Small Batch Crusty Bread

With just four ingredients and minimal hands-on work time, this small batch crusty bread is the perfect low-effort personal-sized bread-making project. It uses one cup (120 grams) of flour and fits in just about any size Dutch oven, too!

Once you get the hang of this small-batch bread, you'll have no problem challenging yourself with my recipes for small-batch challah and small-batch ciabatta next!

This small crusty loaf bakes up about the size of a large grapefruit and is perfect for slathering with homemade butter or dipping in my best 5-minute olive oil bread dip.

This mini loaf has become a successful favorite of The Practical Kitchen readers of all ages, particularly those who are new to bread making or find it intimidating. Thanks to everyone who has chimed in in the comments with adaptations for using different flours, flavors, etc.!

No-Knead Small Batch Crusty Bread

This small-batch crusty bread recipe is a mini version of my full-sized no-knead Dutch oven bread recipe with a few small tweaks. I've written lots more about the science of no-knead breads and crusty breads in that blog post so head over there if you want a lot more detail!

The biggest difference is the hydration of the dough. My full-size recipe is an 80% hydration dough. For this small-batch recipe, I pushed the hydration as high as I could — 83% — while keeping the dough easy to shape and work with. A 3% increase (a mere 4 grams of water!) might not seem like much, but in a loaf this small it does make a significant difference in the size of the final loaf.

This recipe also has a slightly higher ratio of yeast-to-flour than my full-size recipe. Where the larger loaf calls for 2 grams of yeast, this recipe uses just 1 gram. If I shrunk the amount of yeast proportionally, you'd be trying to measure a fraction of a gram, and I didn't want to do that to you. That does mean the dough can be ready to shape a bit sooner, though it still needs the overnight rise.

I use cool water when making overnight breads because the cooler water allows the yeast to move more slowly. Warm water makes yeast move faster, so the cooler the water is, the longer I have before the dough needs to be shaped. Since I'm not building strength into the dough by kneading, I want the yeast and gluten network to have as much time to work on their own as possible before shaping.

A 5-Minute Bread Dough

Making no-knead bread dough is so fast. All you have to do is mix everything together until you have a messy, shaggy dough. It literally takes five minutes. Then you cover the bowl and let it rise.

No-knead bread relies on time instead of kneading to develop a strong gluten network — the structure that gives bread its shape and texture. The gluten network traps the gas produced by the yeast, creating air bubbles in the dough.

While you can let this dough rise for as long as 18 or even 20 hours before shaping it, or shape it as soon as 8 hours into the rise time, its small size means it's often at its peak and ready to be shaped around the 12 hour mark.

Use Plenty of Flour When Shaping

This dough is relatively easy to handle once you dust the dough and your hands with flour. But if you're not used to working with wet and sticky doughs, it may still be a bit of a challenge the first time you try it, especially if you're new to bread-making.

Dusting it with flour before you take it out of the bowl will prevent it from sticking to the bowl as you tip it onto the counter. Once it's on the counter, dust the top very lightly with flour too — just enough so your hands don't stick to it.

The dough may stick to your hands slightly, but that's okay. Use a light touch as you do the shaping. When all the edges have been tucked in, flip the dough over. You'll have a nice smooth top.

Cup your hands around the dough and gently lift and rotate it in short, quick movements to create surface tension on the top as you tuck the dough underneath. Then transfer the dough onto a crumpled and flattened piece of parchment paper and cover it for its final rise while the Dutch oven finishes preheating.

Don't beat yourself up if handling the dough doesn't come naturally to you — it will become easier with practice. Just remember: this is not meant to be a tightly controlled dough, so even if it's a little lumpy or imperfect or messy, that's absolutely okay.When your dough is ready to shape, dust the top of it in the bowl, then turn it out onto a well-floured counter.

Scoring is decorative and functional (also optional)

Scoring bread creates a vent through which steam can escape during baking. Without scoring, the steam will escape through any weak points it can find in the loaf—it might even blow out at the bottom.

You can even cut designs into your loaf. But you do need at least one big, deep slash.

For Best Results, Bake in a Dutch Oven

The confined space of a pre-heated Dutch oven traps the steam released by the dough as it bakes, creating a nice moist environment which results in a super crunchy crust.

When you first take the lid off, your small batch crusty bread will look quite pale. That's normal. The final 10-minute uncovered bake time is when the top will take on that gorgeous brown color.

Carefully remove the baked loaf from the Dutch oven to a cooling rack. If you listen closely you'll be able to hear the crust cracking as the inside of the loaf contracts as it begins to cool!

Let the small batch crusty bread cool completely before slicing it. If you slice it before it has cooled, the steam still trapped in the bread will turn the starches to mush.

I tested baking this without a Dutch oven on a sheet pan in a 450°F oven with an ice cube on the pan to create steam, and it does work, but the crust isn't quite as nice. The open space of the oven also results in more bread blowouts on the bottom, even when properly scored.

📖 Recipe