5-Seed No-Knead Bread

updated Dec 21, 2020
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Credit: Photo: Joe Lingeman; Food Styling: Pearl Jones

This easy no-knead bread is extra hearty thanks to a mix of seeds like pumpkin, sunflower, and sesame.

Makes1 large loaf

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Credit: Photo: Joe Lingeman; Food Styling: Pearl Jones

No-knead bread is the easiest bread you’ll ever bake. You’ll mix flour, water, yeast, and salt into a shaggy dough, then let it rest for hours. As it rests, the dough develops gluten and flavor (with no help needed from you), meaning your efforts can be spent amping it up with extra ingredients.

One of our favorite variations on classic no-knead bread is this five-seed number. Full of pumpkin, sesame, flax, and more, this bread has a robust nutty flavor with very little additional effort from you. In fact, you don’t even have to toast the seeds! Here’s how to do it.

Credit: Photo: Joe Lingeman; Food Styling: Pearl Jones

For this five-seed bread, we call for a combination of sunflower, pumpkin, flax, sesame, and chia seeds to be added along with the flour, reserving just a few tablespoons of the heartier seeds to top the loaf. You can use any seeds you have on hand, as long as you keep the proportion of large seeds and small seeds relatively similar. Avoid salted and roasted seeds, as they can disrupt gluten development in the dough stage and make for a dense loaf of bread.

After the bread has risen and been shaped, sprinkle the dough ball with a tablespoon each of sunflower and pumpkin seeds. These won’t burn in the oven and will give you a beautiful crunchy top on your finished bread.

More no-knead bread ideas: 5 Impossibly-Easy No-Knead Bread Recipes

5-Seed No-Knead Bread

This easy no-knead bread is extra hearty thanks to a mix of seeds like pumpkin, sunflower, and sesame.

Makes 1 large loaf

Nutritional Info

Ingredients

  • 3 cups

    all-purpose flour

  • 2 tablespoons

    hulled pumpkin seeds

  • 2 tablespoons

    hulled sunflower seeds

  • 2 teaspoons

    flax seeds

  • 2 teaspoons

    sesame seeds

  • 1 teaspoon

    chia seeds

  • 1 teaspoon

    kosher salt

  • 3/4 teaspoon

    active dry yeast

  • 1 1/2 cups

    warm water

Instructions

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  1. Measure 3 cups all-purpose flour, 2 tablespoons hulled pumpkin seeds, 2 tablespoons hulled sunflower seeds, 2 teaspoons flax seeds, 2 teaspoons sesame seeds, 1 teaspoon chia seeds, 1 teaspoon kosher salt, and 3/4 teaspoon active dry yeast into a large bowl and stir to combine.

  2. Make a well in the flour mixture and add 1 1/2 cups warm water. Stir until a rough, shaggy dough forms. Cover the bowl and let the dough rise in a warm place until doubled in bulk and bubbly, 6 to 8 hours.

  3. Lightly flour a piece of parchment paper and turn the dough out onto it. Fold the dough over onto itself 2 times. Flip the dough over and quickly shape it into a round ball. Sprinkle the dough with 1 tablespoon sunflower seeds and 1 tablespoon pumpkin seeds. Cover with a towel and let rise until nearly doubled in size, 1 to 1 1/2 hours. Bake as directed above.

  4. About 30 minutes before the dough is ready, arrange a rack in the middle of the oven and remove any racks above it. Place a large Dutch oven and its lid on the rack and heat the oven to 450°F.

  5. Remove the Dutch oven from the oven. Use the parchment paper as a sling and carefully transfer the loaf, still on the parchment, into the Dutch oven. If desired, slash or cut the top of the dough with kitchen shears or a sharp knife.

  6. Cover the Dutch oven, place it back in the oven, and bake for 30 minutes. Uncover and bake until the top is browned, about 15 minutes more. Another way to know that the bread is ready is if an instant-read thermometer inserted into the top or side registers 210°F. Remove the Dutch oven from the oven and use the parchment paper to transfer the bread to a wire rack. Cool at least 15 minutes before slicing the bread.

Recipe Notes

Storage: Store the bread wrapped in plastic wrap for up to 3 days at room temperature.