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How to Make Perfect Artisan Bread {Step by Step Instructions and Pictures}

How to Make Perfect Artisan Bread

This How to Make Perfect Artisan Bread recipe has changed my life! That might be sad, but it’s true! I finally have a super easy bread recipe that tastes like it was made by a professional baker. I couldn’t be happier!  One day I was in a time crunch and needed bread to go with a meal. I decided to try making a French bread with my favorite pizza dough recipe, and I remembered a tip I had seen for getting a nice crust on the outside so I tried that as well. The result was amazing!

This bread makes wonderful garlic bread, perfect for panini’s and is delicious with soup! It also makes fabulous croutons! I hope you love this recipe as much as I do!

Delicious Roll Recipes

step by step instructions for How to Make Perfect Artisan Bread

  • Add yeast to warm water and allow to sit for 5 minutes.

Artisian Bread Step 1

Artisan Bread Step 2

  • Add sugar, salt, and olive oil to yeast water mixture.

Artisan Bread Step 3

  • Add four to five cups of flour. Start with four cups and add more as needed. Mix dough in the stand mixer or knead by hand until dough comes together and no longer sticks to edges of bowl. Once it is not sticking, continue to knead for 3-5 minutes.

Artisan Bread Step 4

  • With floured hands, divide dough into two equal pieces and form each piece into a ball. Place dough balls (4-5 inches apart) onto baking sheet sprinkled with cornmeal. Make sure each dough ball is coated generously with flour.
  • Using a serrated knife, make a tic-tac-toe design on the top of each dough ball.

Artisan bread Step 5

  • Cover loosely with plastic wrap and allow to rise for 40-60 minutes or until dough has doubled in size.

Artisan Bread Step 6

  • Preheat oven to 500 degrees.

Artisan Bread Step 7

  • Uncover dough that has doubled in size and place on the middle rack in your preheated oven.

Artisan Bread Step 8

  • Throw 3-4 ice cubes in the bottom of the oven and close door. This is the most important step that gives the dough an awesome chewy and slightly crusty outside!

Artisan Bread Step 9

  • Bake for 15-20 minutes or until bread is golden brown. 
  • Remove bread from oven and place bread on a cooling rack to cool.

Artisan Bread Step 10

  • Bread will slice easier when it is completely cooled.

Sliced Artisan Bread

Tips for making Perfect Artisan Bread
  • The warm water should be warm on your wrist, sort of like baby bathwater or a little warmer.
  • Coat the loaves with flour before covering them with plastic wrap to let them rise. You can also spray the plastic wrap with cooking spray to prevent the dough from sticking to the plastic wrap.
  • This bread freezes great and is so handy to have in the freezer for busy days! I freeze it whole and then slice it after it thaws. It stays fresher that way. It would still freeze well in single slices, but when possible, keep it whole.
  • I use 1 1/2 cups of whole wheat flour almost every time I make it for my family. I wouldn’t suggest using more than half whole wheat flour in this recipe. It makes it denser and changes the flavor some.

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How to Make Perfect Artisan Bread {Step by Step Instructions and Pictures}
 
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Throwing the ice cubes in your oven during baking is what gives the crust a nice chewy and a slight crusty outer crust. This bread only needs to rise once!
Author:
Recipe type: Crusty Artisan Bread
Ingredients
  • 2 cups warm water
  • 2 tsp yeast
  • 1½ tsp salt
  • 2 tsp sugar
  • 1 tsp olive oil
  • 4-5 cups flour
  • 2 tbsp cornmeal
Instructions
  1. Add yeast to warm water and allow to sit for 5 minutes.
  2. Sprinkle 2 tbsp cornmeal onto a large baking sheet.
  3. Add sugar, salt, and olive oil to yeast-water mixture.
  4. Add the flour starting with four cups.
  5. Mix in a stand mixer or knead by hand until dough comes together and no longer sticks to edges of bowl. You will most likely need to add the additional fifth cup of flour.
  6. Once dough is not sticking to the bowl, continue to knead for 3-5 minutes.
  7. With floured hands, divide dough into two equal pieces and form each piece into a ball.
  8. Place dough balls 4-5 inches apart on the baking sheet sprinkled with cornmeal.
  9. Generously coat each dough ball with flour.
  10. Using a serrated knife, make a tic-tac-toe design on the top of each ball.
  11. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and allow to rise for 40-60 minutes or until dough has doubled in size.
  12. Preheat oven to 500 degrees.
  13. Uncover dough that has doubled in size and place on middle rack in your preheated oven.
  14. Throw 3-4 ice cubes in the bottom of the oven and close door. This is the magic step that makes the crust on the bread AMAZING!
  15. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until bread is golden brown.
  16. Remove bread from oven and cool on rack.

