Whole Wheat No Knead Bread
For a softer loaf, use less whole wheat and more bread flour as long as it totals 3 cups. (For the overnight method, use 1/4 tsp. yeast, switch to COOL water and let the dough rest overnight on the counter top for 8 to 24 hours). ALWAYS AERATE (not sift) YOUR FLOUR BEFORE MEASURING! - Jenny Jones
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 40 minutes
Total Time: 4 hours, 20 minutes
Makes: One loaf
Ingredients:
- 2 cups whole wheat flour
- 1 cup bread flour
- 1 teaspoon instant yeast
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 1/2 cups hot water (up to 130° F)
- (about 2 Tablespoons extra flour for shaping)
Instructions:
- Combine flours, yeast and salt in a large bowl. Stir in water until it’s well combined.
- Cover with plastic wrap and let stand at room temperature for 3 hours.
- After 3 hours, place dough on a well-floured surface and sprinkle with a little flour. Using a scraper fold dough over 10-12 times & shape into a rough ball.
- Place in a parchment paper-lined bowl (not wax paper) and cover with a towel. Let stand on counter top for 35 minutes.
- Meantime place a 3 to 6-quart Dutch oven with lid in a cold oven and preheat to 450° F. My oven takes 35 minutes to reach 450°.
- After 35 minutes, carefully, using oven gloves, lift the parchment paper and dough from the bowl and place gently into the hot pot. (parchment paper goes in the pot too) Cover and bake for 30 minutes.
- After 30 minutes, remove lid and parchment paper. Return, uncovered, to oven and bake 10 more minutes.
Hi Jenny
I have questions
In whole wheat bread can i use wheat flour instead of bread flour
Bread flour is actually white flour with a higher protein content than all purpose flour. Wheat flour is the same as whole wheat flour and contains fiber. So this recipe is best if you use 2 cups wheat flour combined with 1 cup of white bread flour. If you use only wheat flour in this recipe, the loaf will be much more dense but some people prefer that. I hope that is helpful.
I read a comment that stated this bread is as good as in Germany, I was a little skeptical. So I made it today and it really is! It’s so easy and so amazing. I used one and a half cups whole wheat flour and one and a half cups bread flour. It came out beautifully. Thank you so much for an easy loaf of bread to make.
Love this bread so much! It’s perfect every time.
I would like to make a honey wheat bread. Can I use this recipe and add honey to it while it rises?
Hi Jenny, how are you? I do not typically buy bread flour so I substitute for either tapioca flour or gluten-free flour which is what I actually have on hand? Thank you, Ida
Do you ever add vital wheat gluten flour when you are using whole wheat?
Hi Jenny I made this bread I just have a small issue. The bread comes out with a bit of bitterness do you think is the type of flour make please provide me with the name of the one you use please and thank you
I use King Arthur brand.
We just made our second loaf and added sunflower and pumpkin seed – it’s the best bread since I left Germany! Thank you for this! How do you store it?
Please look in the “How To” section of my blog.
Hello Karin,
did you knead the seeds into the dough, or just add on the outside.
I’m amazed that you compare it to German bread. I lived in Austria for 10 years and would die for another loaf of Austrian bread,
My Jenny ww bread is in the oven now. I hope it comes out as good as yours.
Hi!
This is my first time making the bread using the whole wheat flour. I only made Jenny’s no knead bread using bread flour only. How is the wetness of the dough different? The whole wheat no knead dough was much less wet (than the one with only the bread flour) so i’m little nervous about it. Thanks for your help!
This is one of my favorite breads of all your recipes. I did not have bread flour the first time I made it, so I used unbleached regular flour. It turned out great.
I was born and raised in Germany and I am used to delicious breads, that are simple with few ingredients. Your breads are wonderful. Thank you so much.
For health reasons I only eat items made from sprouted whole grain flours, hence bread flour is out of the question. So I risked the bread not turning out well when I followed the original (white) no-knead bread recipe substituting the while flour with sprouted spelt flour, and sadly, I did indeed end up with a bread that had more of a pancake shape than being a loaf of bread. The taste, however, was great!
Dearest Jenny – maybe, just maybe 😉 , would you be willing to experiment and tweak your recipe for use with 100% sprouted flour? I would SO love to have a go-to recipe for bread that’s easy AND completely healthy! 🙂
And, since I usually don’t comment on blogs, let me take advantage of telling you how much I love your blog, videos and cheerful personality! Thanks for sharing your recipes, know-how and expertise with us (and comical talent!).
