No-Knead Everything Bread
Description: Can't decide between a cream cheese-covered bagel and a slice of toast to start off your day? Now you can have both with this slightly chewy, crusty loaf that's studded with Everything Bagel Topping. (The flavorful seed mixture is in the dough, as well as covering the top crust.) Choose high-gluten flour for the chewiest texture or bread flour for something more akin to traditional toast. Either way, a schmear of cream cheese is highly encouraged!
Ingredients
- 2 1/4 cups (510g) water, cool
- 5 1/2 cups (660g) King Arthur Unbleached Bread Flour or King Arthur High-Gluten Flour*
- 1/2 teaspoon instant yeast
- 2 teaspoons (12g) table salt
- 2 tablespoons (18g) Everything Bagel Topping
- 2 tablespoons (25g) olive oil
- 1 tablespoon Everything Bagel Topping
Instructions
- Weigh your flour; or measure it by gently spooning it into a cup, then sweeping off any excess. Mix the dough ingredients in a large bowl to make a sticky dough. Or beat in a stand mixer for 3 minutes.
- Cover with plastic wrap, and let rest at room temperature overnight, or for at least 8 hours; the dough will become bubbly and rise quite a bit, so make sure it's in a large bowl.
- Lightly grease a 14" to 15" long lidded stoneware baker, or 9" to 10" round lidded baking crock. Our bread baking crock and bread pot are both great choices.
- Turn the dough onto a generously floured surface; the dough will be slack. To shape the loaf, fold the dough over onto itself using a bench knife or well-floured hands. Because the dough is slightly sticky, it's best to work quickly.
- Place the dough in the prepared pan, smooth-side up.
- Cover and let rise at room temperature for about 2 hours, until a slight indentation remains when you poke it with your finger.
- Just before baking, spritz or brush the dough with water and sprinkle with about 1 tablespoon Everything topping over the dough. Using kitchen scissors, make several 1/2" deep cuts in a decorative pattern on the top of the dough to allow the bread to expand.
- Replace the lid on the pot and put it in a cold oven; set the temperature to 450°F.
- Bake the bread for 50 minutes (start the timer once the bread goes into the oven), then remove the lid and continue to bake for another 5 to 10 minutes, until it's deep brown in color, and a digital thermometer inserted into the center registers about 205°F.
- Remove the bread from the oven, turn it onto a rack, and cool before slicing.
- Store leftover bread in a plastic bag at room temperature for several days. For longer storage options, see our blog post, Freezing no-knead bread dough, for details.