No Knead Skillet Olive Bread

4.83 from 57 votes
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Enjoy a crusty, fluffy, and incredibly flavorful loaf with this No Knead Skillet Bread, effortlessly filled with marinated olives and garlic. It’s simple to make and irresistibly delicious!

Overhead shot of baked bread in a skillet.


 

If you’re a bread lover who craves freshly baked goodness without the hassle of kneading, this No-Knead Skillet Bread is the recipe you need! This simple, flavorful homemade bread is crusty on the outside, soft on the inside, and studded with savory olives. With just a few basic ingredients and a cast-iron skillet, you can easily create a delicious loaf that will impress everyone, including yourself!

Why I Love This Skillet Bread Recipe

  • Perfect Texture: Achieve a delicious texture with a soft, fluffy interior without kneading.
  • Adaptable: This recipe includes marinated olives and garlic, but you can easily swap and customize it by incorporating other ingredients.
  • Effortless: This bread recipe requires minimal effort, making it a perfect choice for bakers of all levels.

Ingredients For Skillet Bread

  • For the dough: lukewarm water, yeast, all-purpose flour, and salt.
  • For the filling: olives, herbs, and garlic.

How To Make No Knead Skillet Bread

As championed by the authors of Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day, in a nutshell, this Skillet Bread is just a batch of straightforward dough.

  1. Start by combining lukewarm water, yeast, flour, and salt in a bowl. Stir in the olives, herbs, and garlic and let the dough rise for 1 hour.
  2. Coat a 10-inch skillet (a 12-inch skillet works, too) with olive oil. Shape the dough into a disk, transfer it to the skillet, and let it rest for 30 more minutes.
  3. Preheat the oven to 400°F.
  4. Drizzle the dough with olive oil, sprinkle it with salt and parsley, and bake for 30 minutes or until browned.
  5. Invert and cool completely on a rack before cutting and serving.
Close-up shot of sliced No Knead Skillet Olive Bread.

Tips For No Knead Skillet Bread

  • Mixing the Dough: When combining the ingredients, the water should be warm but not hot.
  • Flour: I have only tested this recipe with all-purpose flour and haven’t tried it with other types of flour.
  • Resting and Rising: After mixing the dough, cover it with a clean kitchen towel or plastic wrap and let it rest in a warm spot to double in size.
  • Baking Time and Temperature: Every oven is different, so keep an eye on the bread towards the end of the baking time to ensure it doesn’t overbake.
  • Cooling and Serving: Once the bread is baked, transfer it to a wire rack to cool. Allow it to cool completely before slicing into it. This helps the bread retain its structure and moisture. To maintain the ideal texture of your bread, it’s crucial to remove it from the pan promptly after baking. Allowing the bread to remain in the pan can result in wet and soggy bread.

Recipe Variations

  • Herbs and Seasonings: Add dried herbs like oregano, rosemary, or basil to the dough for extra flavor.
  • Cheese: Mix in grated or crumbled cheese such as cheddar, Parmesan, or feta for a savory twist.
  • Sun-Dried Tomatoes: Incorporate chopped sun-dried tomatoes for a tangy Mediterranean flair.
Overhead shot of a round loaf of no knead skillet bread.

Ways to Serve It

Spread it with butter, dip it in olive oil and balsamic vinegar, sop up some tomato soup or chicken noodle soup with it, grab an heirloom tomato salad, or do what I do: break off a chunk and inhale it as is.

More Bread Recipes

ENJOY!

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4.83 from 57 votes

No Knead Skillet Olive Bread

Indulge in the simplicity of this fantastic recipe, creating a crusty and mouthwatering no-knead skillet bread brimming with marinated olives and garlic.
Prep Time: 1 hour 30 minutes
Cook Time: 30 minutes
Resting Time: 10 minutes
Total Time: 2 hours
Servings: 10 Servings

Ingredients 

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Instructions 

  • In a large mixing bowl, combine water and yeast. Add 1 cup of flour and salt; stir with a wooden spoon until combined.
  • Stir in the olives, herbs, garlic, and garlic powder.
  • Add remaining flour, one cup at a time, stirring until thoroughly combined. Cover with plastic wrap and set in a warm spot to rise for 1 hour.
  • Add a tablespoon of olive oil in a 10-inch to 12-inch cast iron skillet; using a napkin or your fingers, coat the bottom and sides of the skillet with the olive oil.
  • Flour your hands; remove the plastic wrap and using your hands, transfer the dough to the prepared skillet and shape it into a disk. Cover with a kitchen towel and let stand for 30 minutes.
  • Preheat oven to 400˚F.
  • Drizzle remaining olive oil over the top of the bread and sprinkle with salt and parsley.
  • Score the top of the loaf with a knife and bake for 30 to 35 minutes or until the top is nicely browned.
  • Remove from the oven, turn the bread onto a wire rack, and let it cool completely before cutting and serving.

