Last updated on March 14th, 2018 at 04:23 am
No Knead Dutch Oven Whole Wheat Bread – no kneading required and 4 ingredients gives you a healthy delicious whole wheat crusty bread.
I told you December was going to be about baking! Did you think I was kidding?
Maybe I’ll throw in a crockpot recipe or two, but the rest is all about baking, my friends. Because that’s what I do in December. I bake! Cookies, breads, muffins, scones, more cookies, bars, cakes, etc. The problem is what to do with all the baked goods. Luckily I have lots of test subjects at work who are more than willing to try my goods. 🙂
I made this bread before but with white flour but since I’m on this health kick lately I thought I’d try it with whole wheat flour and what a surprise I had. It was delicious! The recipe is quite similar but different quantities and I used only whole wheat flour and it turned out beautiful and super yummy. You cannot make an easier bread than this. There’s no kneading required, you simply mix the ingredients with a wooden spoon in a big bowl, cover it with plastic wrap and leave it on your counter over night. And magic happens!
The next day your bowl will be filled with this beautiful dough ready to be baked to golden perfection. You need a cast iron pot, or basically an oven proof pot with a lid which should work just as well. This bread is healthy and delicious and there’s nothing better than freshly made warm bread. My favorite thing in the world!
Watch the video for the original No Knead Crusty bread:
If you guys love this recipe, and most importantly make it yourselves, please let us know. Take a picture and tag it #jocooks on Instagram so we can see it. I always love to see what you guys come up with!
No Knead Dutch Oven Whole Wheat Bread
Ingredients
- 4 cups whole wheat flour
- 2 tsp salt
- 3/4 tsp active dry yeast
- 2 cups water room temperature
Instructions
- In a big bowl mix flour, salt and yeast together. Pour water into the bowl and using a spatula mix it until it's all incorporated. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let it sit on your counter for 12 to 18 hours.
- Preheat oven to 475 F degrees. Add your cast iron pot to the oven and heat it as well until it's at 475 F degrees.
- Remove pot from oven and remove the lid from it.
- Flour your work surface really well and make sure you flour your hands really well. With your floured hands gently remove the dough from the bowl and roughly shape it into a ball. Take the ball of dough and drop it into the pot. Cover the pot with the lid and place it back in the oven.
- Bake for 30 minutes with the lid on, after which remove the lid and bake for another 15 to 20 minutes until golden brown.
- Remove from the oven and let cool.
Notes
Nutrition
More delicious recipes from my kitchen
No Knead Dutch Oven Crusty Bread
Sunflower Flax Seeds Whole Wheat Cast Iron Bread
I made my dough according to the recipe exactly, and then set out to proof. I checked it only three hours later, and it had risen significantly but seemed deflated. Is that normal after only three hours of proofing for this recipe? My understanding is that when it deflates it’s over-proofed, so I put it in the fridge overnight to slow the proofing. I baked it this morning and it is very dense and the shape is very flat rather than domed. It does seem over-proofed. Any input or suggestions??? Density aside, the flavor is delicious!!
This recipe needs a good 12-18 hours to properly rise- trust the process! Give it a nice long rise next time and it will turn out well for you.
You are the best. I’ve made it twice now and hubby wants me to make it every week. The first one lasted a few days and I just baked the second one and it is already halfway. I added raisins, pepitas this time. Thanks so much
So easy with amazing results! Thank you for sharing such helpful recipes!
My pleasure, just glad you’re enjoying them!
Thanks so much Nicole. I will try that and let you know how it goes.
Hi Jo,
What can I add to make the no knead whole wheat bread a little sweeter and when would I add it?
You can add some granulated sugar! Mix it in with the flour for step one.
What is the quantity for using white flour? Email address is jerigrychowski@hotmail.com
Thank you, Jeri
Here’s a version of this recipe using white flour. Enjoy!
I added a quarter cup sunflower seeds, a quarter cup flax seeds, a quarter cup oats, a quarter cup honey and an eighth of a cup of water. It turned out great.
Yum! That sounds amazing.
To get less of a hard crust on artisan bread, more lid time or less?
Less lid time!
Perfect bread! Mad it yesterday and was amazed at the result. Thank you!
I let it rise for 17 hours. My crust came out really hard. It was so hard it was hard to cut. How do I prevent that in the future?
This is a pretty crispy bread, so the crust is supposed to be hard. This is what happens when you cook it in a Dutch oven, the steam is what creates a crispy top.
How long should I let the dough rise if i use fast rise yeast?
The only difference with fast rise/ instant yeast is that you don’t need to proof it first. You can just mix it right in with the rest of the ingredients. It will still need to rise for the same amount of time.
Has anybody tried to make this bread with spelt whole wheat?
Very nice recipe. Thank you for this. Any thoughts on adjusting the baking time if I cut the ingredients in half to make a smaller loaf?
Keep an eye on it and bake until its golden brown with a nice crust. If you have a kitchen thermometer the internal temperature should read 200F.
Do you ever make your breads with sourdough?
My husband and I have in the past, we used to have a sourdough started that we used to use, but we need to start another one, since we threw it away when we moved. However, I don’t have any on the blog, will probably get into baking sourdough again next year.
Hello,
Is it okay to let the rise dough for over 18 hours? More like 21 hours…
18 hours worked perfect for us, your bread may deflate for longer. You can give it a try and keep a close eye on it, but just keep in mind it may deflate.
So if I start to see it deflate in the oven, should I take it out and let it cool?
I wouldn’t take it out of the oven until it’s fully cooked
Hello, once the whole wheat bread is taken out of oven, the instructions are to let it cool. Should I take it out of Dutch oven and place on rack to cool, or does it just cool in Dutch oven pot? Thank you.
P.s. I also added another 1/2 cup of water to dough, similar to another person who commented.
Let it cool down in the dutch oven for about 10-15 minutes and then move it to a rack. Bread making can differ depending where you are in the world, with factors such as humidity. You can add more or less flour or water to suit your environment.
I have a couple of questions for you. Mine has been rising overnight and it is about doubled, is it done?
Pot doesn’t require any oil or greasing before adding the dough?
Main question: Most of the no-knead recipes call for a second rise of about 1-2 hours. Was that part omitted? I thought all bread required a second rise time. Do you think it would be more airy, less dense if you allowed it a second rise?
As long as it resembles the video, then yes, it’s done. We added flour to the pot to prevent sticking. If you’d like to do a second rise, that’s totally fine. Use oil rather than flour for the pot and let it rise for another hour or 2 before baking.
Can I cover it with a kitchen towel instead of plastic
You can, however the dough might stick to the towel making it difficult to remove after rising.
I baked my bread today and it turned out wonderfully! I would recommend other people add another half cup of water to the dough mixture the night before. My dough was really dry before adding that. Thank you for the recipe!
It can all depend on your altitude and the type of flour you’re using. Absolutely feel free to adjust amounts to make sure you have perfect bread for your tastes!
Great bread recipe. Has a great taste. I made it in a 10″ Dutch oven and used charcoal briquettes to bake it. I used 25 briquettes on the top and 13 on the bottom to get 475 degrees. Worked great while I am camping. Thanks for the recipe.