I have recently developed a real love for baking bread, real bread. I must admit, the thought of endlessly kneading dough by hand, since I don’t have a stand mixer yet, used to terrify me. I love making things from scratch but I am definitely not someone who likes to slave over a hot stove or oven for hours on end, so I have always chosen to stick to quick breads or beer breads.
I recently discovered no-knead bread recipes which have changed my life. Taking 5 minutes in the evening to toss a few ingredients together and then leaving it to do it’s thing overnight has been such a pleasure. I’m not 100% sure why they call then no-knead recipes since there is a little kneading involved in the morning, but it’s literally another 5 minutes of work and that’s it.
So even though these recipes can take around 12 – 18 hours, don’t be discouraged. It only takes about ten minutes of your time. Which is so worth it for our busy lives. To have freshly baked bread sans all the preservatives and bleached flours that most shop bought breads have makes me extremely happy. My aim is always cleaner eating, so it’s very important to me to know what is actually in my food.
The smell of freshly baked bread that fills my home every other morning is an added bonus.
Muesli Bread (No Knead)
7 simple ingredients making the perfect bread for sandwiches, french toast, or simply toasted with butter and honey.
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Ingredients
- 1½ Cups Warm water Not Hot
- 3 Cups Bread Flour I prefer unbleached stoneground flour
- ¼ Cup Whole meal bread flour
- 2 tsp Salt
- ¾ Tbsp Instant dry yeast approx. 11 grams
- ¼ Cup Seeds of choice I use a seed mix
- ¼ Cup Dried fruit of choice I use a dried fruit mix
- ¼ Cup Nuts of your choice Roasted and chopped (you can use almonds, pecans or walnuts)
Instructions
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk the flours, salt, yeast. Stir in the water until a sticky, rough dough forms. Cover the mixing bowl with a cloth or plastic wrap (or both as I do) and let it rest overnight (around 12 hours) at room temperature. You can prepare/measure out your fruit and seeds and chop your nuts in the evening so that they are ready for use in the morning
- In the morning, gently scrape the dough from the bowl and knead a few times on a floured surface. Then add the seeds, nuts and fruit. Knead until just combined, trying to keep the nuts, seeds and fruit on the inside of the loaf. If too many are on the surface they could burn while baking
- Place on a baking paper lined board. Sift a light coating of flour over the top, to help keep the dough moist. Let rest for another 45 minutes to an hour
- Place your baking sheet or baking/pizza stone in the oven and preheat to 230°C while the dough rests. Also place a deeper baking sheet/tray in the bottom of the oven to heat *
- When the oven is hot, you may wish to slash the top of your dough with a very sharp blade or knife to help it expand while baking. Do not push to hard as this will deflate your dough
- Carefully slide the bread along with the baking paper onto the middle baking sheet or stone. Take care not to burn yourself
- Then pour a cup of water into the bottom tray and quickly shut the door. The steam will help to create a lovely crust but work quickly not to let the steam escape. Just take care not to burn yourself
- Bake for 25 – 35 minutes, or until deep golden brown
- Ensure that the bottom of the loaf is well baked then remove and let cool on a wire rack
Notes
I only use unbleached stoneground flour for all my baking. Both my bread and cake flour. (And for that matter I only used unrefined unbleached sugar too, Natura Sugars is my favourite brand). This is all in an effort to still eat what I enjoy but to use cleaner healthier ingredients. My favourite trusted flour brand is Eureka Mills, who have an amazing selection of unbleached stoneground flours and even some easy home mixes. For this bread, as you see in the recipe, I like to use a combination of their whole meal bread flour and white bread flour. To be honest, I don’t always stick to the ratio above, I sometimes go either half & half or ⅓ whole meal, ⅔ white. This usually depends on my mood or how much of each I have at the time. Feel free to play around with this, but I would suggest trying the recipe as is first and thereafter increasing and reducing either as you like.
Feel free to use any seeds, dried fruit and nuts you like in this recipe. As you might have noticed in this recipe, as well as some of my other recipes, I usually use a seed mix and a dried fruit mix. I get all my dried goods from Fresch who have amazing quality products, are sustainable, use biodegradable and compostable packaging and deliver right to your door. The have the individual items too, but I love the simplicity of buying some of their premixes. The seed mix I purchase (Slimmix) has raw sunflower seeds, linseeds, pumpkin seeds and slivered almonds. The dried fruit mix (Very Berry Mix) includes goji berries, cranberries, sultanas, currants, and raisins.
As you will see in most of my recipe and notes, my recipes are very versatile and adjustable and I also love healthy convenience. I strongly believe in using what you have at hand and not having to purchase all new ingredients for each recipe (unless it’s something special of course). I like filling my pantry cupboard with quality trusted clean staples. Thereafter I use what I have. I hate food wastage so I make sure that I don’t buy ingredients for a recipe which I will only ever use once. And if I find a better quality staple ingredient, I will always finish what I have first before switching.
Please feel free to contact me should you want to know which other clean and trusted (local/South African) brands I rely on. I would be happy to share as I have done a lot of homework and testing of these products. I am not currently affiliated with any of these brands either, so these are my unpaid, unbiased recommendations. I would, of course, love to work with them in future as I have great respect for their ethos and the quality of their products.
*I like the method of preheating the baking sheet or baking/pizza stone as it helps to cook the bottom of the bread. I find with most breads, if I use a cold baking sheet then the bottom of the loaf is often very soft and pale. This method helps it to dry/crust on the bottom too. When checking if the loaf is baked, this, as well as the golden brown top crust, are your indicators. If the bottom is still moist it needs to bake a little longer.
Take care not to overbake the loaf though as it will result in a dry interior.
Tried this recipe?Post your pics and tag us at @my_homemade_kitchen_za or #myhomemadekitchen!
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