Much gratitude to you!
Sunny
I get the same results with 100% whole wheat flour, only slightly better when I add at least 1 tbl of vital wheat gluten (bob’s red mill) per cup of whole wheat flour.
I just made this bread and I give it a 9.5/10. I have tried many bread recipes and this is the best for slicing, texture, taste. I think I have found my “forever” bread.
I was wondering if this can be made in a 9×5 loaf pan. Has anyone done this successfully? If so then what is the process, bake time? I was hoping to triple the recipe and make 3 loaves at a time.
Thanks to you Jenny. I watch your video’s while preparing, even when I have printed it out. You are a sweet, funny, and selfless human being.
Why does the whole wheat no knead bread use 1 teaspoon of instant yeast while the regular no knead bread only uses 1/4 teaspoon of instant yeast?
The normal no knead recipe has a long first rise (usually overnight) and this I surmise gives the 1/4 tea spoon of active yeast enough time to grow and self propagate. The 3 hour first rise of the fast recipe doesn’t allow much time for the yeast to self propagate which is why a higher initial dose of yeast is required.
I am more than grateful to Jenny for proposing the fast no knead recipes that allow great, flavourful same day no knead crusty bread with no need to mix the batch a day before you need the bread.
I made whole wheat bread yesterday, and I didn’t read it correctly so I used 3 cups whole wheat flour. It was SO GOOD and So easy, I’ll be making bread from now on. I plan on trying each one of these no knead recipes. Thanks for being so creative!
I made this bread yesterday; and as with other bread recipes Jenny has shared, it was easy (fool proof) and delicious!!! I followed the short rise process and it resulted in a beautiful family size loaf. I love not having to knead the bread. It has a nice crust and soft texture.
Hint: Maybe a sourdough bread recipe for those of us who used the quarantine to make a starter…
I wish Jenny had never done this to me! I am about to gain 10 lbs on this perfect recipe!!! Should I even bother baking anything else????
Dont know what I do wrong. on this. I go exactly by recipe…and the dough is always wet. This last time I even weighed the flour to be sure it was exact..other times I just used measuring cup. I always aerate the flour and measure water in a glass measurer to get it exact. Still the dough is very wet. I keep adding flour and every time I turn it over there is another wet spot in the middle of ball.
Any ideas?
I believe this is suppose to be a wet dough. Jenny has said this in the past in her videos
Sorry about my last question as this is the answer to whole wheat flour. Can I add 1/2 cup of grains to this without changing anything else? Karin
Karin, I experimented and have added sunflower seeds, hemp and chia seeds as well as flaxseeds (yes, in one loaf). It turned out beautifully, but I added just a bit more water and just a tiny bit more yeast. This truly is an incredible recipe! Love my bread! Thank you, Jenny!!
Wow! Carmen, thank you so much for writing this. I’m definitely going to try putting in seeds. I love Jenny’s recipes and her video is so helpful.
I want to share my experience with making this bread in the hope that other bakers might benefit from it. I used 2 cups of bread flour and 1 cup of whole wheat, and added 1 tbsp of honey and 1 tbsp of oil. I used the overnight fermentation method (18 hours).
The dough was very wet and I had a lot of difficulty shaping it into a ball. I added probably another 1/4 cup of flour before I could shape it. After shaping, it did rise quite nicely. It came out of the oven looking beautiful but the taste is lacking; I think it needs at least some additional salt and possibly some additional sweetener (I actually like the subtle sweet taste of whole wheat, so I am definitely not a sugar junky).
Maybe you would have better luck if you had followed the recipe. Jenny’s recipes are always perfect!
Hi Barb, Jenny has different variations of the no knead recipe. I stumbled on the white but plan on baking the wheat and adding seeds . I am more of a follow the recipe as written but don’t fault others to try to experiment a bit. I shall see what happens but for now working on the recipe as written as I do not posses much talent in baking.
Just read your question. Just keep experimenting. This is how we learn. I am not a natural baker so pretty much stick to recipes. First time a baked the recioe, I forgot to put the pot in the oven. Not going to mention other mistakes. I like that you are not afraid to experiment. Take care.
