, worksheets, and ad-free recipes!
Nutrition
- Serving Size: ⅙ of a loaf
- Calories: 250
- Sugar: 0.9 g
- Sodium: 585.5 mg
- Fat: 0.8 g
- Carbohydrates: 52.2 g
- Protein: 7.5 g
- Cholesterol: 0 mg
HUNGRY FOR MORE? OUR FAVORITE BREAD RECIPES AND RESOURCES:
How to Bake Crusty Bread Without a Dutch Oven
Roasted Garlic and Rosemary Bread
Easy Crusty Asiago Bread
Small Batch Crusty Bread (Perfect for Two!)
Jalapeño cheddar loaf
Viva Priest
I haven't tasted it yet, however it looks perfect!!!! Thank you for sharing a simple recipe. My husband could smell it, said he couldnt wait!
Rhonda @ Life As A Strawberry
Glad it worked for you - and the smells are all part of baking bread! Enjoy!
Bettina Scattino
Wenn ich frische Hefe verwende,wieviel gramm
muss ich nehmen?
Linda
I’ve made this bread several times and it always turns out great! Just wondering if you have a recipe for multi-grain bread that will have a crust similar to this one? The nearest thing I can see is your cranberry pecan loaf but I’m looking for something more grainy that works for breakfast toast. Thanks!
Rhonda @ Life As A Strawberry
So glad you love this recipe! We don't have a recipe on Life As A Strawberry for multi-grain bread, but our Everyday Artisan Bread Course has a whole section on bread flavors and riffs including nine-grain and whole wheat breads. It has multiple sections on sourdough and is also loaded with experiments, videos, and helpful information to help up your bread baking journey. Happy Baking!
Kjellsea
I've made this many times now and everyone loves it! I'm wondering if you have any suggestions on using this recipe to from rolls? I'm thinking of forming the rolls before the second rise and then placing them all in the Dutch oven to bake together in a loose pull apart.
Rhonda @ Life As A Strawberry
We have made these into rolls and it works great. You can also bake them in a baking pan and use the methods outlined in the How To Make Crusty Bread Without A Dutch Oven post. If you want a soft dinner roll we also have the Salted Dinner Rolls (With Video!) post.
Mariah
Absolutely love this recipe and have made it a number of times now!! Silly question, can I score it after its second rise?
Rhonda @ Life As A Strawberry
So glad you are loving this recipe. Yes, you can score it after the second rise. For this, I'd score the non-seam side and place it down in the proofing basket (so seam side is up). Then when you tip it out of the proofing basket you'll have the scores up when baking.
mamaderms
This is THE MOST delicious easy bread! I served it with a bolognese sauce/pasta and then made sandwiches the next day. YUM! I followed the video which was super helpful. Highly recommend!
Rhonda @ Life As A Strawberry
So glad you love this recipe and video!
Jeff
This is my second time making this recipe.
When initially mixed together, I use the paddle attachment of my KitchenAid stand mixer until well mixed. Once mixed, cover with kitchen towel and let it autolyse for 12 minutes. Then attach kneading hook and mix for 12 minutes on speed 3. It makes for excellent gluten formation.
Also, weigh and use a kitchen thermometer; you won’t have troubles with this recipe.
Rhonda @ Life As A Strawberry
So glad you like it and added an autolyse step!
Toni
Absolutely loved this recipe! I have been baking desserts all my life and never explored bread making. I made it once and my entirely family loved it. I've made 8 loaves so far. Im a visual learner so it really helped to watch the video. I plan on signing up for the classes soon.
Toni from California
Rhonda @ Life As A Strawberry
So glad you loved it! The class will show you so much more!
Lucy
I’ve made this before many times and it’s always great however I want to double it for a large loaf, is this possible? If so how do I adjust the cook time?
Rhonda @ Life As A Strawberry
Yes - double everything except the yeast in this recipe for best results*. After the first rise, divide the dough in half and form two loaves (our preference) or form one large loaf. If you bake a large loaf, you will likely need to extend the bake time and it may not cook quite as evenly - just keep an eye on it and use your best judgment! (*the converter in the recipe card may tell you to double the yeast as well, but you really don't need to. We just can't figure out how to turn the converter off *facepalm*)
KATHY FROM MINNEAPOLIS
I could not get the active dry yeast to foam. I tried it with water at 110 degrees and got a few bubbles but no foam. I tried a second time at 130 (package instructions) and still just bubbles, although a bit more of them. I bought the yeast the day before.
Any ideas? I didn't want to give low stars because I don't think it's the recipe.
Rhonda @ Life As A Strawberry
Without being in the kitchen with you, it's hard to know for sure. The first thing I'd try is taking your water temperature down, 130°F is too hot and will kill the yeast, and 110°F might be too hot, especially if your thermometer isn't calibrated exactly. Try around 105°F. Give the yeast, sugar (which helps activate the yeast), and warm water a stir and let it sit in a warm place for about 5 minutes. Depending on how active the yeast is, you should see bubbles and it should look foamy.
Gary Bayless
I made the no knead easy french bread and I absolutely loved it. I was wondering though. Do you have a low sodium version of this rexipe?
