Sunflower and Flax Seeds Whole Wheat Cast Iron Bread – no kneading required and only a few ingredients turn into a super crusty delicious bread.
Ever since I’ve started making this easy no knead bread, I’ve never looked back and this is pretty much the only bread I ever make. It couldn’t get any easier. This is the 3rd variation I try, I’ve made one with only white flour, one with whole wheat flour and now I’m trying one with half white half whole wheat and I threw in some sunflower seeds and flax seeds. I have to say this is my favorite, simply because of the sunflower and flax seeds. I cannot tell you enough how easy this bread is.
We love this bread, whenever we want fresh bread, this is the bread we go to. I love the crust and it never fails to amaze me how great the crust is on this bread, it’s like a miracle, like magic. Nothing tastes and smells better, at least to me, than homemade fresh bread, straight out of the oven. If you’re patient enough you can wait until it’s cool to cut into it, or if you’re more the impatient kind like my husband, then you probably will just break into it and have at it.
So when I said this bread is easy to make I didn’t lie. The day before you want to eat the bread, all you need to do is mix all the ingredients in a big bowl, and by mixing I mean to roughly just mix them with a wooden spoon until somewhat incorporated. That’s it, you just cover the bowl and leave it until the next day, you need to let it sit for about 12 to 18 hours. Usually I’ll do mine the night before, takes no more than a couple minutes. This is when you also throw in the seeds or whatever else you want to add to the bread, like herbs, cheeses, or dried fruits like cranberries.
The next day all you need to do is shape the dough into a ball, but make sure you flour your hands really well. It doesn’t have to be perfect.
Before you place it in your dutch oven, you need to heat your dutch oven as you’re warming up your oven, this will prevent your bread from sticking to the bottom. Trust me I know, I forgot once to heat up the dutch oven and I had a hard time taking the bread out.
Cover it up with the lid and bake it for 30 minutes, remove the lid and bake for another 15 minutes and you end up with the most gorgeous little bread you’ve ever seen. Even if you’ve never made bread before this is a no fail recipe. Trust me.
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!
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Sunflower and Flax Seeds Whole Wheat Cast Iron Bread
Ingredients
- 2 cups whole wheat flour
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon active dry yeast
- 2 1/4 cup water
- 1/3 cup sunflower seeds
- 1/3 cup flax seeds
Instructions
- In a big bowl mix flour, salt and yeast together. At this time you can add the sunflower and flax seeds and stir them around a bit. 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 450 F degrees. Add your ]cast iron pot to the oven and heat it as well until it's at 450 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.
Recipe Notes
Nutrition Information:
What you’ll need:
If you love this bread, try these other no knead cast iron breads:
What size Dutch Oven do you use? I have a 5qt Dutch oven and was wondering if I need to adjust this recipe for this large size pot?
5qt should be perfect for this bread.
Can the dough be left to rise past 18 hours (up to 24 hours)? My timing calculation was off and I prepped the dough earlier than I should have to bake my loaf morning it will be served.
Yep, it should be fine, I’ve left mine out for 24 hours before and it still turned out great.
I’ve had this recipe in my to-cook list for months (years?) and finally, on a whim, decided late on a Saturday night to prep it ready for baking the next day. It came out perfectly, filling but not too dense, and a good amount of seeds which made me feel virtuous.This will be a solid staple from now on.
So glad you like it! 🙂
I had to borrow a Dutch oven to try this recipe. We loved this bread. Guess I’m going to have to go buy my own Dutch oven. Who know good bread could be this easy and healthy.
I use the original recipe often. But I want to add GROUND flaxseed to my bread. (by adding whole flaxseed you are getting non of the nutrients of the flaxseed). But since ground flaxseed has musilidge and oils I’m sure it would impact the dought recipe. Have you made with ground flaxseed, if so could you post that recipe.
Hi Mona! I have not tried ground flaxseed.
I have only used ground flaxseed and it was perfect
Does it make a difference if you use the typical warm water or cold in the recipe?
I just use water at room temperature.
Newbie here. I have baked with this recipe successfully over the past year and love it and then I decided to just use 4 cups all purpose flour instead of the 2:2 split between whole wheat flour and all purpose. I guess that doesn’t work. Smh. After the rising period it looks like a very thick soup vs sticky dough. It’s now in the Dutch oven but I fear a messy disaster. It seems I should have cut back on either water or added more flour?
Thx
Hi Paul,
It should technically work, but it could also depend on your environment. I have the recipe for the no knead bread with just ap flour, you can find it here for more information:
https://www.jocooks.com/recipes/no-knead-bread/
Thx Jo. I made a batch of dough per recipe and one with all AP flour – all else the same so the environmental factor should be the same. It’s in the cover “off” baking phase so I will let you know how it goes.
I have used the other recipe before but I like this one for the larger loaf in my 5 qt Dutch oven and the addition of sunflower seeds and flax.
Love all your recipes!
Tastes great— the most important criteria!
It looks good but just didn’t rise as tall as it normally does. 18+ hour rise time
This bread is absolutely superb in texture, taste, technique and directions. It is a keeper in our home.