Video

Notes

  • The olives sit in a liquid with garlic and herbs; reserve as much of the herbs and garlic as possible when draining. Alternatively, add your own garlic and freeze-dried basil to the dough.
  • If you can’t find the specified olives, use whatever marinated olives you can find. Then, you can add garlic, dried basil, or other herbs.
  • Dough Mixing: Use warm, not hot, water to combine the ingredients. Excessive heat can harm the yeast.
  • Flour: This recipe has been tested with all-purpose flour.
  • If you do not have a cast iron skillet, use a stoneware baking dish instead.
  • It is crucial to remove bread from the skillet when it comes out of the oven because it will get moist and soggy if left in the skillet.

Nutrition

Serving: 1slice | Calories: 245kcal | Carbohydrates: 42g | Protein: 6g | Fat: 5g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 4g | Sodium: 561mg | Potassium: 74mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 0.2g | Vitamin A: 53IU | Vitamin C: 0.01mg | Calcium: 16mg | Iron: 3mg

Nutritional info is an estimate and provided as courtesy. Values may vary according to the ingredients and tools used. Please use your preferred nutritional calculator for more detailed info.

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192 Comments

  1. Lauren says:

    That looks so delicious, i might have to try it!

  2. eat good 4 life says:

    I love bread and with olives? This is genius. This recipe also looks very easy. A super winner in my book!

  3. Jessica | The Novice Chef says:

    This looks incredible! Would totally be a hit at our house!

  4. Krista says:

    This looks so yummy! I love that it is a no knead bread!

  5. Joanie @ ZagLeft says:

    Such a gorgeous bread and I love how easy it is to make!

  6. Robert Erickson says:

    Hi. I made this today and I have some questions. I didn’t have the Star olive mix suggested but used a cup of olives and homegrown garlic and basil. The recipe rose nicely but when I moved it to the skillet, it was less of a dough and more like batter. It held together but filled the 8″ skillet completely. After sitting before baking, it overlapped the edges of the skillet and then did the same in the oven. In short, is the dough supposed to be firm or loose and should I have cut back on the water and flour for an 8″ pan? Oh, it tastes fine; I just wasn’t;t expecting it to act the way it did.

    1. Katerina Petrovska says:

      Hi Robert!! The 8 inch skillet is fine, and yes, the dough should fill up the skillet.
      Also, was it warm where you left the dough to rise? Speaking from experience, what might have happened is that the room was too warm for the dough and it rose much faster, which is why it went over the edges. I’m thinking the same reason – temperature – for why the dough thinned out. Let me know if this helps. Have a great night ahead!

    2. Elissa says:

      Mine did the same thing t rose just too big to fill in the skillet. So I had a 12 inch skillet but that was too big. So I used my copper pot instead. It took 50 minutes instead of 35, but it did itโ€™s job. And when it came out it looked like something from a restaurant. It was nice and square. I think you could use anything as long as itโ€™s oven safe and watch for adjusted cooked times. But if you use an 8 inch square or round pan I would fit it on a baking sheet Incase there is spillover. I just used whatever olives they had at the grocery store and tweaked it with some cracked pepper, red pepper flakes and rosemary and didnโ€™t measure any of the seasoning just the yeast, flour and water and it came out spectacular. Iโ€™m telling you this because mine was also a mush instead of a firm dough but I think that has something to do with the fact that you donโ€™t knead it.

  7. Debbie says:

    Only stoneware or iron skillet? I have corning ware and glass pie plates, No?? Cant wait to try!!!

    1. Katerina Petrovska says:

      Hi Debbie! So this type of bread turns out best if made in a cast iron skillet, stoneware, and/or in a dutch oven. The glass pie dish definitely won’t work, and I’m not completely sure about the corningware. I hope that helps!

      1. Debbie says:

        Yes, however, should the stoneware be unglazed or does it matter?

  8. A_Boleyn says:

    Lovely loaf of bread, full of flavour for a bit of time and just a little effort. ๐Ÿ™‚

  9. pat marino says:

    could this be made gluten free. thank you. pat.

    1. Katerina Petrovska says:

      Hi Pat! There is a gluten-free all purpose flour blend recipe that I got from the book โ€œGluten-Free Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Dayโ€, and it works perfectly, cup for cup.

      GF Flour Blend:

      6 cups white rice flour
      3ยผ cups sorghum flour
      1ยพ cups tapioca starch/flour
      1ยผ cups potato starch
      ยผ cup xanthan gum or ground psyllium husk

      1. Mix all ingredients together very thoroughly in a lidded 5- to 6-quart container using a spoon or a Danish dough whisk. If your lid is sealed tightly, pick up the container and shake it vigorously for quick and complete blending.

      2. Store in a cool, dry place.

  10. Shea says:

    do you have a GF version for this? It looks yummy

    1. Katerina Petrovska says:

      Hi Shea! I have this ๏ปฟHomemade Gluten-Free All-Purpose Flour Blend that you can try. It’s from the book “Gluten-Free Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day”. I hope this helps!

      6 cups white rice flour
      3ยผ cups sorghum flour
      1ยพ cups tapioca starch/flour
      1ยผ cups potato starch
      ยผ cup xanthan gum or ground psyllium husk

      1. Mix all ingredients together very thoroughly in a lidded 5- to 6-quart container using a spoon or a Danish dough whisk. If your lid is sealed tightly, pick up the container and shake it vigorously for quick and complete blending.

      2. Store in a cool, dry place.