No-Knead 100% Whole Wheat Bread
If you've never baked yeast bread but want to make your own homemade whole wheat loaf, this is a great place to start. Unlike most yeast breads, this one isn't kneaded; instead, the soft dough is simply beaten in a bowl for several minutes, then scooped into a bread pan. An hour later, it's ready to pop into the oven. The result: A dense, moist, easy-to-slice loaf, ideal for sandwiches, toast, French toast, and grilled cheese.
Ingredients
- 1 cup lukewarm water
- 1/4 cup orange juice
- 1/4 cup melted butter or vegetable oil
- 3 tablespoons molasses, maple syrup, dark corn syrup, or brown sugar corn syrup
- 2 teaspoons instant yeast
- 1/4 cup Baker's Special Dry Milk or nonfat dry milk*
- 1 1/4 teaspoons salt
- 3 cups King Arthur White Whole Wheat Flour
- *See "tips," below.
Instructions
- Heavily grease an 8 1/2" x 4 1/2" loaf pan. This loaf tends to stick, so be sure to grease the pan thoroughly with non-stick vegetable oil spray.
- Combine all of the ingredients in a large bowl. Beat the mixture vigorously for about 3 minutes; an electric mixer set on high speed works well here. You should have a very sticky dough. It won't be pourable, but neither will it be kneadable. Scoop it into the prepared pan. Wet your fingers, and smooth out the top of the dough.
- Cover the pan with lightly greased plastic wrap; or better yet an elastic shower cap, "poofing" up the top to give the rising loaf plenty of room. Let the loaf rise for 60 to 90 minutes; it should just about rise to the rim of the pan, perhaps just barely cresting over the rim. While the dough is rising, preheat the oven to 350°F.
- Uncover the bread, and bake it for 40 to 45 minutes, tenting it with aluminum foil after 20 minutes. The bread is done when it's golden brown on top, and a digital thermometer inserted into the center registers between 190°F and 195°F.
- Remove the bread from the oven, and after 5 minutes turn it out onto a rack. Brush with melted butter, if desired; this will keep the crust soft. Cool the bread completely before cutting it.
- Store the bread, tightly wrapped in plastic, at cool room temperature for 2 to 3 days; freeze for longer storage.
Nutrition Information
- Serving Size 1 slice
- Servings Per Batch 16 per loaf
Amount Per Serving:
- Calories 120
- Calories from Fat 30
- Total Fat 3g
- Saturated Fat 2g
- Trans Fat 0g
- Cholesterol 5mg
- Sodium 190mg
- Total Carbohydrate 18g
- Dietary Fiber 2g
- Sugars 5mg
- Protein 4g
* The nutrition information provided for this recipe is determined by the ESHA Genesis R&D software program. Substituting any ingredients may change the posted nutrition information.
Tips from our bakers
- No dry milk in your pantry? Substitute 1 cup lukewarm milk for the 1 cup water and 1/4 cup dry milk.
- For best results, use an 8 1/2" x 4 1/2" loaf pan. If you use a 9" x 5" pan (measure the inside/top dimensions, to see what size you have), your loaf will turn out shorter and flatter.
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Reviews
Wow...I still can't believe the bread I made using this recipe turned out so great. It's my first time baking bread, and generally when I try to bake something new it never turns out so great. Maybe it's because I actually stuck to the recipe mostly this time besides increasing amounts for a 9.25*5.25 pan, using only 2 tbsp of maple syrup, and reducing the salt just slightly. Make sure to watch the dough rising closely once it's been around 45 minutes. The dough still looked like it had a ways to go to reach the top of the pan at 40 minutes for me. I got busy with something then, and when I came back at around 55 minutes it had already risen a little too much. This resulted in the loaf collapsing a bit in the middle. I've never made fresh bread before...it just tastes so good. Again wow. I also thought making 100% whole wheat bread at home without adding vital wheat gluten would mean dense bread, but it's so soft and fluffy. Amazing.
This was delicious bread! Great taste. I will definitely make it again.
Great recipe! I measured like a rocket scientist and it came out perfectly. For my future baking, may I use 1/4 cup of soy-milk instead of the nonfat dry milk? Thank youMary, to make this recipe dairy-free, you can omit the dry milk powder and then use 1 cup of plain, unsweetened soy milk in place of the water. (Also opt for oil instead of butter.) Be sure to warm it up slightly before adding it to the other ingredients in the recipe if you want the dough to rise in a timely fashion. Happy baking! Kye@KAF
Good recipe. My problem - I don't own a stands mixer. My hand held Kitchenaid mixer has trouble with thus sticky dough. It rides up the beaters in a big glob. Is it possible to make this with a hand mixer? I'm concerned that I may damage mineHi Deb. If not using a stand mixer, we'd recommend mixing this batter by hand, ideally with a bowl scraper. Annabelle@KAF
I baked the bread. It was delicious. No Knead. Less time. Accurate ingredients. Great Flavor. Tastes much better than store bought breads. Definitely a keeper!
Love it. Used 3 table spoons of brown sugar, pineapple juice and regular yeast as substitute based on what I had around. Proved the yeast using one of the three tablespoons of brown sugar in the water. Other than that followed it exactly. Perfect. Smelled so good while it was baking it filled the whole house.
This was a very quick and easy recipe, which is what I was looking for. I used black strap molasses and the flavor was a little strong, so next time I will try maple syrup.
This bread it awesome! It is moist, rises to create a nice dome and smooth appearance (in an 8x4 pan), has a lovely airy texture, it's moist and flavorful--perfect for sandwiches or toast, sweet or savory. Best yet, my son (12) was able to make it with little guidance. This is the perfect need-bread-in-a-pinch recipe that really is enjoyable. Notes: I used 100% fresh-ground whole white wheat, honey, half safflower oil/half applesauce (for the fat), non-instant dry milk powder, and 2 Tbs. vital wheat gluten. I microwaved my water 25 sec. to get it to 110 temp. Followed the recipe. :) It took 38-39 min. for it to be perfect and 190 internal temp. Let it rest before slicing.
Question: my loaf fell in the middle. What did I do wrong? I used molasses. I did add an additional 2T of agave and traded that out with the water. Bread rose for 1 hour when it was just coming up to the top of the pan. Put it in the oven at 350. Covered at 20 minutes. Other than that didn't open the oven. At 40 minutes it was at temp but the top had sunk in. I doubled the recipe. In the second pan I added 1c raisins and 3 layers of cinnamon filling alternating with dough. Baked them at the same time in the same oven and the raisin load did not sink. Have not tried for flavor/texture yet since it just came out of the ovenElizabeth, while a number of things may have happened here, it may help to know that the most common cause of sinking during baking is over-proofing. This can be the result of the kind of yeast used or the temperature in your kitchen in addition to timing. Using a 9" x 5" loaf pan, it would be especially easy to over-proof, given that the dough shouldn't reach the same height due to the larger area it has to fill. If it would be helpful to troubleshoot with one of our experienced bakers directly, please feel free to give us a call at 855-371-BAKE. We'd be happy to continue the conversation! Mollie@KAF
This is so easy and bakes up beautifully. Great PB toast. I used juice from a Cara Cara orange and the loaf turned out a really pretty colour. If I want to try it with slightly less sweetening next time (say 1 TBSP of maple syrup) do I need to increase other liquid or do anything else to make up for it? Will it throw the recipe off?Lucy, you should be able to adjust the sweetener to taste without any negative impacts on the texture of the bread. Sugar does act like a liquid in case, so you might need to increase the other liquids slightly to compensate for this. Only make this adjustment if the dough feel dry after mixing. Happy baking! Kye@KAF
