Crusty and crunchy on the outside, nutty and pillowy soft on the inside: this recipe for artisan no-knead seed bread is an easy and nutritious accompaniment for steaming soups or a dollop of apple butter.
A word about equipment: this recipe requires a Dutch oven, which helps shape the bread and steam the crust as it cooks.
You can wing it without a Dutch oven, but I find that doing do requires a longer proving time and leaves a lot more to chance, and your loaf will most likely be disappointingly flat.
This no-knead bread is made of highly hydrated dough. Lots of water allows the proteins (specifically, glutenin and gliadin) in the flour to mingle thoroughly, forming gluten strands and giving the bread some of its structure.
The rest of the structure comes from the fermenting yeast aerating the bread and the supportive walls of the Dutch oven.
So, if you don’t already have one, I highly recommend you get yourself one.
Ingredients
For this recipe, you’ll need:
- Bread flour
- Instant yeast
- Oats
- Sunflower seeds
- Flax seeds
- Pumpkin seeds
- Salt
- Maple syrup
- Water
See recipe card for quantities.
Instructions
Let’s get to it.
Add your flour, instant yeast, oats, all seeds, and salt to a bowl. Mix together.
Next, add maple syrup and water to the dry mix.
Use your hands to thoroughly wet the dough and shape it into a smooth ball.
You can knead the dough for a few minutes if you want to, but I find that the action of shaping and hydrating the dough is sufficient for this loaf.
You can test the readiness of the dough by poking it lightly; if the dough springs back, it’s ready for the first prove.
First prove: let the dough rise in a covered bowl for 2 – 3 hours. I sometimes expedite this step by wrapping a heating pad around the bowl. The dough should roughly double in size before it’s ready to be moved.
Line a Dutch oven with parchment paper.
Once the dough has doubled in size, gently gather it from the bowl and place it into the parchment paper-lined Dutch oven.
Drizzle with olive oil or sprinkle with herbs or coarse sea salt if you like.
Second prove: allow the dough to rise in the parchment-lined Dutch oven for about 30 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.
With the lid on, bake the bread for 10 – 15 minutes at 425 degrees F.
Remove the lid. With the lid off, bake the bread for another 30 – 40 minutes, or until golden brown on top.
Hint: If your bread rose a lot in either prove, start checking under the lid while its in its first 5 – 10 minutes of baking. You don’t want it to expand so much that it bakes into the lid (fixable, but not pretty).
Variations
You can substitute wholegrain flour for all purpose flour, but be aware of two things: this flour is heavier and more absorptive than white flour, so it will require two modifications:
- More water added to dough before first prove;
- Longer prove times, especially during the first prove- up to 90 minutes longer, in my experience.
Equipment
As mentioned above, I strongly recommend using a Dutch oven for this recipe. The steam from the baking dough creates a wonderfully thick, crunchy crust that is the shining star of this recipe.
Storage
There are no preservatives in this bread. Its freshness will depend on the humidity of your kitchen; I keep my kitchen around 55% humidity (average) and store my loaves in tightly sealed bags or containers in the refrigerator.
This no-knead artisan bread keeps for about 5 days in the refrigerator. You may also slice it, freeze it, and then toast the frozen slices individually.
Top tip
Don’t cheat your bread out of a complete prove! The magic of this loaf is in the light, soft, fluffy bread contrasted with the crunchy, thick crust. You’ll risk making a tight, heavier, denser loaf if you cut the prove too short.
I suggest prioritizing appearance of the proved dough over time. The dough should double in size during the first prove.
If you want to encourage the fermentation of the yeast, wrap of warm heating pad around the mixing bowl.
FAQ
This is a subjective take: I think you get something from both approaches. Kneaded bread is more robust and nicely chewy, in my experience. But the straightforwardness of no-knead bread brings me back to this recipe time and time again.
As written, this recipe won’t yield dense bread. However, you should be mindful of the first prove in particular; this is the critical step for the yeast to ferment, generating the gas that causes the bread to expand.
Kneading facilitates gluten formation, but it’s also time-consuming and moderately energy intensive. Sometimes, you just want to make your dough and let it sit! Here, gluten formation is aided by the use of lots of water, which helps the proteins in the flour combine.
Related
Looking for other recipes like this? Try these:
📖 Recipe
Artisan No-Knead Seed Bread (Easy!)
Equipment
- 1 mixing bowl
- 1 Dutch oven
Ingredients
- 350 g bread flour
- 2 teaspoon instant yeast
- 40 g oats
- 2 tablespoon sunflower seeds
- 2 tablespoon flax seeds
- 2 tablespoon pumpkin seeds
- 2 teaspoon salt
- 2 tablespoon maple syrup lukewarm
- 240 mL water
Instructions
- Add your flour, instant yeast, oats, all seeds, and salt to a bowl. Mix together.
- Next, add maple syrup and water to the dry mix. Use your hands to thoroughly wet the dough and shape it into a smooth ball.
- First prove: let the dough rise in a covered bowl for 2 – 3 hours. The dough should roughly double in size before it’s ready to be moved. You may expedite the first prove by wrapping a heating pad around the bowl.
- Line a Dutch oven with parchment paper. Once the dough has doubled in size, gently gather it and place it into the parchment paper-lined Dutch oven.
- Second prove: allow the dough to rise in the parchment-lined Dutch oven for about 30 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.
- With the lid on, bake the bread for 10 – 15 minutes. If your bread was quick to rise during proving, check its status 5 – 10 minutes into this part of the bake to ensure it doesn't bake into the lid.
- Remove the lid. With the lid off, bake the bread for another 30 – 40 minutes, or until golden brown on top.