If you’ve ever wanted to bake bread but were always too chicken to try, then please visit Jim Lahey’s article and give No Knead Bread a whirl. I’ve been baking bread this way for months and I swear it’s the best thing ever. Why? Because fresh homemade bread is like sliceable heaven. There is a certain beauty in its simplicity: water, salt, yeast and flour. That’s all it takes! This is whole, natural food, folks. No preservatives needed. All that hippy stuff aside, what really gets me baking are the flavor and the time. Jim Lahey’s recipe turns out a seriously delicious loaf of bread, and because there’s no kneading involved, it’s super quick to throw together (aside from the 18-hour rise time!).
Jim’s No Knead bread is perfect for whole wheat loaves because it turns out a light, moist loaf. That’s right, this is a whole wheat bread recipe that doesn’t turn out a dense, brick-like loaf more suitable as a doorstopper than something you’d actually eat.
Here is my version made with 100% whole wheat flour. I use Doves Farm Strong Wholemeal Bread Flour because I like the flavor, but feel free to experiment with different brands and different blends. There’s no reason you can do half whole wheat, half white, or get crazy with spelt, rye and malted grains.
100% Whole Wheat No Knead Bread
470g whole wheat four
1/4 tsp. yeast
12g salt
350ml water
- Combine all dry ingredients then add the water. Stir until the dough has the consistency of a shaggy ball, adding more water if necessary (chances are, you’ll have to add quite a bit more water so don’t be shy – it’s better to have a dough ball that’s too wet than too dry). Cover the bowl with plastic wrap. Let the dough rest in a warm place for 12 – 24 hours (the longer you leave it, the lighter, more flavorful the result will be). The dough is ready when it’s about double in size and spotted with big bubbles.
- Give the counter top and your hands a generous sprinkle of flour. Turn the dough onto the counter. Pull the dough at either end to form a strip. Fold this strip into thirds (like a business letter). Give the dough a quarter turn and fold in thirds again. I’ll refer to these folds as “seams”, i.e., “right now your dough is on the counter, seam side up.” Cover with plastic wrap and let rest about 15 minutes.
- Oil a large bowl with olive oil. If you like, sprinkle the bowl with seeds (this is not only tasty, but it also makes it easier to turn the dough out of the bowl when you’re ready to bake it). Put the dough ball into the bowl seam side down. Cover with the plastic wrap and let sit for 2-3 hours. The dough is ready when it has more than doubled in size.
- Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Put a 6- to 8-quart heavy covered pot (cast iron, enamel, Pyrex or ceramic) in the oven as it heats. When the dough is ready, remove the HOT pot and pour in a bit of olive oil. Swirl it around so that oil covers the entire inside of the pot. Now, take the bowl containing the dough and quickly turn it upside down over the pot so that the dough falls in seam side up. Cover the pot with a lid and bake for 40 minutes. Then remove the lid and bake another 5 or so minutes, until the loaf is browned. Cool on a rack at least 45 minutes before slicing.
No Knead Recipe Variations
No knead Bread – Jim Lahey’s original recipe
LOVE, LOVE whole wheat homemade bread. I have one recipe that I adore but I see taht I’m going to have to try another one very, very soon!
Maris, we totally need to swap bread recipes. Hook me up! I make this loaf ALL the time. It’s good to try new things. =)
Hello. I just found your site and I’m loving it. I put a little blurb on at Cidtalk.com and a link to your bread recipe and blog.
Thanks for all the great recipes, ideas, and honest motivation. I’m not healthy (YET) but I’m slowly slowly trying to reverse 41 years of mid-western eating and cooking. I enjoyed it while it lasted, but the Velveeta had to go!! 🙂
Do you know how many servings this would make?
Thanks for that. Having just made the all-purpose white flour version of this I was wondering how I might up the health factor and found this posting. I look forward to trying this next time.