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174 Comments

  3. Frankie

    Hi Maria,

    Came across your website last night and decided to try baking this bread this morning since my boys decided to wake me up at 5:45am this morning. I love how easy it is but I did run into some problems.

    1) my bread came out to heavy and dense. What did I do wrong? I used about 4 & 1/4 cups of flour when it was kneading in the KitchenAid but I thought the dough was sticky so I put it onto the counter with some flour and added a handful of flour and kneaded it some more until it was smooth. Did I add to much flour? Or over knead the dough?

    2) After 50 mins in the oven the bread felt and tasted very dense and my MIL said the middle was like slightly under cooked maybe. Could the under cooked feel be due to the bread being too heavy and dense? I did find some large pockets of holes here and there but other than that it was compact dense!! But tasted wonderful!!

    Please help!!

    Kindest regards
    Frankie

    p.s. my boys still loved the taste of it!!

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  13. Diana

    Dear Maria….I have been making bread for over 45 years, and I have to admit it may be only a few times a year because it’s always a “project” ….an all day affair.. Mix it, raise it, punch it down, raise it again, punch down and make it into loaves and raise it again! Today I was looking for a quick bread online and stumbled on your website. I have to tell you, this was VERY easy, and my husband loved it! When you consider that bread is $3.99 per loaf in the stores, one would have to be crazy not to make this at least once a week! I really could have started this project an hour before dinner and it would be piping hot with our meal! Can’t wait to further explore your website for more ideas. Sincerely, Diana

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  15. Evone Kent

    Now let me get this straight you only allow the dough to raise once? this actually sounds like my regular bread recipe except I used shortening and allow my dough to raise twice so is the use of olive oil and the once raised dough the difference in what makes it Artisan? Huh interesting. Let me know I am very interested in this once raise dough method it would sure make it go quicker:)

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  17. Ann

    Hi Maria

    I’m loving the feedback that you’re getting on your artisan bread. I am experimenting with bread for the first time, so I pray that I get it right the first time. My husband loves bread and eats LOTS of it, so I wanted to surprise him by making fresh homemade bread. My first question is do you use all-purpose or self-rising flour and my second question is how warm should my water be when dissolving the yeast? Thank you so much in advance 🙂

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    • Maria

      Hi Lisa,

      Glad you like the recipe. Letting it rise twice may make it less dense, I have never done that myself with this recipe, but it should and would be worth a try if you want a slightly fluffier bread. For pizza dough you can do one of two things, you can make it, form it in to two balls and let each of them raise (covered) for 30-60 minutes before rolling it out and making it into a pizza. Or you can make it in advance form the two balls, put them in large plastic bags in the fridge and them use them 8-10 hours or even the next day. I used to work at a pizza place and we would let the dough set overnight in the fridge. Good luck!

      Maria

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  24. Lily

    Hi, i am totally psyched that is found this recipe this morning. 6am with nothing to do and no bread in the house, then I came upon this recipe. I found other recipes that take over 3 hours but I was looking for something quick to feed my younger sister before she left for school today. Bread is rising now, I can’t wait to finish it!!

    Btw, I ran out of all-purpose flour, and ended up using the last cup with whole wheat flour. Would this affect the bread much?

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  25. Robin

    Hi, so I tried this recipe, and messed up badly.

    The bread that came out of the oven did not brown evenly, and was overall white. Cutting into it, more than half of the bread was uncooked. I left it in the oven at 500F for almost 25 minutes.
    I don’t think the dough rised properly, but it looked the same as your dough in the photo.
    Maybe it was my yeast? I used bread machine yeast, but it works fine for other recipes. Though there weren’t any bubbles or anything like yeast usually looks like after active.

    I’m going to buy some new yeast today, and try this recipe again (it looks so good, and I desperately want to get this right) so hopefully I can do better.

