No-Knead Bread

I've been baking my own bread for a little over six years now.  I usually bake about one two-pound loaf per week.  In all that time, I have kneaded a batch of bread dough just once--the first time I made it.

I claim no originality with the process or recipe.  All credit goes to Jim Lahey and Mark Bitten; the first video they made on it can be seen here:  No-Knead Bread

Numerous permutations of this recipe can be seen in videos produced by Breadtopia.

This is also similar to the "Artisan Bread in Five Minutes per Day" approach.

The nice thing about this process is that you don't need precision.  My own recipe has drifted over the years; what I currently use for the most common loaf I bake is this:

2 cups unbleached bread flour
1 3/4 cups whole wheat flour (of any kind)
1/2 tsp salt
1 3/4 - 2 cups water
1/4 cup sourdough starter

I bake it at 475 for 30 minutes, then 15 minutes at 450.  I don't use much salt... I slowly backed it off over a period of time and now I'm happy with the minimal amount I use.  When I bake for others, I bring the amount of salt back up because I know most people would find my bread to be pretty bland.

I started off baking in a Pyrex pot, but soon moved to a Romertopf because it makes nice traditional loaf-sized bread and is good for sandwiches.  Rather than lay the dough on a towel or the counter, I put it in a proofing basket to rise the second time (with a liner).

The inside of the loaf when baking the standard white/whole wheat flour mix looks like this (not the same loaf as above):

Regardless of flour blend, my process is: mix it all up in a bowl; let it rise under plastic for a number of hours; turn it out onto a floured counter top, dusting it with flour on top, patting it out a bit and folding it into a sort of oblong loaf shape; put it in the proofing basket for a few minutes; drop into the preheated Romertopf; bake; remove and let cool for about 24 hours before cutting (both to cool and to build a nice crust).  Then I start storing it in the refrigerator as I use it up.

Regarding rising times: those have drifted.  12 hours / 2 hours will work, but a wide range of times will work.  Most commonly I let the first rise go 9-10 hours and the second more like 30 minutes.  In the summer my house is pretty warm, so the dough rises a lot; in the winter, not so much.  A shorter second rise seems to lead to more rising in the oven.

I use a number of different flour combinations, adding up to a total of 3 3/4 - 4 cups:

All bread (white) flour
All whole wheat flour (white, red, white soft)*
As above with rye flour substituted for the whole wheat
As above with buckwheat flour substituted for whole wheat (only did this one; didn't like it much)

*When baking with 100% whole wheat, I add 1/2 cup of vital wheat gluten, for a total of about 4 -  4 1/4 cups flour & VWG.

The baking times are always the same.  As noted above, I preheat the Romertopf--for 20 minutes as the oven is warming up to avoid having the loaf stick; it almost always slides right out.  Above is my standard white / whole wheat mixture; below is the most recent loaf I've baked: 100% soft white wheat with VWG.

As you can see, the crumb structure is much more dense than with some white flour mixed in, but I'm very happy with the results. The individual slices are heavy. The loaf is shown sitting on my fairly cheap bread slicing guide. I think I prefer the white flour mixed in, but this is certainly viable.  The reason I have experimented with all whole wheat is that I have some unground wheat on hand.  Any baking I do with that will be either all whole wheat or I'll have to mix in store-bought white flour.  Red wheat has a definite bite to it, while white is more bland.  In general, hard wheat is more available than soft, but as you can see, soft will work okay.  I also use hard wheat flour in places where soft is more traditionally recommended, such as when making cakes. 

I haven't used commercial yeast much in the last several years; I have a sourdough starter I originally got from Cultures for Health that is still going strong. My sourdough approach pretty much follows the video on the Breadtopia site.

A few observations:  I don't mix my dough to be as wet as shown in the video.  The texture is obviously different with whole wheat flour in the mix, but even so, if the dough is too wet, it makes a mess in the proofing basket and is a mess to deal with when trying to pat it out on the counter.  Rye is pretty sticky, too.  Regardless of flour type, somewhat less water works fine.

As noted before, the recipe is incredibly forgiving of deviations in almost any of the ingredients or other parameters.  Too much water causes some problems, but the bread will still be usable.  Too little is probably okay.  Flour can vary a bit.  Rising times can vary.  Baking time can vary.  Too little would obviously be a problem, but I've left it in too long on a couple of occasions and it has been okay.  I certainly have had loaves that have disappointed, but they are always usable.

The bread is good.  I obviously bake it to my own tastes, but it beats almost anything I can buy.

I've spoiled myself at this point; I used to be happy with store brand white or whole wheat sandwich bread, but now those are almost inedible--soft, airy, salty, nasty.  What I bake is worlds better.

The amount of work involved is minimal, and it's pretty cheap.  Ten pounds of flour costs $6-$7, and I can get five two-pound loaves of premium bread from that much.  That much good bread in the store would probably cost... I don't know; I haven't shopped for it lately... probably at least $20. The long rising times can easily be built around my work schedule.  I either mix up the dough before leaving for work and bake when I get home or do so last thing at night so I can bake the next morning.


Grinding my own wheat flour would make it a bit fresher, and I have done that before.  I'm pretty satisfied buying pre-ground whole wheat, however.  I've experimented with a lot of different varieties and want to try growing my own. Speaking of which, it's just about time to plant it.

If you've never baked your own bread; give it a try.  It's worth it.