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This Instant Pot bread only needs 4 ingredients and may very quickly become your go to bread recipe. Using your Instant Pot to proof your bread creates the perfect environment for your rising bread.
Can You Make Bread in an Instant Pot?
I never thought of using my Instant Pot or electric pressure cooker for making bread until a friend asked if I had an Instant Pot bread recipe! Figuring out how to use the Instant Pot to make bread went to the top of my to do list.
One of my favorite breads and the easiest to make is this No-Knead Bread. The only problem is it takes 12-18 hours of rising time.
You can create the same loaf of Artisan bread with it’s beautiful crispy crust and is soft and chewy texture inside in 1/3 of the time with the Instant Pot. After tasting the Instant Pot Bread my husband actually declared it the BEST bread he had ever eaten!
Ingredients Needed
- Flour. All purpose flour
- Yeast. Rapid Rise Yeast
- Salt
- Water
Rapid Rise Yeast vs Active Dry Yeast
This Instant Pot Bread uses Rapid Rise Yeast. Rapid Rise Yeast does not need to be proofed in warm water like Active Dry Yeast. You add the yeast right in with the flour and other dry ingredients and then add in your water.
If all you have is Active Dry Yeast, you can still make this bread. Add your yeast to 1/4 cup of your warm water and allow it to sit and proof for 10 minutes, it will get bubbly. Then add the water and yeast mixture into your dry ingredients and add remaining cup of warm water.
How To Make Instant Pot Bread
- Place flour, yeast and salt into a bowl. Pour warm water (105-110 degrees F) over dry ingredients.
- Stir to combine. The dough will be shaggy and dry looking, you do not need to knead the dough.
- Spray or grease the inside of Instant Pot with cooking spray.
- Place bread dough into the liner of the Instant Pot.
- Put the lid on the Instant Pot and turn on using the Yogurt setting. Set the timer to 4 hours. And be sure valve is turned to venting.
- Remove the lid. The dough will have spread out, doubled in side and have little bubbles over the top of the surface.
Instant Pot Yogurt Setting
Using the Yogurt button on the Instant Pot provides a low consistent heat inside an enclosed area that traps steam and provides a perfect environment for proofing dough.
Baking Instructions
- Remove dough from the Instant Pot and place on a floured surface. Turn the dough a few times to form into a loaf shape. Cover with a towel.
- Allow the loaf to sit while you preheat your oven to 450 degrees F. Place a heavy dutch oven with it’s lid into the oven while it preheats
- Brush the top of the loaf with olive oil (an optional 5th ingredient) and sprinkle with coarse salt.
- Remove the dutch oven from the oven and place a piece of parchment paper into the pan, be careful, the pan is hot.
- Gently lift the dough and place into the hot dutch oven. Return the pan to the oven and bake for 30 minutes with the lid on.
- After 30 minutes, remove the lid and bake for an additional 15 minutes or until the bread is beautifully golden brown.
After the bread has cooled, slice and enjoy with some butter or jam.
Frequently Asked Questions
What if I don’t have a dutch oven?
You just need a heavy oven safe pan that has a lid. I have a dutch oven similar to this one.
What if my Instant Pot doesn’t have a yogurt setting?
If you don’t have a yogurt setting you can turn on the Keep Warm setting for a couple of minutes to warm. up the pot, then turn it off. Add the dough and close the lid, allowing the residual heat to rise the dough.
Do you actually bake the bread in the Instant Pot?
No, you are only proofing or letting the dough proof or rise in the Instant Pot. The bread is baked in the oven.
Check out these other Instant Pot recipes:
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Instant Pot Bread
Ingredients
- 3 cups all purpose flour
- 1/2 tsp rapid rise yeast
- 1 1/4 tsp salt
- 1 1/2 cups warm water 105-110 degrees F
- coarse salt to sprinkle on loaf
- olive oil for brushing loaf
Instructions
- Place flour, salt and yeast into a bowl.
- Pour in warm water (105-110 degrees F)
- Stir to combine dough will be dry and shaggy.
- Spray liner of Instant Pot and put dough into pot.
- Put on lid and place on Yogurt setting and set timer for 4 hours. Put valve to venting.
- Dough is ready when it has doubled in size and has tiny bubbles on the surface.
- Remove from Instant Pot and place on lightly floured surface.
- Form dough into a loaf, cover with a towel and allow to rest while oven preheats to 450 degrees F. Place dutch oven with lid on it into the oven while the oven preheats.
- Brush loaf with olive oil and a sprinkle of coarse salt.
- Remove dutch oven and line it with parchment paper and place loaf of dough into the pan.
- Put on lid and return to oven and bake for 30 minutes. Remove lid and bake for an additional 15 minutes.
- Remove bread from pan and allow to cool before slicing.
Tips & Notes:
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Jennifer says
I love this method I use it all the time and make so many variations of this bread it is a hit everytime
Rose says
I’m the only one in my family that eats bread so I would like to make a mini loaf. Do you think it would be possible to cut the ingredients in half and then follow the recipe as written?
Cami says
I bet you could freeze half of the finished bread.
Bonnie says
Hey Rose, I eat less bread, too. If you make half the recipe, you will need a half-sized Dutch oven or the dough will “rise” laterally to fill the pan ending with a pancake shaped loaf. OR I learned a trick in an old Amish recipe: for smaller loaves, cut your dough in half or thirds and shape each piece into boules, then put them side by side in a loaf pan. Once baked and starting to cool, they can be pulled apart much like dinner rolls. Should work here as well. I might shape half dough into oblongs for a better fit, and thirds into boules which would fit into the hot dutch oven like you would a cloverleaf roll in a muffin tin. The extras can be frozen for another time.
Kathy says
My dough did not rise in the instapot. I put it on “yogurt” setting. Not sure what happened?????
Bonita says
Hey Kathy, a grandma here. Don’t know what Instant Pot/electric pressure cooker you have, but my Instant Pot yogurt setting can be customized for temperature. On the yogurt setting, simply hit custom to set temp. Check yours, see if it can do that. She is BREAD PROOFING in the Instant Pot. Yogurt making and proofing bread are fermentation processes dependent on proper temperature. But bread prefers a lower temperature than yogurt. Set the temperature south of 100 degrees F if you can and try again. [Yogurt setting is around 107F. Bread proofing is usually somewhere around 80-100F.]
ALSO: Did you check your yeast for viability? Yeast is a living creature. If it was already dead, that might be your problem.
Marianne says
I had to stop my husband from eating the whole loaf… so good and so easy!!
Michelle says
First time I’ve used the Instantpot for bread. It’s an easy but long (waiting) process, but dies t require proofing or kneading. The bread is very dense but has a wonderful crunchy outside and perfect inside. This also the first time I’ve ever cooked bread in a Dutch oven and will definitely make this again.