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  31. Peter

    I have been making all my own bread for a couple of years now. I find that using a starter sponge makes for much nicer bread. A better crumb texture. It takes no time to mix yeast and water the night before. This then bubbles up overnight and starts to develop flavour! Quick bread lacks flavour. The next evening I use the starter sponge together with the bulk of the flour plus salt, olive oil and water to make the dough. I get a good rise on the bread and fab bouncy texture (not the rather cake-like close texture of some homemade loaves). Once you’ve tried it there is no going back! Paul Hollywood is a good source for bread making advice.

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  32. Lori

    Maria, thanks for this recipe. I’m on a bread-making kick and enjoy the no-knead stuff…but not the fact that I need to plan for it the day before. Just took my loaves out of the oven and I’m delighted (as is my family). My new go-to recipe, for sure! As a full time working mom of three (plus a hungry husband), I appreciate being able to put homemade on the table without hours and hours of prep. 🙂

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  34. JUAN V.

    First time ever baking bread. I love bread. I followed all instructions as best I could but instead of yeast I used Clabber Girl “double acting” baking powder”. After mixing everything it seemed the dough was very sticky. So I just kept adding more and more flour until it would stick anymore. After I cooked it the outer crust was very hard. Could you give me some advice concerning the stickiness of the dough?
    and the hard crust? I did put a bit too much olive oil also.

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  45. HHosu

    I made this last night. AWESOME!!! It was easy to do. This says a lot because I use a bread machine all the time, but this recipe was so simple. Just to add, I do use bread flour because the bread doesn’t come out as dense, at least with the bread machine it makes a difference. Also, for those trying the recipe, if you have a convection oven, don’t put it at 500 degrees Fahrenheit, because after 10-12 minutes my bread almost burnt to a crisp. I pulled it out in time but the crust is very dark. The second loaf I put the oven at 400, and about 18 minutes it was beautifully colored and done!!!! 🙂 Other than that it’s perfect!!! My kids loved the taste and my husband said even the somewhat over cooked one tasted good!! Next time I will try with some wheat flour! (1/2 wheat 1/2 white)
    Thank you for sharing and I look forward to more!

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  49. Ilana

    Hi Maria,

    Thank you for the efforts you spent in sharing your recipe. After reading your instructions i couldn’t wait for next morning to make your bread……sorry to say it was a disaster and i need your help to correct what i did wrong because i love artisan bread. So i followed everything ALMOST exactly except for the oil, i used 2 tsp. The loaves expanded but not so much in height but rather in radius. They were not as high as i see in your pictures but were quite wide. Once i pull them out of the oven, the cuts i made with the knife flattened and you could barely see there were cuts on top. Bottom of the bread burned even though i baked them in the middle rack. I have a convection oven and 500 degrees may have been too high. The only thing that came out right was the crispiness of the bread. I think i didn’t knead it enough time (how long should it be?) and is your dough pretty moist when you shape it? mine was very moist and somewhat sticky and i had to flour my hands a few times….i also let it rise for about 1 1/2 hour as i was busy doing other things… I also wanted to know if your bread had big holes in it? mine had tiny holes like a sponge……please help me correct the problem, i like to give it another try…..Thanks again.

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  50. ifromm

    Dear Maria,

    I’m writing this comment after having eaten a slice of the wonderful artisan bread which I made for the first time today. Thanks for sharing this recipe. The bread turned out perfect! I followed the instructions step by step and the results were great. I’m pretty new to bread baking… this is only my third loaf. After this attempt, I’m encouraged to continue. Thanks!

    Greetings from Switzerland!

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  53. Stephanie

    I hate baking and cooking but I’m trying to be better about budgeting and make more things at home. My first ever bread baking experience, I used your recipe because it was easy. It just came out of the over and I LOVE it! I actually like a dense bread. I have a chicken in the crock pot and can’t wait to dip it in the juices. Thank you so much for posting this because this is a recipe I would definitely continue to use thanks to its ease of use 🙂

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  55. Suzanne

    TIPS: I’ve been making all kinds of bread 2-3 times a week most of my life. Some recurring problems from the commenters:

