Chuck’s Day Off’s No-Knead Whole Wheat Bread

Recently I saw an episode of Montrealer Chuck Hughes‘ show called Chuck’s Day Off where he made a no-knead whole wheat bread. No kneading and it’s whole wheat…is that possible?

Well, it turns out it is possible! I have seen no-knead bread recipes before but this was the first time I saw a recipe that calls for almost 3 cups of whole wheat flour with no kneading necessary. I have made whole wheat bread in my breadmaker before and wow, what a racket! It really works the dough hard and even after baking it is still tough.

Yesterday everything cooled off significantly which got me all inspired to bake so I gave it a shot. Click here for the recipe.

This recipe is very simple, not a lot of ingredients and some of the the measurements are easy to remember. You need 1 tbsp of: yeast, sugar, oil, vinegar and salt. I love that!

You want to use the biggest bowl you have got for this recipe, it calls for a lot of flour. First you need to proof the yeast. I used my breadmaker yeast and it worked just fine in this recipe. Remember, you want the water to be warmer than body temperature but not hot. You add the yeast and the sugar and let the yeast bubble. If it does not get cloudy and foamy like it is doing in my photograph, your yeast is either dead or the water temperature is not right. After the yeast foams up (about 5-10 minutes later) you add the oil and the vinegar.

You start adding the white flour (I used bread flour, I am almost out of all purpose) cup by cup and then the whole wheat flour and salt:

You get a very wet and big dough but I prefer my dough to be too wet than too dry so I stopped at this point. Because my kitchen had cooled off from the cooler temperatures and I had all my windows open, I tried a trick Chuck mentioned in the episode. Turn your oven on to 200F and then once it reaches that temperature, turn it off. Cover the bowl with a clean and damp tea towel and put it in the oven for 30 minutes. Worked like a charm! The dough definitely doubled in size.

With a large spatula you move half the dough into one bread tin and then the other half into another bread tin. This dough is sticky! You definitely do not want to use your hands except to push the dough down into the corners. I liberally sprinkled Tex Mex spice on top of one loaf to make a savory loaf and got some coarse sugar and mixed it with cinnamon to make a sweet loaf. I baked the bread at 375F for 50 minutes and voila!

Yummy! I actually liked eating this whole wheat bread. It had enough white flour that it wasn’t overpoweringly wheat-y tasting. Even the crust, which I normally compost or give to the birds, was crunchy and lovely. There was one thing missing though and it took me a while to figure out. I forgot the salt! OMG, I couldn’t believe it. And do you ever miss it in the bread. Considering I forgot a major ingredient and it still tasted great, I can imagine how good this bread will be the next time I make it “properly.” I will make it again, it was easy and tasty and healthy. The perfect recipe! Thanks Chuck![yumprint-recipe id=’77’]

Comments

aliceinparis says
August 28, 2009 at 2:13 pm
Sounds like a bread I might make! No kneading:)
Tori says
August 28, 2009 at 7:33 pm
Sounds wonderful! I like that you made a sweet loaf and a savory loaf. I usually just make bread, unless I am specifically making garlic bread or banana bread or something.
Yoga Gal says
August 28, 2009 at 7:57 pm
Great stuff I love baking bread – do you have any good no salt recipes my mother has Congestive Heart Failure
leel says
August 29, 2009 at 11:53 pm
bread scares me, but i think i might be able to do this one!
i’ll let you know 🙂
Natalie in MTL says
September 2, 2009 at 5:13 pm
hello
I was looking for this recipe and came across your blog. Just finished making mine and had a delicious sandwich for lunch…my only peeve with this recipe is trying to cut the risen dough in half evenly and not letting the air out, i had two uneven loafs but no loss in flavour. Practice makes perfect I bet, will make again!
Suzie the Foodie says
September 2, 2009 at 5:55 pm
Hi Natalie! It is so true, this dough is crazy sticky, I had the same problem. That has happened to me with rye bread as well. Still yummy though!
withbite says
September 7, 2009 at 4:15 pm
yay! I’m so glad to see that it worked! The method itself was incredibly easy! I just might try it myself sometime. Although I’ll probably just live vicariously through you!
yb says
March 19, 2010 at 2:59 am
I saw the episode and tried it twice now.
Dough is really sticky, don’t know how Chuck cut in half with hardly disturbing the dough. Instead, I cut it and put into two separate bowls, and then let it rise.
Before adding the whole wheat flour, i added the salt and some spices, garlic, onion, into the mix instead of on top at the end. Turned out great.
lynda says
April 29, 2013 at 7:21 pm
been making breads, and buns for years but this recipe for whole wheat bread is one of the easiest and the tastiest especially when you put a sprinke of garlic salt or oregano or anything on top of it or even in it! thanks Chuck you are my fave from now on! Lynda

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