Y’all. I may have just accidentally reignited my bread obsession. No-knead breads have been a favorite of mine for quite some time because A) they’re easy and B) the long fermentation of the dough produces a really lovely and complex flavor. But I’ve always liked my bread to have a lot of texture. I like a lot of little bits and pieces in my bread. So this week I experimented with my basic No-Knead Bread and added a variety of seeds and grains from my pantry. The Seeded No-Knead Bread that resulted is absolutely ah-maz-ing. I’ve got my third batch brewing on my countertop as we speak.
Small Batch No-Knead Bread
This time around I made a half batch, or a mini-boule, because I find these no-knead breads to not have a super long shelf life. They start to get that “yeasty” smell fairly quickly, so I’d rather make a small batch and have fewer leftovers. If you prefer, you can easily double the ingredients below and then just bake for 30 minutes with the lid on the dutch oven and about 15-20 minutes after removing the lid.
What Kind of Seeds Can I Use?
For my mix of “seeds” I used ground flaxseed, chia, and hemp. I also made a batch using uncooked quinoa in place of the flax and that worked just as well! So, you can probably play around with the seeds depending on what you have on hand, as long as you keep the ratios the same.
All-Purpose or Whole Wheat Flour?
And lastly, I know you’re wondering if you can just use all whole wheat flour instead of a mix of white and whole wheat and the answer is that if you do it will greatly affect the texture of this bread. No-knead breads can be even more finicky with whole wheat flour than regular kneaded yeast breads. While you can make a no-knead whole wheat loaf, most people add extra wheat gluten to help strengthen the dough, support the extra weight, and prevent having a super dense loaf. So, do I suggest it? No. Unless you have some wheat gluten handy.
Seeded No-Knead Bread
Servings 4Ingredients
- 2 Tbsp rolled oats ($0.02)
- 1 Tbsp chia seeds ($0.16)
- 1 Tbsp hemp seed hearts ($0.17)
- 1 Tbsp ground flaxseed ($0.04)
- 1/2 cup warm water ($0.00)
- 1 cup all-purpose flour ($0.08)
- 1/2 cup whole wheat flour ($0.10)
- 3/4 tsp salt ($0.02)
- 1/8 tsp instant yeast (or bread machine yeast) ($0.02)
- 1/2 cup room temperature water ($0.00)
Instructions
- Place the oats, chia seeds, hemp hearts, and flaxseed in a small bowl. Add 1/2 cup warm water and stir to combine. Let the seeds soak for 1 hour.
- In a separate large bowl, combine the all-purpose flour, whole wheat flour, salt, and yeast. Stir until very well combined. Add the soaked seeds and then stir until they are as combined as possible (the mixture will be fairly dry). Add about 1/2 cup water, or just enough to form a sticky dough. The dough should be wet enough that there is no dry flour left on the bottom of the bowl, but not so wet that it appears slimy. It should be sticky to the touch.
- Cover the bowl of dough loosely with plastic and let it sit at room temperature for 12-18 hours. If you can not tend to the dough within 18 hours, you can press “pause” on the fermentation by transferring the bowl to the refrigerator.
- When you’re ready to make the bread, the dough should have expanded and have an almost fluffy appearance. Sprinkle it liberally with flour and scrape it away from the edges of the bowl. Turn the dough over on itself in the bowl a few times, adding more flour as needed to keep it from sticking to your hands, until it forms a smooth ball and is no longer quite as sticky.
- Transfer the ball of dough to a piece of parchment paper and let it rise for one hour. About half way through the rise time, place a Dutch oven, with its lid, into your oven and set it to bake at 425ºF. Allow the Dutch oven to preheat inside the oven for 30 minutes.
- Once the dough has risen a bit on the parchment (it will tend to spread out and not so much up), it’s time to bake. Carefully remove the Dutch oven from the oven, remove the lid, and then lift up the entire piece of parchment with the dough and place them inside the Dutch oven. Place the lid back on the Dutch oven and carefully return it to the hot oven.
- Bake the bread in the Dutch oven for 30 minutes, then carefully remove the lid and bake for another 10 minutes so the top can brown. When finished baking, carefully pick up the parchment to lift the bread out of the Dutch oven and allow the bread to cool slightly before cutting and serving.
See how we calculate recipe costs here.
Nutrition
Have you tried this recipe?Mention @budgetbytes or tag #budgetbytes on Instagram!
How to Make Seeded No-Knead Bread – Step by Step Photos
Because these seeds absorb a LOT of water, we want to soak them first to make sure our bread dough gets all the moisture it needs. So, in a small bowl combine 2 Tbsp rolled oats, 1 Tbsp ground flaxseed, 1 Tbsp hemp hearts, and 1 Tbsp chia seeds.
Add 1/2 cup warm water and stir to combine. Let these guys sit for about an hour…
After they soak up all that water they’ll be like a gelled mass. Pretty cool.
In a separate large bowl combine 1 cup all-purpose flour, 1/2 cup whole wheat flour, 3/4 tsp salt, and 1/8 tsp instant yeast or bread machine yeast. Yes, only 1/8 tsp. Since it sits for so long that little amount of yeast has time to reproduce and turn into a lot of yeast. Stir these dry ingredients together until they’re very well combined.
Add the water-soaked seeds to the bowl of dry ingredients and stir them together as much as possible (this helps break up that gelled mass).
Add about 1/2 cup room temperature water, or just enough to form a sticky dough. The dough should be wet enough so that there is no dry flour left on the bottom of the bowl, but not so wet that it looks slimy. No-knead doughs do better when they’re a little on the wet side. Loosely cover the bowl and let it sit at room temperature for 12-18 hours. Remember, if you need to let it sit for longer than 18 hours, you can “press pause” on the fermentation by placing it in the refrigerator.
