Sourdough Whole Wheat Pumpkin Seed No-Knead Bread

I have been experimenting lately with recipes for a simple no-knead whole wheat bread and I think I’ve come up with a one that seems to be pretty foolproof and gives consistently great results. Some sourdough purists might object to the use of instant rise yeast in addition to the sourdough starter, but I think for the novice sourdough baker, it insures that you’ll  get a good initial rise and excellent oven spring with an amazing sourdough taste. I’m currently using Carl Griffith’s sourdough starter, a strain of starter that is over 160 years old that can be obtained for a FREE at this address. This recipe is adapted from one on the amazingly informative Breadtopia website and solves the common problem of a too “wet” no-knead dough.  I recommend watching this excellent video at Breadtopia.com before making this bread…it  does a great job of demonstrating the techniques needed to make an incredible no-knead bread.

If you are just starting out baking bread, this is a great baking kit to start with. It includes a 9″ rattan banetton (bread proofing basket) with its linen liner (so dough doesn’t stick), a bread lame for scoring, and a dough scraper…just about everything you need to get started.

Click here for the recipe with photos.

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Cookhacker’s Sourdough Whole Wheat Pumpkin Seed No-Knead Bread

Yields one 1 ¾ lb loaf

Course Side Dish

Cuisine American

Prep Time 18 hours

Cook Time 45 minutes

Ingredients

• 340 grams (12 oz) All Purpose or Bread Flour
• 142 grams (5 oz) Whole Wheat Flour
• 321 grams (11.5 oz) Water
• 62 grams ¼ cup Active Sourdough Starter
• 1/8 teaspoon Instant Yeast
• ¾ tablespoon salt
• 40-50 grams lightly toasted pumpkin seeds and/or sunflower seeds...I use a combination of both
• Vegetable Spray

Instructions

1. Combine the two flours and salt in a large mixing bowl. In a large measuring cup, add the water, sourdough starter and the instant yeast and stir to combine.
2. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir until mixed well (a dough whisk is the best tool for the job, but a wooden spoon works well also). Cover with plastic wrap and let the dough rest at room temperature for about 14 hours.
3. At this point the dough should about doubled in size and be nice and bubbly on the surface. Flour your work surface and place the dough on it. Gently spread the dough out to about a 8” by 12” rectangle and sprinkle about a quarter of the pumpkin seeds across the surface of the dough. Then, as you fold the dough in thirds (as shown in the Breadtopia video) scatter each surface with more pumpkin seeds as you fold and then do a quarter turn of the dough and fold in thirds again and form into a ball. Top the dough ball evenly with the rest of the seeds and cover with plastic wrap and let rise for 15 minutes.
4. Spray the proofing basket with the vegetable spray and sprinkle generously with wheat bran to prevent sticking (you can use cornmeal in place of the wheat bran). Flour your hands and invert the dough ball, seed side down, into the proofing basket, cover with a dish towel and let rise until doubled…about two hours. When you can poke your finger gently into the dough and if it doesn’t spring back, the dough is ready.
5. About 30 minutes before the dough is ready, preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Put a 4-8 quart covered cast iron Dutch oven in the oven as it heats. When the dough is ready to go, gently invert the dough on a large piece of parchment paper. Carefully remove the hot Dutch oven, uncover it, lower the dough on the parchment paper into the Dutch oven, cover quickly and place back in the oven (if you don’t have parchment paper, the dough can be gently placed directly into the Dutch oven…just be careful).
6. Cook covered for 20 minutes, then uncover and continue cooking till the bread reaches an internal temperature of about 200-210 degrees and is nicely browned, approximately 25 more minutes.
7. Remove the bread and place on a cooling rack, let it cool for at least an hour (it continues cooking internally...cut it too soon and it will be "gummy") and in about 1 hour it’s ready to eat.