No Knead Overnight Bread

Minimum effort and time spent in the kitchen - for maximum flavour and a more gut-friendly bread. This is the way to make your own bread if you’ve got a busy life!

Sometimes laziness pays off

Working hard does not always yield the biggest payoff. And that certainly applies in the kitchen. This overnight no knead (there’s no need!) bread is not just easier to do and fit into your schedule, it will taste better than a faster rising bread as the yeast starts breaking down the sugar and creating more complex flavours, and the process of the slow rise allows for the gluten to be broken down more (better for anyone who is sensitive to it) and it also creates prebiotics, essentially food for your healthy gut bacteria.

So yes, a no-knead, slow-rising bread is more than just convenience. But hey, it really is convenient too. Check out this recipe:

No Knead Overnight Bread

Makes 1 loaf

Prep time: 5 minutes | Rise: around 8 hours | Baking time: around 30 minutes

Ingredients

• 450g plain flour

• 100g oats

• 50g pumpkin seeds

• A handful of poppy seeds

• A pinch of salt

• 1 tsp active dry yeast

• 1 tbsp honey (alternatively sugar or maple syrup)

• 50ml oil or melted and cooled down butter

• 320ml (roughly) cold water

I recommend doing this in the evening, but of course do what works for you!

Mix together flour, oats, pumpkin and poppy seeds, salt and yeast with a whisk.

With a wooden spoon, mix in the honey/sugar/syrup and oil/butter, and then add cold water bit by bit. Mix until you have a nice dough, a bit sticky but not too sticky! You don’t need to knead this dough at all. Cover with cling film or a couple of kitchen towels (I use linen towels for the reason I explain here) and let it rise for about 8 hours, so it’s perfect for an overnight rise.

Turn your oven to 230ºC (or 210ºC fan assisted but regular oven setting is recommended), 450ºF. While the oven is warming up, shape the dough into a greased loaf tin (or create a boule in a cloche) and cut a couple of slits on top (for steam to escape) and bake for about 30 minutes, sometimes 5 minutes or so more, depending on your oven.

Let it cool on a wire rack and enjoy!

This overnight bread has really saved me as a mum of a young child, because I don’t want to spend my whole evening baking (or indeed, wait until late at night for a dough to rise and then bake it), it’s such a quick one to put together before I go to bed, and it’s also really motivating when I’m woken up early by my toddler - at least I can pop a bread in the oven and fill the house with the lovely smell of a freshly baked loaf, even if I would much rather still snooze in bed. Silver linings, people!I

I’d love to see your bread and hear from you about whether this made baking less hassle for you! Share on Instagram and tag @TheFromScratchBody and hashtag #TheFromScratchBody so I don’t miss it, or email me a photo!