But I have a question coming from my first try with white flour. I had to halve the recipe because I did not have a big enough pot for the full loaf. Despite this and using active and not instant yeast, the loaf came out great, though it didn’t last long being half-size. Plus my pyrex lid shattered upon cooling.
Is there any more economical way of baking the whole loaf than having to go out and purchase an expensive heavy-lidded pot? For example, I’ve got pans up the wazoo and aluminum foil and bailing wire… I priced out some pots after feasting on that delicious loaf, but my happy tastebuds couldn’t overcome the gasps from my wallet nor the squeeks from my storage challenged abode.
Hi charlie, isn’t no knead bread the best? You definitely DON’T need to be a fancy cast iron pot for this. I use a cheapo IKEA saucepan, kind of like this one (a $12.99 bargain):
http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/40101158
I bet aluminum foil would work, too. I say just give it a go and hope for the best. I’ve made no knead bread without the lid, too (I was visiting my sister who had a bread tin, but no oven-safe lid). If I recall correctly, I baked the loaf in the bread tin from a cold oven. This was helpful:
http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/3401/nyt-bread-bread-pan-cold-oven
As was this:
http://bitten.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/10/08/faster-no-knead-bread/
Hope this helps… let me know how you get on with the wholemeal bread!
Hi ff – the number of servings really depends on how much bread you consider a serving. 🙂 If it’s just me, one of these loaves lasts me about a week, eating a slice or two per day. So I guess that’s about 10 or so slices? Of course, the slices vary in size, so it’s hard to measure servings by slices! I hope you can glean some amount of help from this comment… =)
Thanks! That’s a great help. 🙂
I love this recipe and have used it many times now. Just thought I’d stop by and let you know. 🙂 I have another rising right now. LOVE IT!
Can you provide US measurements? Or are they the same as for the no-knead white bread, that I have been making every weekend for about a year. Everyone LOVES it!
hi freckles – thanks for stopping by! glad you like the recipe. we’re going to make a loaf tonight to go with some roasted veggies. so good!
Epicure – the US measurements should be the same as for the no-knead white bread, but you will probably have to add a bit more water. Let me know how it goes!
Amazon.com have a Lodge cast iron pot (7 quarts I think) for about $25 plus shipping. Works just as good as an expensive Le Creuset. Little more maintenance compared to enameled maybe. Lahey actually recommends them in his book. His fave is some rare French ceramic pot. Very inspiring book where he writes about how he worked at small bakeries in Italy and eventually came up the ideas behind the no knead bread. He doesn’t have a 100% whole wheat recipe in it though, it’s more like 15%… Can’t wait to try this recipe!
Thanks for the tip on the pot, Simon. I use a basic IKEA stainless steel pot. Very low maintenance. =) I’m going to have to pick up Lahey’s book… I am all about being inspired by bread. Let me know how the whole wheat goes!
Do you know if the part with pouring the dough into already hot pan is crucial? I was thinking to let the bread rise in the cast iron pot for 2-3 hours and then just put it in the 450 degree oven just like that (I am having problems pooring the dough into the pot (it kind of always gets stuck on one side with all the seeds getting messed up and it does not rise well after baking). Any reason why this is not a good idea?
Thanks!
Serge – it’s definitely NOT crucial. In fact, the way you suggest is how I’ve started doing it. Here’s another thing I do: I bake it from a cold oven. After letting the bread rise, I put it in the cold oven, turn it up as hot as I can and bake for 30 minutes. Then turn it down to about 200C and bake for another 30 minutes (with the lid off for the last 5 minutes).
Cuz you’re right – the hot pan business is a mess.
Alright, I am giving it a try tonight! Will report back on the results 🙂 Really enjoying your blog, by the way.
Serge, so nice of you to say. Can’t wait to hear how the loaf goes. Keep me posted!
Hi, I love this recipe but I always end up burning the top of the loaf. Now it may be my oven but do you have any tips on how to prevent this.