Never baked a loaf of bread in my life until I found Jenny Jones here. Am on my 19th loaf – have tried each method and they all work great — fast, super fast, overnight, all but the 24 hour rise, which I’m too impatient to try LOL. Have had great success switching out the flours, rye instead of wheat, a bit of buckwheat in the mix, etc. We add a few tablespoons of chia seeds and dried rosemary, makes the crust so tasty and gives the bread a great texture. Thank you, Jenny!,
Whoa…please tell me how you did the rye bread. How much flour? Also have you tried pumpernickel?
Here is my rye version:
https://www.jennycancook.com/recipes/no-knead-rye-bread/
I’ve made this bread twice now and absolutely love it. So easy. So delicious. I’ve also been making sourdough, but yikes it’s so much more complicated- and honestly not that much better than this truly fantastic loaf. Thank you Jenny!!!!
I have been working with sourdough since the pandemic shutdown. My starter is good, but it takes so long to make the bread. So, I make several of Jenny’s recipes and I pour all of my discard starter into a measuring cup, I then add up to the correct amount of water. So the starter is a substitute for some of the water. It adds the sourish taste and provides a little more lift to the yeast. Give it a try.
I tried the sourdough starter just as you did and it was wonderful! Jenny’s bread recipe is awesome and so easy. ?
I follow the recipe perfectly, then add approximately 1/2 cup of inactive sour dough starter. It doesn’t take on the full taste of SD but I feel like I am putting it to good use! If it’s a bit too wet, I will add a little more all purpose (unbleached) flour.
Hello Jenny,
Love your recipes and looking forward to try this one soon.
I do not have bread flour, may I replace with regular flour?
Thank you so much!
Jackie
Great bread! Can’t wait to try more! I didn’t have bread flour and substituted unbleached white; I don’t know what difference it would have made, but we thought it turned out well.
I made this yesterday and it turned out absolutely perfect! My son said it’s the best bread I’ve made so far. I’m surprised by how many people add sugar to this to cut the wheat taste. I love it, but I guess that’s acquired… This is one I will definitely make again. Thank you!
I measured 3 cups of bread flour precisely using a scale (360g) and mixed with 1 1/2 cups of hot (not boiling) water following the recipe exactly. I tried twice and both times it was it so dry I could hardly mix the flour and water. What did I do wrong?
Please look at the FAQs.
For each Cup of Wheat Flour replace 1TBL of water with
1 TBL of Frozen Orange Juice Concentrate to reduce/eliminate the wheat taste. I personally enjoy the wheat taste and less sugar.
So for this recipe try using 2 TBL to start Allow to defrost or mix with in water
Hope this helps, T
Love your recipes Jenny! Wondering why this recipe calls for 1 tsp of yeast and your other bread recipes only 1/4?
You probably need more yeast because the whole wheat is heavier than the white flour and will require more yeast to rise.
Oh it’s because the overnight rising breads use a quarter teaspoon and the faster four hour rising breads use 1 teaspoon. Read the notes above, she says for the overnight rising version to use 1/4 teaspoon yeast.
Thanks for sharing this recipe. I have made the following adjustments which I highly suggest.
1) Add 2 tablespoons of brown sugar {Gets rid of the bitter taste that whole wheat flour sometimes imparts.
2)After 30 minutes, get rid of the parchment and the pot altogether! Place the “naked loaf” back in the oven directly on the rack. {This renders a bottom crust that is not tough.
Jenny I have been baking your recipe for a long time now and I wanted to tell you of an improvement I made in the process I think. I was getting a bit of a thick and darker bottom on my bread so Lodge makes a trivit it has some little nubs on the bottom to raise it up. I put it in the bottom of the pot and it raises the bread off the bottom maybe 1/4 inch so the bread is not touching the bottom of the pot. Works great for me. Love your bread recipes.
This is great to know, thank you for sharing.
Getting ready to do this! Can I add dried cranberries to the dough?
Please see my other variations on what I’ve added.
For this faster method WW bread, does the yeast have to be Instant? Thanks!
I was wondering how come you use 1 teaspoon of yeast with the whole wheat bread but only 1/4 teaspoon on the regular bread? Was that an error?
There is no error.
Hi Jenny, your bread recipes are really fantastic! You have brought me back to my roots, my mom baked bread every week growing up. It was always a lot of work to make bread but you have made it so easy!! Now when I make your recipes it reminds me of my mom! Thank you!!
