Think milling your own wheat is intimidating? Never fear! This is one of the easiest breads to make! No mixer required.
If the instructions don’t make sense, please watch the video!
Easy No-Knead Bread with 100% Freshly Milled Wheat
Easiest bread you'll ever make with 100% freshly milled wheat! No mixer required.
Equipment
- 1 Grain Mill
Ingredients
- 3 cups wheat berries You'll need 3 cups of FLOUR. I like to mill 2 cups of hard white wheat berries and 1 cup khorasan wheat berries.
- 2 cups warm water warm like a baby's bath water
- 2 1/4 tsp instant yeast active dry yeast can also be used
- 1 3/4 tsp salt
Instructions
- Add water, salt, and yeast to a bowl. Whisk together until yeast is dissolved (I typically use Redmond's salt so it doesn't dissolve all the way. This is ok)
- After yeast has dissolved, mix in 3 cups of freshly milled flour. Stir all together. You want the dough to be wet but still able to come together a little bit. If the dough is TOO wet, add a little bit of flour. If dough is too dry, add some more water. (see video for visual). You want the dough to be wetter than a typical bread dough. Freshly milled flour is thirsty! It will soak it all up.
- Cover with plastic wrap and towel (or just cover with a damp towel)
Stretch & Folds
- Stretch & Fold 1: Set timer for 15 minutes. After 15 minutes, do the first stretch and fold. Bring up one quarter of a side up towards the ceiling and then fold it over towards the middle. Rotate dough a quarter turn and pull the side of dough up towards ceiling, then fold over towards the middle. Rotate dough again and repeat for all sides. Bread dough will fall apart a bit easy. Just stretch it as far as it'll go without breaking and fold over. Cover back up with plastic wrap. (see video for instruction)
- Stretch & Fold 2: After 15 minutes, repeat stretch and folds. Cover dough back up.
- Stretch & Fold 3: After 15 minutes, repeat stretch and folds. Cover dough back up.
- Stretch & Fold 4: After 15 minutes, repeat stretch and folds. At this point, dough should be more elastic which means the gluten has developed well. Bread will still feel slightly wet, but less sticky. If dough is still breaking a part continue to do stretch and folds every 15-20 minutes until you get a more elastic, stretchy dough.
OPTION 1: Same-Day Bake
- If you choose to bake the same day, after the stretch and folds, cover dough again with plastic wrap and allow to rise until double.
- While dough is rising, place your Dutch oven in the oven and preheat to 450 degrees. Rising for the dough can take anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour. You want your Dutch oven to be HOT when the dough is ready.
- When dough has doubled, lightly flour a working surface and dump dough out. Lightly dust your hands to work with the dough (it will still be tacky) and fold up the sides into the middle form a seam. (see video)
- Flip dough ball over so the seam side is on the bottom and push and tuck each of the bottom edges of the dough ball to form surface tension on the top of the dough ball. (See video)
- Once dough ball is formed, place on parchment paper and immediately put into hot Dutch oven and bake in a preheated 450 degree oven for 35 minutes with the lid on.
- After 35 minutes, remove lid and bake for another 5-10 minutes until crust is to your liking (5 minutes is enough for me)
- After baking, remove bread from Dutch oven and allow to cool at least 10-15 minutes before diving in. To be able to slice it even easier, cool bread completely.
OPTION 2: Bake tomorrow
- If you choose to bake the next day, after the stretch and folds place in a container and cover securely with plastic wrap. Store in fridge.
- The next day, remove dough ball from fridge. Start preheating the oven to 450 degrees with Dutch oven inside. Once oven is preheated, remove dough ball and shape like the instructions above.
- Place on parchment paper, put in Dutch oven and bake for 35 minutes with the lid on.
- After 35 minutes, remove lid and bake for 5-10 minutes more until crust is how you like it.
Storing Bread
- To store bread with a crusty crust, store with the cut side down on a plate, cutting board, etc so the air keeps the crust dry but not the interior of the bread.
