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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!
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.
- 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.
- 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.
- Preheat the oven to 400°F.
- Drizzle the dough with olive oil, sprinkle it with salt and parsley, and bake for 30 minutes or until browned.
- Invert and cool completely on a rack before cutting and serving.
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.
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
- Rosemary and Garlic No Knead Skillet Bread
- No Rise Slow Cooker Bread
- Skillet Soda Bread
- Apple and Zucchini Bread
ENJOY!
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No Knead Skillet Olive Bread
Ingredients
- 2 cups lukewarm water,, about 105˚F
- 2¼ teaspoons active dry yeast
- ½ tablespoon salt
- 4⅓ cups all-purpose flour,, divided
- 1 cup garlic and basil marinated olives,, drained, herbs and garlic reserved
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 2 tablespoons olive oil,, divided
- coarse salt
- dried parsley
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
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.
Just made this and my kitchen smells wonderful! Next time Iโll use a larger iron skillet…I used an 8-inch…Just would like the bread to be a flatter version. But itโs delicious and will definitely make it again!
I have a pot of black eyed peas with a Huge ham hock cooking in the Instand Pot. Roasting some cabbage. Making this bread right now. Happy New Year!!
First time baking bread! Does it have to be a certain kind of mixing bowl to rise properly? Thanks!
Hi! Pretty much any bowl will do, but I know a lot of bread makers that will only use ceramic bowls. I, on the other hand, use my stainless steel bowls, and I set them over my stove where it’s warmer. I hope that helps. ๐
Exactly what I needed to know – thank you so much for taking the time to answer so fast!
Merry Christmas!!
Joni
Merry Christmas to you and to yours!!
Hi there! This looks great, however I am questioning the flour measurement? I read it as 4 x 1/3 cups of flour and it is not so much a dough as a runny batter!? Is this right? Surely the recipe isn’t for 4 cups of flour??
Baked it anyway and definitely not right! Was in the oven for an hour and still gooey on the inside. We ate the crust anyway and it was DELICIOUS! Will need to try this again but alter flour measurements! Thanks!
Hi! I am very sorry for the confusion… 4-1/3 stands for 4 cups + 1/3 cup. So yes, it is 4 cups of flour plus 1/3 cup. ๐
Boy do I feel silly! Thanks for clarifying – Can’t wait to try it again!
Iโve made this recipe a few times and I love it. I was wondering if it were possible to bake this in an 8×4 loaf pan?
Has anyone tried this method?
Yes, you can absolutely bake in a loaf pan. I did once. It didnโt brown at all, but I didnโt brush top with oil. The texture and flavor were still great. Itโs far to much dough for one medium loaf pan. I used two of different sizes. Sorry donโt remember timings.
Fill 3/4 full and put the rest in another pan of sufficient size. I recommend using parchment paper. I did so it covered bottom and both long sides which I left long enough to use to lift.
Itโs a very tender crumb so youโll have to cut fairly thick I think to stand up in a sandwich. It was great as tea sandwiches (small) with chicken salad and also with cucumber and seasoned cream cheese.
I think Katerina should add a warning to this recipe โ Highly Addictive!
This was a big hit for our thanksgiving! Thanks!! This was my first time making bread too!
Wondered if I make this in dough setting in bread maker. Have very bad arthritis. Thanks
NO, not a good one for the bread machine. Since youโre only stirring the ingredients togethernuntil theyโre combined, you only work the dough for a minute or two, it takes about the same amount of time as mixing pancake batter together. If your hands are really bad you probably could use a hand mixer or stand mixer on a very low setting. It should not take more than a minute or two to bring the dough together. Iโve made this recipe a few times and I too have problems with my hands so I often use my bread maker on the dough setting
I baked this loaf of bread today, the aroma was wonderful. I followed your directions exactly, and the results were tastefully delightful. It has become an instant hit in my home, thank you for sharing!
Regards’ , Mary E Hill
I don’t often read the pages the writer publishes with the recipe but started with yours and was delighted! Read every word and will follow – you write well and with enthusiasm – loved reading it – thank you – oh, and I am on a low salt diet but will eat this bread anyway!!!!!
Is it possible to double the recipe in order to make it in a larger skillet?
Made this on the weekend and totally loved it. Used black olives, herbs and olive oil. Pitting the olives was a pain, so will use pitted olives or Sun Dried Tomato as suggested. Baked in stoneware pie plate and came out great. After a couple of days, when it was getting stale and spongy, I toasted a lice in the toaster. Will make it again.