Easy No-Knead Grain Bread
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You’ll regret not having known this bread recipe earlier, it’s incredibly easy, no fuss, no kneading, just mix it up with a spoon and you’re done. Beautifully fresh home baked bread made easy, no more need to buy sliced bread that’s full of chemical fillers, preservatives and added gluten (yes, they add gluten to sandwich loaves on top of the gluten in the flour).
This recipe is as good as the flour you use in it, cheap flour will still make a fantastic loaf of bread that everyone will enjoy, but generally the better the quality flour you use may cost more but is worth every cent. You may have heard of someone who has gluten intolerance who goes to Europe and is somehow able to eat bread and pastries overseas without any issues. There are differences in the composition of the grain of wheat in Australia, USA and Europe, and different types of wheat grown in each country depending on the requirements or desired characteristics for the end product. See this blog post for more info on this.
"...rich in vitamins B6, E, folate and niacin; and they provide minerals such as zinc, calcium, iron, selenium, magnesium, copper, potassium and phosphorus."
In this recipe I’ve used organic spelt flour, spelt is and ancient grain. This bread made with spelt flour has a glycaemic index (GI) of 54, which is considerably lower than wholegrain wheat bread which sits at 74 GI. Spelt flour is a good source of iron, selenium, zinc, calcium, manganese and magnesium. It has vitamin E and niacin and other B vitamins. Spelt is naturally higher in fibre content than regular wheat which aids in digestion. Being an ‘ancient grain,’ spelt hasn’t been cross-bred like wheat has over the last 2000 years, which means spelt is relatively unchanged from what it was 2000 years ago. The same can’t be said for wheat. For the sake of the recipe, you could easily substitute wholemeal flour, even white flour, or a blend of the two for the spelt flour without much change in the end result (not taking into account the nutritional profile).
This recipe also has loads of added nutrition and protein thanks to the nuts and seeds, these can also be substituted out based on what you have in the cupboard, or whatever your preferences are. For example, you can sub in pecan nuts instead of walnuts, or if you have a nut allergy you can leave the nuts out altogether. The same goes for the seeds. The nuts and seeds in this recipe provide a decent amount of monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats which are known as healthy fats, these will also have an increased satiety (they help you feel full for longer). These nuts and seeds are rich in vitamins B6, E, folate and niacin; and they provide minerals such as zinc, calcium, iron, selenium, magnesium, copper, potassium and phosphorus, essential for thousands of daily bodily processes [1].
This recipe makes a loaf that gives approximately 15 slices (sliced about 1 cm thick), each slice contains 29.9g of carbs, 6.5g of fat and 8g of protein. Compared to an average slice of white sandwich bread that contains only 2g of protein and .5g of fats, this recipe is far superior along with the higher fibre content is vastly better for your health.
I keep this bread in the fridge as there are no preservatives in it to make it last unnaturally long in the cupboard like regular sandwich bread. I put a piece of paper towel in with the loaf in a zip-lock bag in the fridge.
It toasts beautifully and is great topped with some avocado and a poached egg, mmm. Enjoy!
References
Whitney, E., Rolfes, S., Crowe, T., Cameron-Smith, D., & Walsh, A. (2019). Understanding Nutrition: Australia and New Zealand Edition (4th ed.). Melbourne: Cengage Learning.
Easy No-Knead Grain Bread
By Kim Jansen
Prep: 10 mins
Cook: 80 mins
Yields: 15 slices
You’ll regret not having known this bread recipe earlier, it’s incredibly easy, no fuss, no kneading, just mix it up with a spoon and you’re done. Beautifully fresh home baked bread made easy.
Ingredients
- 650 g spelt flour
- 2 teaspoons of dried yeast
- 2 teaspoons of salt
- 1 handful of walnuts
- 1 handful of sunflower seeds
- 1 handful of pumpkin seeds
- 2 teaspoons of poppy seeds
- 2 teaspoons of sesame seeds
- 1 tablespoon of raw sugar/honey/sweetener
- 500 ml lukewarm water
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 27C to 35C but most home ovens start from 50C so if you can hear the thermostat make a ‘click’ noise before 50 then set it at about where 30C would be, if you have an oven thermometer you can check it and try to get it between 27C-35C.
- Put the yeast, water and sweetener/sugar in a measuring jug.
- Place flour, salt and sunflower, pumpkin and half of the poppy seeds and sesame seeds in a bowl, combine the two mixtures and mix well with a spoon until well combined.
- Place in a well oiled (olive oil) baking tray, and cover with the rest of the poppy seeds, put in the oven at 50 degrees with a tray underneath, until the bread has risen to the top of the tray, around 40 to 60 minutes.
- Once the bread has risen, leave it in the oven and increase the heat in the oven to 200 degrees, bake in the oven with fan for 40 minutes on the middle shelf (20 minutes, then turn around, then another 20 minutes).
- Leave the bread in the tin for 10 minutes so the bread comes out of the tin easier, if you have trouble getting it out slide a knife around the sides of the tin to free the bread.
- Remove from tin and allow to cool on a rack.
- Once cooled, wrap with a piece of paper towel and store in the fridge in a ziplock bag, slice as required
Cook time:
Total time:
Yield: 15 portions
Category: Bread
Protein: 8 grams
Fat: 6.5 grams
Net Carbs: 29.9 grams
Fibre: 4 grams