- To freeze, allow bread to cool COMPLETELY. Wrap up tightly with plastic wrap then with tin foil and freeze up to 3-4 months. Remove from freezer to thaw overnight on counter. You can also slice bread before freezing and just remove a slice right from the freezer to toast!
Notes
WHEAT TO USE:
I prefer to use 2 parts hard white wheat and 1 part khorasan. The khorasan really helps the dough to stretch.
Optional substitutions:
All hard red wheat (not my favorite - tends to be slightly denser and not the best flavor, in my opinion)
All hard white wheat
2 parts hard white or hard red, 1 part soft white wheat
2 parts hard white or hard red, 1 part einkorn
All hard red wheat (not my favorite - tends to be slightly denser and not the best flavor, in my opinion)
All hard white wheat
2 parts hard white or hard red, 1 part soft white wheat
2 parts hard white or hard red, 1 part einkorn
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!
Can’t to try this, but I want to point out that quantity directions are wrong when you press bigger 2x, 3x buttons. For instance, it changes to 6 or 9 cups of BERRIES (so far, so good) but then the directions continue to say you need 3 cups of flour (2 cups of hard white to 1 cup khorasan). I can do the math in my head ( 4 cups hard white to 2 cups khorasan), but it could be very confusing.
Oh Wow! Good catch! I also noticed in the regular recipe it says 3 cups of berries for 3 cups of flour. 3 cups of grain yields about 4.5 Cups of flour.
Okay, so I DID make this and it turned out perfectly with your instructions (I watched the video, too). Thanks, Felicia!
I made this yesterday and it came out fantastic. So good that it’s already gone and I’m making another loaf today. I’m doing a double batch and will try your next day bake instructions. I’ve been baking bread with freshly milled wheat for a couple years and have had pretty good success, but was never able to get that good crackly crust until I used this recipe. I’m going to apply the same principles to try to get that crackle on my sourdough.
I tried this today, and it turned out great! I used 1 Cup Hard Red, 1 Cup Hard White & 1 Cup Kamut. I had to add about 4 cups of flour, even though the recipe says 3. I kinda figured that since 3 cups of grain will yield about 5 cups of flour. So I had some left over for dusting the surface. Excellent rise, really nice crumb. I don’t know if it’s my oven, or the placement of my rack on the second to last level, or what, but at 30 minutes, I could smell the bottom of my loaf burning. I took it out at 35 minutes because it was already burning and well toasted on the top, even with the lid on. So I think i’ll adjust my recipe for next time to bake for 25 minutes covered, then 5-8 minutes uncovered. But the actual recipe was great! A+!
This is a great recipe and yummy! First time making a no knead yeast bread. Going on vacation soon and thought this would be great to make on vacation since there are limited supplies and no mixer there. Tested it tonight and I’m excited!
amazing bread. The husband asked for it again but wanted to know if I could add some cheese and garlic!
I usually make a 100% FMF sourdough loaf that’s very similar to this recipe.
As I’m taking a sourdough break, I made this with 2 parts hard white, 1 part hard red and it turned out great! The first time, I didn’t read closely and added the flour from 3 cups of berries to my water all at once (rather than 3 cups flour). It turned out fine, though I did add a splash or two of water during the mixing stage.
Baked in glass loaf pans, with a pan of water in the oven to help humidity. Resulted in a nice soft loaf the family loved for sandwiches and toast.
Thanks for sharing your recipe!
I’ve made four loaves of this recipe (always with only hard white wheat) and it is perfect every time. Thanks for the clear instructions and great video. I actually understand the why behind tension or the benefits of keeping it wet for the thirsty flour now thanks to you. Thank you so much for making this understandable.
It definitely was an easy recipe but extremely wet dough. I will make it again but I’m confused as to why you would mill 3 cups of wheat berries if you only need 3 cups of the milled flour. I had quite a bit left over.