Rhonda @ Life As A Strawberry
So glad you love this! We don't have an actual low sodium version but feel free to reduce the amount of salt in the recipe. We don't recommend you eliminate the salt (I did that once and not good!) but you can reduce it by half. It will affect the flavor a little, but if you're used to low sodium cooking, I think you'll be fine.
June Vanlinter
List of ingredients is 5 to 7 cups of flour. How to measure flour: says the most you should use is 3 cups depending how you measure. It also suggests using a scale but I couldn’t find how much one cup should weight. Very frustrating!
Rhonda @ Life As A Strawberry
The recipe ingredients actually say 2 1/2 to 3 1/2 cups flour for 1x the recipe. It will say 5-7 cups flour if you have the 2x recipe button selected at the top of the recipe card. When using the scale buttons the calculations don't apply to the notes - there's no way for the program to know if you're using a number for something else or as a measurement. The note for 'How to measure flour' is really saying use a scale if you can and if you are measuring by volume FOR ONE TIMES THE RECIPE use between 2 1/2 and 3 cups of flour.
Try making sure you have the 1x selected and you should see the amounts matching the notes. When you use the scale buttons you'll need to remember that and adjust the notes accordingly.
L
The bottom of my loaf came out black and burnt after the first covered 30 mins in my Dutch oven even though I did a slightly lower oven temp. Any way to easily avoid burning the bottom?
Rhonda @ Life As A Strawberry
Oh No! We want that high heat to give us our oven spring but here are a few things to check:
1) see if your oven runs hot by using an oven thermometer. If it's hot you can adjust the temperature down to match what it should be.
2) make sure you're using a heavy duty Dutch oven. I have a thinner Dutch oven that tends to burn things at high heat.
To help prevent the bottom from getting over done, place a heavy duty sheet pan under the Dutch oven.
Rachel
I measured with a scale but it came out extremely sticky after rising. I’m not sure if this was the appropriate way to remedy the situation but I added more flour and folded it in. Had to add quite a bit and I lost quite a bit of the dough sticking to everything. Not sure what I did wrong! 😩
Meagan
Same situation as well! Waiting now to see how the baking goes. Next time I may try to measure in cups instead of scale. Been a while since I've had time to bake, and I liked a lot of the other elements of this recipe and how helpful the videos were, too!
Rhonda @ Life As A Strawberry
Glad to see you know baking is technique combined with practice! Make sure you're using a high protein flour (King Arthur or Bob's Red Mill) or bread flour. Humidity can cause issues with your dough, let rise in a microwave (when off) to help reduce the humidity a little. Add a few folds into the dough (see the post for more on this) during the 1st rise.
Let us know how it turns out and if you have any other questions!
Rhonda @ Life As A Strawberry
It's hard to know exactly what is happening without being in the kitchen with you. This dough will be sticky, it should not pull away from the sides of the bowl, and you may need to wet your hands to get it out of the bowl onto a lightly floured surface to shape it into your loaf. The dough should tighten up as you follow our shaping guidelines.
It sounds like you used a scale which is fantastic and our number one issue with sticky dough! Other common things to look for when your dough seems 'over-sticky'.
FLOUR: Make sure you're using a high protein flour. Make sure your flour isn't gluten free. We've found that King Arthur or Bob's Red Mill All Purpose or bread flour work the best. If you're using a generic flour (especially with Pillsbury flour) you run the risk of a sticky dough. Mixing in extra flour while making the dough, to get the dough feel you want, is fine.
ENVIRONMENT: environmental factors, like humidity, can affect the dough. Try placing the dough in the microwave (microwave off!) to rise. That may help reduce the humidity during the rise.
FOLDING: You can add in a few folds during the 1st rise. This will help develop the gluten in the dough and should make it less sticky.
While we don't like dough to be difficult to work with, a wet (sticky) dough will still produce a delicious loaf of bread.
There are a lot of tips in the post about the dough texture and flour that might be useful to read through again.
A final note of encouragement, bread baking is technique combined with lots of practice. It'll get easier the more you do it! Please let us know how your next loaf turns out and what you adjusted.
Karla
So yummy and easy! I wasn't sure if I needed to knead it or not (some comment responses say it doesn't require kneading, and it's not listed in the instructions, but other comment responses say to mix for 10 minutes by hand or with a mixer- which is mentioned in the blog post, but not the instructions). I wasn't sure, so I just didn't bother kneading because the dough was too sticky and I didn't want to incorporate unnecessary flour. It still came out great : )
Rhonda @ Life As A Strawberry
So glad you loved it! Kneading is totally optional, some people love the process and relax when kneading, others hate it. The bread doesn't 'need to be kneaded' but it also won't hurt the outcome - if you decide you want to release some tension then knead away!
Jonna
I have a Bosch mixer I added 3 cups of flour and it was dry I had to add a bit of water we will see I wanted to try bc I had gotten a bread cloche but it was smaller than expected I will be dividing into the cloche and a dutch oven I'm excited tho
Rhonda @ Life As A Strawberry
It sounds like you measured your flour by volume (using a measuring cup) instead of by weight (using a scale). It is SUPER easy to be heavy on the flour when using measuring cups. We recommend using a kitchen scale when measuring flour. If you have to measure by volume, start with 2 1/2 cups flour, add in additional flour in small increments until the dough has the texture and feel you want.
NOTE: Our Everyday Artisan Bread Course has a whole section on a flour measuring experiment we did.