    – TEMPERATURES
    – Ambient temperature, drafts, and humidity are important. If you’re able to turn on your oven light in an electric stove, or new gas stove with a striker and no pilot light, leave the light on if it will stay on with the door closed. It creates a perfect temperature for rising. If you use an older model gas oven, you can simply use the heat from the pilot light. You can also add a quart container that’s full of boiling water that will fit in your oven with your baking sheet. CHECK this BEFORE you make your bread. The quart container measurement does not have to be exact, it just should be close in size.
    – Check your OVEN TEMPERATURE before mixing your bread by using a separate oven thermometer, NOT a refrigerator thermometer, its scale does not go high enough. Do not rely on the dial on your stove. Oven temperature can vary for many reasons. These can be re-calibrated by either the gas company or electric company. Call them to find out if they provide this service. If not, call your stove’s manufacturer and ask for directions, or read your operator’s manual. Failing all of this, simply add or subtract the difference on the separate oven thermometer with the reading on the stove dial. These differences can be more than 100 degrees, and will definitely determine success or failure when baking. You can also check the temperature in a convection oven. STOVE DIALS MAY NOT BE ACCURATE!!
    – PARCHMENT PAPER: read the box to check for maximum temperature. Most parchment papers should not be used above 420 degrees Fahrenheit. It pays to check this out BEFORE you have an oven fire.
    – GREASING THE BAKING SHEET: use solid shortening (remember that solid shortening is HYDROGENATED and not recommended, NOT oil or butter. Depending on the oil, it can burn at this 500 degree F. temperature. READ the container for maximum temperature recommended and/or Wikipedia or the FoodNetwork. Avocado oil is the only oil with a 500 degree smoke point.
    – CORNMEAL: should not usually burn in a 500 degree oven, IF you use the middle shelf for baking. They use cornmeal in 750 degree F. pizza ovens.

    – ADDED INGREDIENTS:
    – TOMATOES, whether fresh or canned, remove seeds and interiors, cut into preferred size, drain well and sprinkle with flour to help absorb excess moisture. Plum or Italian tomatoes are preferred, though other tomatoes can be used if you keep mindful of their moisture content. If mixing with other spies, you may wish to use tomato paste.
    – OLIVES, drain well, pressing out as much excess moisture as possible, sprinkle with flour to help absorb excess moisture.
    – NUTS AND SEEDS, CARAWAY SEEDS, SESAME SEEDS, PEPITAS, SUNFLOWER and others, do not have excess moisture and can be used in their natural state. Some nuts taste better if pre-roasted (spread on baking sheet and baked at 350 degree F. oven for 10-12 minutes, stirred half way through), such as pecans or hazelnuts (filberts).
    – RAISINS, DRIED APRICOTS, DRIED CURRANTS, DRIED FIGS, FRESH OR CANNED MANDARIN ORANGES, FRESH LEMONS, FRESH ORANGES, STRAWBERRIES, SHREDDED ZUCCHINI, PEPPERS, ONIONS, GARLIC, OLIVES, PIMIENTOS, GRAPES, BLACKBERRIES, RASPBERRIES, and other similar items. Since they tend to stick together, separate and dust with flour or powdered sugar as appropriate. Chop them as appropriate and drain well, if needed.
    – CHEESES: harder cheeses, such as cheddar, Gruyère, provolone, Parmesan, Romano, Jarlsberg, Port Salut and others work well. Just keep in mind the properties of the cheese you want to use, such as Brie or Camembert.
    – POTATO FLAKES: you can use these to replace part of the flour, or to use if the dough is too sticky as you would extra flour. They provide great flavor and also help the bread stay fresh longer.
    – HONEY: if you use honey to replace the 2 teaspoons of sugar, it helps the bread stay fresh longer, not that that’s ever a problem!
    – HERBS: if they’re fresh, clean and pat dry, they can be used as is. If they’re dry, you may want to put them in a tea strainer and run under running water to help rehydrate them somewhat.
    – SPICES: pepper, ground fennel, ground cinnamon, ground mace, ground allspice, ground cloves poppy seeds and others can be mixed or used separately as desired.
    – SALT: besides being used in the dough, you can sprinkle coarse salts, such as Kosher, pretzel or other coarse salts on the top, not a lot, just enough to give the crust a little more flavor. Using seeds for the crust is not recommended at this 500 degree temperature because they will burn.

    I hope you find these tips helpful.

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  60. Keith

    Hi Maria,

    If I were to choose the knead by hand option, would it be best to do this on a flat surface (IE. counter top) OR just keep it all within the mixing bowl to mix/knead it? I’m still a bit new to baking bread, so just wanted clarification on that. The last recipe I made had me mix all of the ingredients in a bowl, then transfer it to a flat surface to knead for 8-10 mins. Your directions appear to be saying that I simply mix it all within the bowl. Maybe traditional “kneading” is not even necessary for this recipe? Please clarify for this bread rookie & thanks!
    K.