After 12 hours or so, the dough should have puffed up and taken on a sort of light, fluffy appearance.
Sprinkle a liberal amount of flour over the fluffy dough (because it’s sticky, remember?) and scrape it away from the sides of the bowl. Turn the dough over on itself a few times in the bowl, adding more flour if needed to keep it from sticking to your hands, until you can form it into a smooth ball. It might still be just a little sticky, but not so much that you can’t work with it.
Transfer the ball of dough to a sheet of parchment paper and let it rise for one hour. Sometimes I sprinkle a little cornmeal on the parchment first because it makes the bottom extra crispy, but this isn’t required. While the dough is rising, place your Dutch oven in the oven and set it to preheat to 425ºF. Let the Dutch oven heat with the oven for at least 30 minutes.
Once the Dutch oven is preheated and the dough is risen, carefully remove the hot Dutch oven from the oven, remove the lid, and then lift the entire piece of parchment with the dough into the Dutch oven. Put the lid back on top and then place it back into the hot oven. Bake the bread in the Dutch oven, with the lid for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, remove the lid and let it continue to bake for 10 more minutes to get nice and brown on top. Once golden brown remove the Dutch oven from the oven and lift the parchment with the bread out. Let the seeded no-knead bread cool for a few minutes before serving.
I don’t know if there is a joy any more simple than freshly baked bread smeared with butter. ❤️
This Seeded No-Knead Bread is my new love. Thanks to all those moisture loving seeds, the dough is soft, moist, and tender!
I would love to make this during quarantine, do you think I could use a glass loaf pan lined with parchment paper and bake? if not, could I use parchment paper and a cast iron pan since I don’t have a Dutch oven? Thanks!
Yes or you can try the sheet pan method Beth outlines.
Thank you! I ended up baking in a covered pot and it came out amazing! I used a blend of dried quinoa, flax, and chia seeds. I wish I put cracks on top for texture but still came out amazing! Worth the wait
Oh no! I don’t have a Dutch oven. Can I make it una regular cast iron?
Yes or you can try the baking sheet method.
I used different seeds when I made this. I just used the seeds I happened to have in my kitchen — sesame seeds, poppy seeds, and caraway seeds. They didn’t really absorbed any water when I soaked them, so I ended up needing to use a little more flour than called for. But it came out great — very tasty! I think the caraway seeds added a lot of flavor.
I saw on your other no-knead bread recipe that you use a 5.5 quart dutch oven. How do you think it would compare to using a 4 quart dutch oven?
Yes, this is a smaller loaf, so it will definitely fit in a 4 quart Dutch oven. :)
I started making this yesterday and just finished eating this for breakfast! I subbed hemp hearts and flax seeds for quinoa as I had some in my pantry. Also since I’m leaving for a few days and didn’t want to buy a whole bag of whole wheat flour, I just put the same amount of oatmeal in a food processor. I also made it into rolls. This was perfect and so easy!
Hello!
Any help for elevation? I have been making this bread for quite some time, but not sure how I should adjust since I just moved to Denver. Thoughts?
You should be just fine with this recipe Shannon. I’m in Colorado as well and have had great success with this recipe and no adjustments.
Turned out amazing! Great flavor and texture and SUPER EASY! I turned to this recipe after investing A LOT of time in a couple of loaves of sourdough that didn’t quite turn out. It was such a relief to make a good loaf with a fraction of the work.
Hi Beth. Do you think this recipe would work for rolls? I’m looking for a seeded rolls recipe. I have made this recipe before, but not rolls.
Yes, I think that would probably work! :)
Looks amazing and I’m hoping to make it. Do you think it would work in a 7 qt cast iron dutch over? Thanks!
Yes, that should still work. Mine is a 5 qt, so a 7 qt won’t be excessively larger.
I just found your site, and am sifting through all the good vegetarian recipes. About your no-knead bread: how tall does the loaf get? I know, odd question. I wonder if it would be possible to bake in a cast iron skillet? We are planning to live on a boat, and the gas oven won’t fit a dutch oven (too tall). I can use a cast iron skillet, and I have a lid for it.
The whole process sounds perfect for boat cooking!
I would say that you want at least 8 inches of room in the skillet between the bottom and the lid. :)
Think this is something a rice cooker/slow cooker could handle? I really want to try this but I don’t own a Dutch oven ^_^
I’ve never tried baking bread in a rice cooker or slow cooker, so I’m not sure. :) You will need to finish it off in a dry oven to get a brown crust, though.
Hi! Is there any way to make this work with a regular bread pan instead of a dutch oven?
You can bake this without a Dutch oven, but it does impact the texture, especially of the crust. The Dutch oven holds in the steam and also surrounds the bread on all sides with close radiating heat, so it does make a difference.
Be still, my heart! This looks exactly like the bread I have been craving for so long! Any idea how well this would freeze after being baked and completely cooled?
Very well! :)
Hi Beth,
Can you use regular active dry yeast and let it rise even longer? I don’t have any quick rise on hand.
You need to use instant or “bread machine” yeast because these don’t need to be dissolved in water before adding to the dough, like active dry yeast does. So it’s not about the rise time, but it’s about how and when the yeast is added.
This looks like a really workable recipe. I would like to try it with a gluten free flour mix which contains sorghum, millet, brown rice flour, arrowroot and soy flour. Would this work with the long rise, and can I substitute cup for cup measures? I don’t like changing a recipe someone has taken the time to develop but a family member has recently entered the world of gf and finding tasty bread recipes is our biggest challenge so far.
Gluten is what gives this bread strength to hold its shape, so I’m not sure how it would work with gluten-free flour. Unfortunately I’ve never experimented with gluten-free flour blends. :(