Thanks a mil
Sarah, do you keep a lid on the pot you bake your loaf in? The top shouldn’t burn if you do… or perhaps you should leave the lid off for less time at the end? I have experienced slightly burnt crusts when baking standard loaves in a really hot oven, which is one of the reasons I like the no knead – the lid keeps it from burning.
If you don’t have a lid, you could always try tinfoil.
Are you using a pot or a standard loaf tin? Tell me as much as you can about your process and I’ll see if I can identify the culprit.
Hello. I really want to try 100% Whole Wheat no-knead recipe with honey in it to sweeten the bread a little.
If I add a bit of honey (I’m not sure how much to add) will that alter the ratio of other ingredients? … should I add more or less water or wheat flour because of the honey?
Also, I have heard that adding Vital Wheat Gluten can strengthen the gluten cloak and help the rise since 100% whole wheat flour has less gluten than store-bought bread flour. Would you support adding vital wheat gluten… if so, I wonder how much of the gluten I would add to this recipe?
Hi Kimmy. Thanks for the comment – you definitely have to try this recipe! The quantities are very forgiving. I would just add honey w/o adjusting the rest of the ingredients (maybe start with 4 Tbsp and see how that goes – then adjust up or down).
As for the vital wheat gluten, I wouldn’t bother. But it depends on what you’re going for. It’s true that whole wheat flour has less gluten, but the reason I don’t add gluten is that it’s a processed ingredient and I like to stick with "whole" foods. I personally find this loaf to be light enough as is. Give it a try w/o the vital wheat gluten and see what you think. If you do want a lighter loaf, you could always sub some of the whole wheat flour with white bread flour.
Let me know how it goes. Happy to help!
Hi there. Just wanted to let you know that I used your recipe to make my first loaf of 100% wholewheat no-knead bread, and it turned out beautifully.
I blogged some pictures and details of my rather creative use of containers I had handy to bake it, using your cold oven method. http://mamafliz.blogspot.com/2011/01/bread-experiment.html
Thanks for the great recipe.
Justine, it makes me so happy to hear that my recipe turned out well for you. Enjoy every bite!
I have been looking for a tasty whole wheat bread recipe for months and each loaf has come up short in one way or another. I baked this bread today and I can't tell you how excited I am about it! It's absolutely delicious, easy to make, and so inexpensive. I just know it will be a staple in my house from now on. Thank you!
Need some help with the measurments…could I please have the measurements in Cups – am not sure of the conversions from gms to Cups.
I enjoy your website and all the helpful tips and comments.
Ira, so happy to hear you enjoyed the loaf. Hope you enjoy many more loaves to come. =)
Bread Lover, the original no knead recipe gives measurements in cups and teaspoons:
3 cups all-purpose or bread flour, more for dusting
1/4 teaspoon instant yeast
1 1/4 teaspoons salt
1 5/8 cups water
Though I must say, a kitchen scale is really optimal here. They're cheap and make it way easier to be precise. Plus, less mess!
I make a 100% whole grain no knead loaf that is very artisanal, healthy, and is our daily bread. 1/4 cup of rye flour, 2 3/4 cups of white whole wheat flour, 1 1/2 tsp salt, 1/4 tsp yeast, 2 handfuls of raisins, 1-2 handfuls of walnuts, 1 1/2 (+/-)cups water;
I stir, let sit 18-26 hours, put baking dishes in oven to preheat; when oven is hot, I just push dough in, cover, bake 30 minutes (425), then uncover and bake 15 minutes.
It is really good; everyone likes it; I like it because it is whole grain, and similar to the $5 loaves of raisin walnut bread at the bakery.
Hi Monica, I’m trying this today and the dough is now proofing until tomorrow. I just wanted to tell you that 12gr of salt came to slightly more than 2 tsp for me. I hope it won’t turn out to salty because I read the comments below and saw that 1.25 tsp is what you gave someone who asked if it’s measured with cup/spoon. Also, how do you store your bread since you eat only 2 slices a day? Because it is high in calorie and definitely don’t want to put on weight LOL because I can easily eat half a loaf in one sitting (oooppsss)