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  61. Chris

    Hi Maria
    First try – It is very delicious but flatter than your pictures. The flavour is good, the texture is good, the crust is nice and chewy.

    I followed the ingredients list exactly. I was able to use my bread machine for the full mixing. I didn’t need to mix by hand. I let it mix for 10 min instead of 5. (Could this be the issue?) It put in the 4 cups of flour, let it mix, then added the additional cup. I used the “fill and level” method to fill my cup measure with flour each time. (e.g. I did not scoop up 1 cup of flour with the 1 cup measure, but instead used another cup to scoop, then filled the 1 cup measure from that, then levelled it off with a knife). The dough seemed like it either had too much liquid or not enough flour because when I set the 2 loaves to rise, they really flattened out. I baked the loaves for 15 min at 500.

    Next time I will try a bit less water. What do you think?

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  62. Len

    Instead of doing this free-form on a pan and throwing ice cubes in, try using a dutch oven.

    A four qt gives it great rise; a 5 qt spreads out a bit more and rise isn’t quite as high (but still very acceptable). No bigger than a 5/no smaller than a 4qt.

    1) put the dutch oven and it’s lid in the oven when you turn the stove on to 475o
    2) let the oven continuing heating 25-30 min AFTER it tells you it’s ready to go (probably close to an hour in total heating up time).
    3)put your dough on a sheet of parchment paper and plop the dough/paper into the dutch oven (gently).
    4)NO ICE CUBES (ie no water is needed; the bread will generate it’s own steam)
    5)put the lid on, put the dutch oven in the oven and bake for 30 min
    6)remove the lid and continue baking for another 10-15 min (check after 10 min)
    7)the crust will develop a real dark texture (don’t worry, it’s NOT burnt). It’s the natural sugars carmelizing. Take it out after the extra 10 min or leave it an extra 5. It’s NOT burnt. Trust me.
    8)After the 40-45 min total time, take the dutch oven out and gently tip out the bread/paper. The paper is easily removed.

    Listen to it “sing” as it cools on a rack. Let it all cool for AT LEAST 90 minutes. The reason for this is its still cooking inside. Cut into it before it’s 100% cool and you’ll end up with it being gummy inside.
    Now, that’s some bread you’ll have there.

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  66. Margitta

    Hey Maria,
    I would love to try your recipe, but I have a question concerning the yeast: Do you use fresh yeast, sold as cubes in the cool diary section of the supermarket (which expire after 2 weeks) or do you use dried yeast, sold in tiny bags (lasting forever) in the baking section (not cooled)? And either way can you tell me how much grams the amount you use weighs?
    Thanks for sharing!

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  68. Shirley

    Hi Maria;
    Tried your bread today. It just came out of the oven and tastes delicious. A couple of questions. After adding the 5th cup of flour the bread still seemed a bit sticky. I didn’t add more flour though.

    I shaped it as you instructed and made the cuts and set it to rise in my warmed oven with the light on for 40 minutes. When I put it in the oven to rise it looked just like your picture. When I took it out it was fairly flat and the cuts had disappeared.

    I baked it anyway and it looks good (apart from being flatter and not seeing the cuts) and it tastes good.

    Just wondering if I should have added more flour even though I’d already put in the 5 cups. Also, what about the flattening out?

    Thanks

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    • Maria

      Hi Shirley, My bread does that sometimes too, I haven’t quite been able to figure out why it comes out flatter some days and puffier on other days. It may have to do with the humidity in the air or how much flour I add. Wish I had a concrete answer for you, but I am still trying to figure it out. I generally add a little more flour if it is still quite sticky even after five cups, but I try to never add more then 5 1/2.

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    • Maria

      Hi Greg. When I measure flour I scoop it into a measuring cup and level it off. I don’t take the time to weigh it, so I can’t say how much my measured out cups would weigh. I’m surprised to hear the inside of your bread didn’t cook all the way. With bread recipes, depending on humidity and other factors, sometimes you will need to add a little more flour then what a recipe calls for. Making bread is more about getting familiar with the feel and texture the dough should have then following the flour measurement exactly. I hope you will give this recipe another try.

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