Everyday easy no-knead bread with white whole wheat, oats and a touch of honey. This bread is ready to bake at your convenience.
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When I opened up my baking business 8 years ago, it was not to make cupcakes with unicorn frosting, it was for bread. Pure, simple bread. The kind that fills your house with a wafting aroma that lures you to the kitchen. The bread that, when you cut into it, the crust shatters, leaving a blast of mahogany crumbs in it’s wake.
Yes. That bread.
Folks went crazy for it. They still do.
Bread; the most iconic from scratch and homemade item. It has a mythos that surrounds both the bread itself and the baker. I am first and foremost a bread baker. It’s my passion. To me, bread is the essence, the heart, of a great meal. When fresh bread is served, there is always a flutter of excitement that pulses through family and guests because it’s viewed as something special. And it is special. But for me, it’s essential.
To many, the idea of baking bread seems daunting. When the Pandemic rolled in, everyone…I mean…everyone…decided to try their hands at bread, specifically sourdough. Do you remember? And many were successful. But slowly…most folks went back to their day to day lives and the bread baking crave slowed down. I must admit…while delicious…. sourdough is such a fuss…a complete hands on pain.
Sorry, I said it….
I know you were thinking it too….
Forget sourdough. I want to give you accessible bread.
Let’s take bread to the next level. Let’s bake weekday bread; crusty, artisanal bread that’s perfect for dipping in soups, spreading with butter, and making your kids sandwiches for school. I created this recipe with the feel of a crafted, artisanal bread with practically no hands- on time, perfect for your busy post/end-demic lifestyle.
Just like my Everyday Whole Wheat Maple Bread, my ideal weekday loaf is wholesome, versatile, and fuss-free. This no-knead bread is a simple country loaf, meant to get you in and out of the kitchen as soon as possible. No-knead bread rises in the refrigerator and is ready to bake at your convenience. Though you can bake this loaf completely with white flour (if you like), I’ve created a no-knead bread that is part wheat, part white with a touch of honey. The character in this bread comes from the raw sesame seeds, oats, and hulled sunflower seeds both inside the bread and baked into the crust. The seeds add depth of flavor that offsets the whole wheat.
The addition of oats both inside and outside of my no-knead this bread makes it unique. As the bread dough ferments in the fridge, the oats soak in the moisture of the dough, softening and adding a lusciousness, a richness and a bit of a denser crumb, which I rather prefer for a hearty sandwich bread.
This recipe yields one loaf, but you can easily double the recipe. It’s foolproof and a great recipe to begin your bread baking journey with ease.
So come on, embrace that gluten and do what you came here to do in the first place…cook from from with confidence.
Baking Notes : Artisan Bread
Weighing your ingredients:
The most accurate way to measure ingredients, especially flour, is by weighing. A digital kitchen scale is an essential kitchen tool (and are a pretty inexpensive purchase) and I highly encourage you to acquire one.
Raw sesame seeds:
Also known as unhulled sesame seeds, have a deeper sesame flavor. If you cannot find raw/unhulled, use whatever sesame seeds you have.
Flour:
The white whole wheat flour gives the same nutrition as regular whole wheat but lends a lighter taste and texture. If you cannot find white whole wheat flour, use regular whole wheat flour. I use King Arthur white whole wheat flour.
Water:
During the summer use the amount of water stated in the recipe. During the winter, you may need a few tablespoons more water because there is less humidity in the air.
Dutch ovens:
My recipe calls for the bread to be baked in a Dutch oven. For the home baker, this is the best way to achieve that gorgeous crusty loaf without the use of a steam oven. If you do not have a Dutch oven, I highly encourage you to purchase one! They come as cheap as one from Lodge and as fancy as Staub and everything in between. I would suggest purchasing one that is 4.5 quarts or larger.
No-Knead Bread with Seeds & Oats
Equipment
- Large mixing bowl
- 4-5 quart dutch oven
- Parchment paper
Ingredients
- ½ tablespoon + ¾ teaspoon active dry yeast or instant yeast
- 340 g lukewarm water (see baking note) about 1½ cups
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 1 tablespoon kosher salt
- 250 grams white whole wheat flour see baking notes
- 200 grams bread flour
- 55 grams raw sesame seeds just under a ½ cup, + more for topping bread (see baking note)
- 20 grams oats + more for topping bread
- 30 grams raw hulled sunflower seeds + more for topping bread
- Water for brushing
Instructions
- In a large mixing bowl, add the lukewarm water, yeast, and honey. Stir to combine. Let the mixture sit for 5 minutes or until the yeast activates and is slightly foamy.
- Add the white white whole wheat flour, bread flour, kosher salt, and sesame seeds, oats, and raw hulled sunflower seeds. Stir to combine.
- Mix the dough until smooth and slightly tacky and no raw flour is left. Don’t worry, it doesn’t need to be perfect.
- Cover the bowl with plastic wrap, making sure to leave some slack in the middle so the dough can rise upwards.
- Let the dough rest at room temperature for 1.5 hours then transfer the bowl to the refrigerator.
- Let the dough rise in the refrigerator overnight, or about 10 hours. You can leave it up to 20 hours.
- When you are ready to bake your bread, place a 4-5 quart dutch oven with the lid on in the oven and preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Let the oven stay at 450 degrees for one hour.
- While the oven is heating, remove the dough from the refrigerator.
- Turn the dough out of the bowl and onto a lightly floured work surface.
- Using your fingertips, gently stretch the dough out to a rough, flat circle. This dough it a bit tough to stretch and shape….so just be patient.
- To shape the loaf, take the bottom of the circle and fold it to the middle, then fold the right side into the middle, then the left side, and finally the top of the dough into the middle.
- Turn the loaf over.
- Put your hands around the dough. Using the friction from your work surface, slowly drag the dough along the counter in a circular motion. This will slowly create a round loaf. You want the bread to be taught but not too tight where the dough begins to rip.
- Section a piece of parchment paper and crumble it into a tight ball, then flatten it out. You want it to look crinkly.
- Place the bread on the parchment paper.
- Using a sharp knife, a box cutter blade, or a bread lame, score the bread ¼ inch slit down the middle in the shape of an S.
- Brush the bread with water then cover with an abundance of sesame seeds, oats, and sunflower seeds. .
- Cover the bread and let it rise in a warm place for 1-1.5 hours, or until the loaf has doubled in size and it has a little giggle when you shake the parchment paper.
- Carefully place the bread with the parchment paper into the dutch oven, cover tightly with the lid, and bake for 25 minutes. Then, remove the lid and bake for another 25 minutes, until the top of the bread is nicely browned and hard to the touch.
- Remove the bread from the dutch oven and place it on a cooling rack. Let the bread cool completely before slicing.
- You must wait for your bread to cool before slicing into it…otherwise all the steam escapes and the remainder of the bread will get dry and unpleasant.
- Once cooled, rip open in barbaric glory, swipe your bread generously with salted butter, a drizzle of honey and feel alive.
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