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No Knead Country Wheat Bread

Combine, stir, let rise for 18-24 hours. Bread dough is ready to bake! Remember, the warmer the room the quicker the rise.
This recipe can be made with Yeast Water instead of active dry yeast. Instructions for making yeast water: Homemade Yeast Makes Homemade Bread! - Rosemary Mark
Prep Time5 mins
Cook Time45 mins
Servings: 1 appx 1.5lb loaf

Equipment

  • cast iron Dutch Oven, 3.5-5 quart size

Ingredients

  • 420 grams (3 cups) bread flour, I like King Arthur or Bob's Redmill. All-purpose flour (bleached or unbleached), will also work and produces a softer crumb bread
  • 90 grams (3/4 cup) whole wheat flour
  • 30 grams (1/4 cup) oat bran, optional
  • 8 grams (1-1/2tsp) table salt
  • 1/4 tsp dry yeast (instant or rapid-rise, either works) or delete yeast if using Wild Yeast Water*
  • 70 grams chopped walnuts, optional
  • 400 grams/ml (1-3/4 cups) cold tap water if using Wild Yeast Water and no dry yeast, replace 1/4-1/3 of the water with yeast water. (100-150g/ml)

Instructions

  • Mix dry ingredients in a large bowl. Add walnuts and/or soaked grains if making multi-grain recipe. (See link for multi-grain recipe.)
  • Stir in water with a wooden spoon. Switch to a plastic scraper if you have one, and continue mixing and turning just until dough is evenly moistened and pulls away from sides of the bowl. It’s not necessary to stir vigorously, just enough so the flour is mixed in.
  • Cover bowl with plastic wrap (a plastic shower cap works great!) and let stand 30 minutes. Turn dough with the scraper or spoon, giving it about 4 folds. (If you skip this step you'll still get a great loaf of bread. Folding helps stretch the gluten and make the holes, or 'crumb'.)
  • Cover bowl with plastic and let stand at room temperature 18-24 hours. The dough will rise and be very bubbly.
  • Gently stir dough down with scraper or spatula and fold over in 90 degree turns several times. Dust top of dough lightly with flour. Cover the bowl and let rest 15 minutes.
  • Dust a dry linen towel or banneton with flour. Scrape the dough out of the bowl onto the towel or banneton and shape roughly into a ball. Leave at room temperature for 30-45 minutes. OR – leave bread in bowl, sprinkle top with oats, cornmeal, bran or flour, then scrape around edge of bowl to slightly deflate dough. It can help to spritz the top with water to help the seeds stick. Let stand covered about 45 minutes. Dough should rise a little.
  • PREHEAT BAKE METHOD: While dough is resting, preheat a heavy Dutch oven to 500°F. NOTE: The pan must be a glazed pan that can withstand 500°F or a cast iron Dutch oven or skillet. Do not place empty pan in preheated oven as it can craze the enamel surface. Allow at least 30 minutes for pan and oven to super-heat.
  • Carefully remove the hot pan from the oven, leaving a hot pad on the lid so as not to accidently grab with bare hand. Unwrap dough, quickly slide dough top side down into the preheated pan. Cover with lid or loosely cover container with foil. (This step can also be done by leaving pan on oven rack and pulling out.)
  • Reduce oven to 450°F. Cover pan with lid or foil. Bake 25 minutes. Dough will rise and start to brown.
    Remove lid or foil and continue to bake until very dark brown, additional 15-20 minutes.  Immediately remove bread from pan and cool on a wire rack.
  • COLD BAKE METHOD: I recently followed directions from Elaine Boddy https://foodbodsourdough.com/ to bake from cold start oven. Results are excellent! Place dough in generously rice floured unheated enameled cast iron pan, or parchment lined pan. Place pan with dough in cold oven. Set oven to 450F (425F convection). Bake bread covered for 50 minutes. Uncover and bake additional 10 minutes or until well browned. Turn out immediately onto cooling rack.

Notes

*Wild Yeast Water can be produced in about 5 days with raisins or dates and water. Instructions here Homemade Yeast Makes Homemade Bread! - Rosemary Mark
Information about Wild Yeast Water can be found here in this Facebook group.