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Peasant Bread

June 22, 2023 by Julie - The Recipe Life Leave a Comment

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This no-knead Peasant Bread recipe takes simple pantry staples to make an easy no-fuss bread that’s ready in just a few hours.

Fluffy white peasant bread with a buttery crust sliced and ready to eat.

This is such a yummy bread recipe! With its stiff buttery crust and pillow-soft interior, our family can not get enough of it! It’s divine straight from the oven. We also love to use it as a snack for butter, Nutella, or jelly bread, but it’s hearty enough for sandwiches as well.

What is Peasant Bread?

Before we go any further, some of you might be asking, “What really is peasant bread, and what makes it so special?” Peasant bread is rustic bread made of simple ingredients and requires no kneading. It has a stiffness to the crust and a crumble when cut. Peasant bread is special because of its simplicity and universal basic bread flavor that is perfect for breakfast, lunch, or dinner.

Easy No-Knead Homemade Bread

This homemade peasant bread recipe is quick, easy, and a great beginner’s baker recipe. If you have been wanting to make your own homemade bread, this is your sign!

For this recipe, I prefer to use two 9×5-inch bread loaf pans. I have also used just one loaf pan before. Both times made a loaf of great tasty bread. We love smaller loaves because they are easier to slice and have more of that tasty crust.

Freshly baked peasant bread with a crunchy butter-flavored crust.

Ingredients for Peasant Bread

  • 4 cups of all-purpose flour or bread flour
    • I have used both bleached all-purpose flour and unbleached bread flour with this recipe with success.
  • 2 teaspoons kosher salt
    • Corse or fine works.
  • 2 teaspoons sugar
    • Granulated sugar
  • 2 teaspoons instant yeast
  • 2 cups of lukewarm water (water right around 110°F)
    • Add together 1.5 cups of cold water and add .5 cups of boiling water.
  • 1-2 tablespoons Butter, softened to room temperature
    • The secret to the amazing crust is the butter.
All six ingredients of this easy peasant bread recipe.

How to make Peasant Bread

First, mix the dough. In a large, non-metal bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, sugar, and yeast. Then mix in the lukewarm water with a fork, ensuring all the flour is incorporated.

  • Flour, sugar, salt, and yeast in a large bowl ready to be whisked together.
  • Flour, salt, sugar, and yeast whisked together and ready to add the wet ingredients.
  • All the ingredients of peasant bread in a large bowl ready to mix.
  • Sticky peasant bread dough ready to start rising.

Next, cover the bowl with a tea towel, set the bowl in a warm spot, and let it rise for at least one hour until it has doubled in size. In the summer, that can be by a window but not in direct light. In the winter, I will use the bread-proof option in my oven and set the bowl there to rise. The temperature should not get above 100°F.

  • Freshly mixed bread dough ready to rise in a large bowl with a light towel covering the bowl.
  • Risen peasant bread dough in a bowl.

After it’s risen, preheat the oven to 425°F. Butter the sides of your loaf pan(s). (I prefer to see two 9×5 loaf pans.) Next, punch down or deflate your bread dough. Then with a silicone spatula, gently pull away the dough from the sides of the bowl towards the center. Once you have pulled the dough from all sides of the bowl, split the dough in half with the spatula and roll one portion into your butter loaf pan. Repeat with the second half. Then let the dough rest and rise in a warm spot for 20 minutes while the oven preheats. Do not cover your dough, or use a warm oven for the second rise.

  • Two, one glass and one metal, bread pans with the inside sides buttered.
  • A photo showing how to pull away the bread dough from the sides of the bowl with a silicone spatula.
  • Half of the bread dough resting in a buttered loaf pan for the second rise.
  • Two loaves of peasant bread rising in buttered loaf pans.

Bake the peasant bread at 425°F for 15 minutes. Then reduce the heat to 375°F and bake for 15 minutes. Make sure the sides of the bead are a deep golden brown. Immediately out of the oven, remove the loaves from the pan and cool on a wire rack for at least 10 minutes before cutting. Enjoy!

Two loaves of peasant bread cooling on a black wire rack.

Storing Peasant Bread

Store peasant bread on the counter for 3-5 days in an airtight container.

Slices of freshly baked peasant bread ready to eat.
Fluffy white peasant bread with a buttery crust sliced and ready to eat.

Peasant Bread

This Peasant Bread recipe is an easy no-fuss homemade bread recipe made from pantry staples that anyone can master!
Print Recipe Pin Recipe
Prep Time 10 minutes mins
Cook Time 30 minutes mins
Rising Time 1 hour hr 20 minutes mins
Course Appetizer, Breakfast, Side Dish, Snack
Cuisine American
Servings 2 loaves

Ingredients
  

  • 4 cups all-purpose flour or bread flour
  • 2 teaspoons kosher salt
  • 2 teaspoons sugar
  • 2 teaspoons instant yeast
  • 2 cups warm water water around 110°F, mix together 1.5c cold water and .5c boiling water
  • 1-2 tablespoons softened butter

Instructions
 

  • Mix the dough. In a large, non-metal bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, sugar, and yeast. Then mix the lukewarm water with a fork, ensuring all the flour is incorporated.
  • Cover the bowl with a tea towel, set the bowl in a warm spot, and let it rise for at least one hour until it has doubled in size. In the summer, that can be by a window but not in direct light. In the winter, I will use the bread-proof option in my oven and set the bowl there to rise. The temperature should not get above 100°F.
  • After it's risen, preheat the oven to 425°F. Butter the sides of your loaf pan(s). (I prefer to use two 9×5 loaf pans.) Next, punch down or deflate your bread dough. Then with a silicone spatula, gently pull away the dough from the sides of the bowl towards the center. Once you have pulled the dough from all sides of the bowl, split the dough in half with the spatula and roll one portion into your butter loaf pan. Repeat with the second half. Then let the dough rest and rise in a warm spot for 20 minutes while the oven preheats. Do not cover your dough, or use a warm oven for the second rise.
  • Bake the peasant bread at 425°F for 15 minutes. Then reduce the heat to 375°F and bake for 15 minutes. Make sure the sides of the bead are a deep golden brown. Immediately out of the oven, remove the loaves from the pan and cool on a wire rack for at least 10 minutes before cutting. Enjoy!
Keyword Peasant Bread

More Easy Recipes!

I must be in the easy stage of life. With my kids’ social schedules on the rise and summer booming, we barely have time to chat, much less prepare meals with courses. So here are some of our family’s favorite recipes that are working for us in this busy time of life.

Try out this Creamy Cottage Cheese Marinara Pasta recipe for a high-protein pasta and a super easy lunch option. Simply blend the sauce while the noodles cook and serve!

This Lazy Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars recipe is an easy recipe that uses yellow cake mix and chocolate chips for a perfectly yummy dessert! These disappear instantly. They are so good!

Tender lasagna noodles, a hearty meat sauce, and so much cheese; these traditional lasagna ingredients come together in a fun, new, less labor-intensive way with this Sheet Pan Lasagna recipe!

Filed Under: Food & Recipes, Side Dish, Snack Tagged With: kid-friendly, side dishes, snack

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