P.S. I used to be a police officer years ago in the village you lived in, in the Chicago suburbs. You were very nice to us there! I left in 1999 and I’ve been a nurse ever since. You have helped me relax an get my mind off of work, I needed that!!
Thank you!
I’m glad to help in my small way but you – two careers in the service of others? You have my admiration and respect.❤️
Oops…I wish I had found this recipe before using my white whole wheat flour. I followed the “traditional” bread recipe with this flour. It is currently cooling but I suspect it will be fairly dense (kind of like the baker!!)
Luckily, I will try again another day.
Thanks for being you, Jenny!
Staying at home in MN (when I am not at work as a hospital pharmacist)
Hey Tanny …you have company…I did EXACTLY the same thing also using the white wheat flour. I realized my error during the 3 hour “resting”, but decided to bake it anyway…was pretty good…?
haha….me too!! I feel like a dummy now that I see there is a whole wheat version!! Oh well….try try again and we’ll get it right!
I think that the issue is that in the original video version Jenny (who I love!) said you can use any type of flour but then she published a recipe using 2 cups of whole wheat flour and one cup of bread flour with twice the yeast for the whole wheat version. I had the same issue as many other as the bread was just too dense and didn’t rise as I would have liked. I’m currently making a batch with 2 cups whole wheat and 1 cup bread flour (plus one teaspoon of yeast) per her other video and it is rising beautifully! Will provide an update.
Try this one if you don’t have whole wheat flour. I have made it a few times and love it
Helps if I add the link ☺
https://www.jennycancook.com/recipes/faster-no-knead-bread/
Thank you so much, such a great help now these days.
Baking 3rd bread today! Jenny’s is the BEST. Thank you very much. Jenny is the most fantastic ??. Love ❤️ J.
Can I use milk instead of water, as I have lot of milk .
Jenny Jenny Jenny….
Not long ago i found you on youtube…on jenny can cook. While watching you, something was bothering me…and i wasn’t sure why…then it came to me…why was your voice SO FAMILIAR TO ME.
I’m a very proud Canadian and after doing a lil research, the dots connected.
I had no idea you were the Jenny Jones i watched on TV, all those years ago.
Thank you for all that you do.
PS. Good to know I’m not nuts after all.
All the Best, from Canada…the best place on Earth.
No way, this is Jenny Jones from my younger television days? How cool is that!?
Newby here, sorry for the question but is the Dutch oven ceramic or cast iron? I am trying to figure out which one to buy.
Thank you!
Enameled cast iron is good and I think Kohls has the Food Network brand, 5-quart, oven safe up to 500°F for around $60.
I used a pot with lid heavy ceramic. I don’t know if it was sealed tightly, is that a requirement. The bread was a little undercooked on the bottom and quite dense heavy and somewhat tough. Followed your directions exactly, I’m wondering if the pot is wrong. Wish I could send a photo.
Hi: I too did not have a dutch oven –but have so many other pots and pans (including corningware with lids I didn’t previously know would work). BUT I looked online and found one similar to Jenny’s at JCPenny (JCP dot com) for only $52. Theirs and Kohls are at least half the cost of the average dutch oven which costs around $125 up to $200+. Mine came in a few nice colours but I chose the white with white interior for ease of cleaning AND it has the metal knob and ridges on the inside of the lid. If you’re using it for baking bread, you don’t need to pay the outrageously high prices. These are lovely dutch ovens, heavy and beautifully packed. You do need to pre-season them (any black edges are rubbed with oil and heated in the oven, allowed to cool down before using for baking.)
Thanks for sharing this.
I use an old ( 40 years old) stainless steel pot and it works fine.
So, to the issue of taste, I added 2 Tablespoons of brown sugar and it makes a difference for any Whole Wheat bread. Don’t have Brown Sugar then honey is great too, you just need to dissolve in the water.
Replace a little of the water with orange juice. It takes away that bitter taste that some of us get.
This recipe is easy to follow and produces a nice loaf. I had to add about 2 TB more water because it was too dry. The texture of the bread is decent but it is lacking in flavour, in my opinion.
You can add 1 to 2 cups grated cheddar cheese.
You can add garlic powder or onion powder.
You can add more salt.
I put “Everything Bagel” seasoning on the top just before baking.
Add sesame seeds on the top just before baking.
You can add chopped olives in it.
You can add . . . . BE CREATIVE!
