Homemade bread, there's nothing quite like it! And, the almost no-knead varieties are so easy. Just plan ahead as they need at least 8 hours to ferment and a two hour rise time + one hour bake time. Crusty and delicious on the first day, they make fabulous toast in the days after. I started out making a basic recipe and keep experimenting. Here's my latest version . . .
Crusty Multi-Seeded Wheat and Grain
Bread -— Almost No-Knead
4 to 5 tablespoons grains
& seeds (any combination such as: rolled oats, rolled barley or rye flakes,
pumpkin seeds, raw sunflower seeds, etc.) – divided use
2 cups bread flour
1 cup white whole wheat flour
1½ teaspoons salt
¼ teaspoon instant
or rapid-rise yeast
¾ cup + 2
tablespoons water, room temperature
6 tablespoons mild-flavored beer
1 tablespoon distilled white
vinegar
1 to 2 teaspoons flax seed + a few
extra to sprinkle over top
Vegetable oil spray
- Place selected grains and
seeds on a baking sheet. Bake in a preheated 350° oven until lightly toasted,
about 5 minutes – watch carefully! Cool.
- Mix the flours, salt, and yeast together in the work bowl of a mixer.
- Add the water, beer and
the vinegar. Mix, adding most of the toasting seed combination (save some
for adding to the top of loaf right before baking) + flax seeds.
- Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and allow it to sit at room temperature for at least 8 hours or up to 18 hours.
- Lay a piece of parchment paper on the counter and spray it with the vegetable oil spray.
- Transfer the dough to a
lightly floured work surface and knead 10 to 15 times. Shape the
dough into a ball by pulling the edges of the dough into the middle.
- Transfer the dough, seam
side down, to the center of the sprayed parchment paper; then spray the surface of
the dough with the vegetable oil spray.
- Pick up the dough by
lifting the parchment paper overhang and lower it into a heavy-bottomed Dutch
oven. Let any excess parchment paper hang out over the edge of the pot. Cover
the pot loosely with plastic wrap and allow the dough to rise at room
temperature until it has doubled in size and does not readily spring back when
poked with a finger, about 2 hours.
- Adjust an oven rack to the middle position. Remove the plastic wrap from the pot.
- Using a sharp knife, a
razor blade or a bread lame (pictured below), make long, ½” deep slashes along the top of the
dough; lightly spray with vegetable oil spray and top with remaining seeds.
- Cover the pot and place it in the oven. Heat the oven to 425°. Bake the bread for 30 minutes. Note: Bread is placed into a cold oven; set the timer for 30 minutes at that point—do not wait until the oven preheats.
- Remove the lid from the
pot and continue to bake the bread until the loaf is a deep brown and registers
210° on an instant-read thermometer inserted into the bread, about 20 to 30
minutes longer.
Above: Bread after 30 minutes -- it was baked with the lid on.
Below -- Bread after being bakes another 30 minutes with the lid off. Notice thermometer inserted to check the internal temperature.
- Using the parchment paper
overhang, carefully remove the bread from the pot. Transfer the loaf to a wire
rack and allow it to cool completely . . . if you can wait that long. Best
eaten the first day but makes fabulous toast for days afterwards. Store lightly
wrapped leftover bread in refrigerator (wrap in plastic wrap or place in a bag
that is only partially sealed.)
Other Almost No-Knead breads include:
Almost No-Knead Bread (basic loaf)
Recipe without photos . . .
Crusty Multi-Seeded Wheat and Grain Bread -— Almost No-Knead
4 to 5 tablespoons grains & seeds (any combination such as: rolled oats, rolled barley or rye flakes, pumpkin seeds, raw sunflower seeds, etc.) – divided use
2 cups bread flour
1 cup white whole wheat flour
1½ teaspoons salt
¼ teaspoon instant or rapid-rise yeast
¾ cup + 2 tablespoons water, room temperature
6 tablespoons mild-flavored beer
1 tablespoon distilled white vinegar
1 to 2 teaspoons flax seed + a few extra to sprinkle over top
Vegetable oil spray
- Place selected grains and seeds on a baking sheet. Bake in a preheated 350° oven until lightly toasted, about 5 minutes – watch carefully! Cool.
- Mix the flours, salt, and yeast together in the work bowl of a mixer.
- Add the water, beer and the vinegar. Mix, adding most of the toasting seed combination (save some for adding to the top of loaf right before baking) + flax seeds.
- Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and allow it to sit at room temperature for at least 8 hours or up to 18 hours.
- Lay a piece of parchment paper on the counter and spray it with the vegetable oil spray.
- Transfer the dough to a lightly floured work surface and knead 10 to 15 times. Shape the dough into a ball by pulling the edges of the dough into the middle.
- Transfer the dough, seam side down, to the center of the sprayed parchment paper; then spray the surface of the dough with the vegetable oil spray.
- Pick up the dough by lifting the parchment paper overhang and lower it into a heavy-bottomed Dutch oven. Let any excess parchment paper hang out over the edge of the pot. Cover the pot loosely with plastic wrap and allow the dough to rise at room temperature until it has doubled in size and does not readily spring back when poked with a finger, about 2 hours.
- Adjust an oven rack to the middle position. Remove the plastic wrap from the pot.
- Using a sharp knife, a razor blade or a bread lame, make long, ½” deep slashes along the top of the dough; lightly spray with vegetable oil spray and top with remaining seeds.
- Cover the pot and place it in the oven. Heat the oven to 425°. Bake the bread for 30 minutes. Note: Bread is placed into a cold oven; set the timer for 30 minutes at that point—do not wait until the oven preheats.
- Remove the lid from the pot and continue to bake the bread until the loaf is a deep brown and registers 210° on an instant-read thermometer inserted into the bread, about 20 to 30 minutes longer.
- Using the parchment paper overhang, carefully remove the bread from the pot. Transfer the loaf to a wire rack and allow it to cool completely . . . if you can wait that long. Best eaten the first day but makes fabulous toast for days afterwards. Store lightly wrapped leftover bread in refrigerator (wrap in plastic wrap or place in a bag that is only partially sealed.)
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