If you’ve never made bread, start here. Anyone can make this. Anyone. If you have a bowl, a spoon, a few ingredients, a loaf pan and an oven, you can make a great loaf of bread with ease.
Two years ago Mark Bittman of The New York Times published the no-knead bread recipe by Jim Lahey of Gotham’s Sullivan Street Bakery. It caused a sensation in the food world and encouraged countless people to make a first loaf of holey bread. It’s a popular recipe on this blog; the link is at the end. Its only drawback for some is the long fermentation time, about 18 hours.
Bittman decided to play with the formula, hoping to reduce the time, and recently published versions that ferment for only five hours while still producing a good crust and crumb. I tried the wholegrain version for a couple reasons. It’s baked in a standard loaf pan — the white bread version is baked in a Dutch oven, preferably cast iron — making it better for sandwiches and toast. And I wanted to test it with only whole wheat flour, which he mentions as an alternative to his master recipe, which calls for a mix of whole wheat and two specialty grains. I keep them on hand but I know not everyone does. As you can see, it worked fine. I used white wheat flour, sweeter than regular whole wheat flour and appealing to many who don’t like whole wheat bread.
What is white wheat flour? It’s a naturally-occurring albino variety of red wheat, without the bitter tannins and phenolic acid in red wheat’s outer bran. In 2005, USA Today reported white wheat represents less than 5% of the American wheat crop and is far more common in Britain than it is here. It’s available in supermarkets and natural foods stores from King Arthur, Hodgson Mill, Bob’s Red Mill and perhaps other companies. I’ve used it for years, often swapping out some all-purpose flour for white wheat in standard baked goods and no one knows. Its protein count is extremely high, 14%, so small swaps are necessary to retain the tenderness of the finished product.
Back to the bread. It’s a smallish loaf, which is good because it will stale within a day or two due to the lack of fat in the dough. Breads freeze well if you can’t use it up in time. An 8-inch loaf pan would be ideal; mine is in use so I used a 9-inch, getting a longer but slightly less-tall loaf. If you’re a first-timer, do not underestimate the power of one teaspoon of instant yeast. One packet of yeast is enough for two loaves. And if you have one of the many bread machine books that recommend adding vital wheat gluten to every whole wheat bread, please don’t. Whole wheat flour has plenty of protein, especially white wheat as noted above, and the gluten will develop just fine. If you’re making 100% rye bread, adding a bit of gluten might produce a higher loaf than Bittman got, but keep in mind that not every bread needs height to be considered successful.
Bittman’s article on reformulating no-knead bread is here, with a link to a video that seems to have disappeared of him and Lahey, who offers suggestions for what he thinks would be a better fast version of the white bread. I should have taken notes when I watched it.
Fast No-knead Wholegrain Bread
Adapted from Mark Bittman
3 cups/360g whole wheat (wholemeal) flour*
or:
2 cups/240g whole wheat flour
1/2 cup/51g rye flour
1/2 cup/70g corn meal
1 tsp instant yeast
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups/360 mL water
*Lightly spoon the flour into a measuring cup and level it off to approximate this weight
Combine the dry ingredients in a large bowl and stir to distribute yeast and salt. Add the water and stir until well-blended. It will be shaggy dough. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap [I covered it with a flat pot lid ~ ella] and let rest in a warm place, about 70 degrees/21 C, for four hours.
Oil or spray a standard loaf pan, 8 or 9-inches, oil or spray your hands and shape the dough into a rectangle. Transfer to pan, pressing out to edges and oil the top. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise for one hour. [Bittman says it will not rise if not in a pan. It rose fine in the bowl during the first fermentation, so next time I'm going to shape it into a boule and see what happens. ~ ella]
Preheat oven to 350F/180C/Gas 4 and bake 45 minutes or until an instant-read thermometer inserted in the center registers 210 degrees F/99 C.
Remove from pan and transfer to a rack to cool.
Bittman says: “You can use 100 percent whole grains, you can vary their percentages all you want (though all-rye bread doesn’t rise much at all) and you can add nongrain flours, sweeteners or dairy. If the proportions of liquid, solid and yeast stay the same, the timing and results will be consistent.”
Ella’s notes: Any variety of whole wheat flour should be stored in the refrigerator or freezer; it turns rancid within a few months otherwise. Let it come to room temperature before using. I used King Arthur’s Organic White Wheat Flour in this bread, only because I am in King Arthur country and can get the premium-priced Organic in small amounts at a good price. Their regular white wheat is fine too. I have not tried the other brands but I assume they are equally good.
Related posts on From Scratch: That Famous No-Knead Bread What is Instant Yeast?
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{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
OMGosh, does this look fun!
You know I am a Bittman fan, and I am excited to try this.
I did not know about “white wheat,” which I presume is whole grain given your comments.
How terrific is that!
Thanks so much!
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You were one of the people I thought of when I pulled the organic white wheat out of the freezer.
Yes, it’s albino whole wheat and milder.
Do give this a try. It takes no effort and it’s delicious. I have several whole wheat bread recipes in my repertoire but this will be my go-to from now on.
Have fun!
I am going to make this. Thanks for sharing!
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You’re welcome, Nate. Happy Bloggerversary!
I’m trying Bittman’s Whole Wheat bread today after having great success with his White bread. In my copy and in many other sources the recipe calls for 1 1/2 tsp of salt. That is what I used as your site was the only one I found that used 1/2 tsp. Is their a reason for this??
Mea culpa, Lynn, a typo — eek. His original does show 1.5, although with kosher salt the smaller amount would be fine. I will edit that right now.
Thank you!