Jenny can you provide high altitude adjustments to this recipe? I live at 5,000 above sea level. Thanks, Maureen
I also live above 5000 feet, an altitude adjustment would be very helpful
Hi, I live at 5400 feet and haven’t yet had to make an altitude adjustment to make the bread work.
It’s so wonderful to see you….like a friend I’ve missed but lost contact with. The recipe is wonderful and the bread is fantastic!!! I use a clay chicken cooker and it’s perfect. I tried using a white casserole-type container with a lid. The bottom was too dark…then, magically, the next day it was great!!! I’ll stick with the clay cooker and whatever you say to do. Thank you soooooooo much. XOXOXO
Sandy
(I’m a man, by the way, but I play a woman on television….. Hahahaha!!!!!)
I don’t have a dutch oven
not sure how to do… my husband loves homemade bread
was using a bread machine, which broke
ideas?
Please see the FAQs.
I had the same problem so I used my 2 1/2 quart Corningware casserole dish. Worked perfectly.
I also use my 2 1/2 quart corningware. Works great.
Look at the Frequently Asked Questions. Just touch the three lines on the top right side of the page. I use a clay cooker and it’s perfect!!! Good luck.???
Hi Jenny,
I was informed by my daughter that there was a video on how to bake a no kneed bread. I watched the video and decided to try it. To ,my amazement it came out beautiful just like yours and it was very tasty. I now have made the bread several times and I must admit it is very easy to make . So much so that I have tried to add flavor with garlic and rosemary leaves and the results were just as good with the final bake. I wish I had this recipe sooner as I am 92 yrs old and would have loved to have had it when I was younger as I have enjoyed the bread so much that I have passed this recipe to others who also have given it a thumbs up.
Thank you again Jenny and keep baking
I just made this recipe for the first time. I used straight spelt flour as I am allergic to wheat. I am so thrilled with how it turned out. I will no longer have to spend $10 for a loaf of specialized bread! Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!
Just FYI, I did have to add 4-5 extra tablespoons of water as the spelt flour has a drier consistency, but that alleviated any issues and it turned out beautifully!
If you are also allergic to gluten, FYI spelt flour has gluten in it.
I’m so bummed. I watched your video and thought when you said wheat flour can be used, it was the same recipe… just change the flour.
When I added the water it was still dry in spots, not blending well, so I added more water.
As I was scrolling through the comments to see if anyone else had to add more water, I see it’s not the same recipe. More yeast is required.
I added more yeast to the already mixed dough…tried to mix it in good… we’ll see. On the counter now
Me too. I had to add extra water. Also I think this needs sweetener of some sort, the first loaf I tried just tasted like flour and water. I like the idea of this recipe but have to keep tweaking it to make it work.
Is whole wheat bread flour and whole wheat all purpose flour the same? What is difference if any for baking bread?
There is a difference between bread flour and ap or regular flour. I can’t remember what the difference is, but it deals with the texture. A bread made with regular flour is going to make a denser loaf than one made with regular flour. I used to do a lot of bread machine loaves and the bread flour was always recommended. You could probably use regular flour, but the texture will be different.
Bread flour has a lot more vital gluten which increases the protein content & also tends to help with rising especially when combined with whole wheat flour.
This information in my FAQs might be helpful: https://www.jennycancook.com/flour-basics/
I would not mind my questions published at all. I love your videos and my granddaughters as well as I and my coworkers love your Artisan Bread.
Jenny I love watching u. I watched u years ago on tv with your cooking show it was great. You r so funny and great cook. I am used to cooking for a family of six and my job during my high school years was to make the bread like 12 loaves at a time. My question your bread is easy and delicious but how can I make say 4 loaves at a time now everyone has married and moved but would like to make some for me and give some away. Could u just double the recipe cause I no some recipes u can’t. Thanks Jenny, Diane
Love your enthusiasm! I’ll try a loaf today because I want that crunchy crust!
I am making this bread for the first time. Can I add honey to it? If so, how much should I use and when should I put it in the dough?
Thank you
Rather than fluff the flour each time, I’ve weighed it. Whole wheat weighs 4 ounces, and all purpose white weighs 4 1/4 ounces.
Using a kitchen scales speeds the process considerably.
Please see my Metric Conversion Chart. One cup of all purpose and bread flour on my scale weighs 4 1/2 ounces.