No-Knead Harvest Bread

Plan ahead for this easy breadan overnight or all-day rise gives it terrific flavor. For the best crust, bake in a ceramic bread crock, or a covered clay baker.
Read our blog about this bread, with additional photos, at Bakers' Banter.
- 3 1/4 cups Lancelot Hi-Gluten Flour or King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
- 1 cup King Arthur Traditional Whole Wheat Flour or King Arthur White Whole Wheat Flour
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 1/2 teaspoon instant yeast
- 1 3/4 cups cool water
- 3/4 cup dried cranberries
- 1/2 cup golden raisins
- 1 cup coarsely chopped pecans or walnuts
Directions
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1) Mix the flours, salt, yeast, and water in a large bowl. Stir, then use your hands to mix and form a sticky dough. |
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2) Work the dough just enough to incorporate all the flour, then work in the fruit and nuts. |
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3) Cover the bowl with plastic wrap, and let it rest at room temperature overnight, or for at least 8 hours; it'll become bubbly and rise quite a bit, so use a large bowl. |
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4) Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface, and form it into a log or round loaf to fit your 14" to 15" long lidded stoneware baker; 9" x 12" oval deep casserole dish with cover; or 9" to 10" round lidded baking crock. |
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5) Place the dough in the lightly greased pan, smooth side up. |
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6) Cover and let rise at room temperature for about 2 hours, until it's become puffy. It should rise noticeably, but it's not a real high-riser. |
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7) Place the bread in the cold oven. Set the oven temperature to 450°F. |
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8) Bake the bread for 45 to 50 minutes, then remove the lid and continue to bake for another 5 to 15 minutes, until it's deep brown in color, and an instant-read thermometer inserted into the center registers about 205°F. Remove the bread from the oven, turn out onto a rack, and cool before slicing. |
Recipe summary
- Hands-on time:
- 15 mins. to 8 hrs 5 mins.
- Baking time:
- 50 mins. to 60 mins.
- Total time:
- 1 hrs 10 mins. to 9 hrs 25 mins.
- Yield:
- 1 loaf

- Recipe comments (56) »
Tips from our bakers
- Using Lancelot Hi-Gluten Flour, with its higher protein level, allows this bread to rise higher than it will with all-purpose flour.
- Walnuts sometimes give this bread a faint purple tinge. If this bothers you, use pecans instead.
| Nutrition Facts | |
|---|---|
| Serving Size 77g
Servings Per Batch 16 |
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| Amount Per Serving | |
| Calories 196 | Calories from Fat 49 |
| Daily Value* | |
| Total Fat | 5g |
| Saturated Fat | 1g |
| Trans Fat | 0g |
| Cholesterol | 0 |
| Sodium | 293mg |
| Total Carbohydrate | 33g |
| Dietary Fiber | 3g |
| Sugars | 7 |
| Protein | 5g |
| * The nutrition information provided for each recipe is determined by the ESHA Genesis R&D software program. Substituting any ingredients may change the posted nutrition information. | |
Reviews
11/16/2009
Superb! My first attempt at bread making. It was wonderful!
11/12/2009
Fabulous and so easy! This recipe gave me a chance to use the La Cloche ceramic baker that has been sitting in my cabinet for years. Perfect crust and moist interior. I'll definitely be making this again and again.
11/08/2009
love it, love it, love. Have been making since the recipe came out in the catalog. Wonderful flavor & texture. Taste wonderful as is or toasted, with cream cheese, or any cheese, turkey, roast beef, peanut butter and anything else you like. Gets rave reviews when ever anyone has some of this hardy bread.
10/19/2009
I did not have a ceramic baker so I used the technique I have used with no-knead bread and a cast iron oval baker. Instead of baking in a cool oven I pre-heated cast iron baker in oven to 425 degrees. Rolled dough into baker, covered and cooked for 30min. removed lid and cooked for another 10min. Came out lovely!
10/19/2009
I am a seasoned bread baker and this IS the easiest yeast bread ever!! I chose to use Jalapenos instead of the cranberries & nuts. It is fantastic. It does take some planning as far as letting it rise for 8 hours or overnite. It has an English Muffin type consistency. Great Toasted!!
10/19/2009
Easy to make, excellent taste!
10/16/2009
This is a great recipe - super easy that yields incredibly great bread (bread with great flavor, texture and crust) for a home baker! I love trying new bread recipes but most of them do not turn out as good as I hope. The most surprising thing about this recipe is, it's SO easy! I've tried recipes that are ten times more complicated (and sometimes take days to complete) yet do not produce as good a loaf of bread as this one! This bread really has a character and a good flavor! Thank you, whoever came up with this recipe!!
10/16/2009
I have made this recipe since I first saw it in the cataloge. It is easy to make and delightful to eat.
10/10/2009
Can't wait to make this bread for my Running Group--I have a baking reputation to hold up and this bread will be perfect after a long run! Wow--it is wonderful.
10/06/2009
This bread is so.....delicous I have made it many times and we love it for dinner or in the morning for breakfast or just to snack on. The recipe is easy to follow and well worth the work put into it.

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