No-Knead Multigrain Peasant Bread

By KimberlyB

Ingredients

• 1 cup rye flour
• 1 cup whole-wheat flour
• 1/2 cup cracked wheat, uncooked steel-cut oats, sunflower seeds, or other coarse-textured grains, seeds, or nuts
• 4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon kosher salt
• 1/2 teaspoon instant yeast
• 3 1/4 cups room temperature water

Details

Adapted from thekitchn.com

Preparation

Step 1

In a large bowl, mix together the rye flour, whole-wheat flour, cracked wheat, all-purpose flour, salt, and yeast. Stir in the water to form a thick, gloppy batter.

Cover the bowl and let it sit at room temperature for 8 hours or overnight. If necessary, you can refrigerate the dough after this fermentation period and keep it refrigerated for up to a week. Refrigerating for a few hours also helps make the dough easier to work with and improves the flavor.

When ready to shape and bake the loaves, sprinkle your work surface with a little flour. Turn the dough out onto the counter and divide it into two equal pieces. Sprinkle the dough pieces with a little more flour and shape them into round loaves. Cover and let the loaves rise for about 1 1/2 to 2 hours at room temperature, until nearly doubled in bulk.

A half hour before baking, preheat the oven to 450°F. Place a Dutch oven, or other heavy-bottomed pot with a lid, into the oven as it heats. (If you have two Dutch ovens, place them both in the oven to heat; otherwise cook one loaf and then the next.)

When the loaves have risen, quickly cut slashes 1/2-inch deep in the top of one of them with a serrated knife. Gently and carefully transfer the loaf to the Dutch oven. Cover and place back in the oven.

Bake for 20 minutes, then remove the cover from the Dutch oven. Bake for another 10 to 15 minutes, until the loaf is dark brown, sound hollow when tapped on the bottom, and the interior registers 190°F on an instant-read thermometer. Repeat with baking the second loaf.

Allow to cool fully on a rack before slicing and eating.