This soft Whole Wheat No Knead Bread uses just four ingredients, requires NO kneading, and proofs in the Instant Pot to save serious time!

This bread is kind of too good to be true.

It takes just minutes to mix up, and there’s no kneading involved. The loaf you’ll get is crusty on the outside, soft and airy on the inside. And using your Instant Pot, you can start in the afternoon and have fresh, warm bread ready in time for dinner.

This recipe is adapted from the No-Knead Crusty Artisan Bread from Comfort of Cooking, and she says it’s one of her most reader-tested (and approved) recipes. I’ve made her recipe, and it’s great–but I was determined to get some whole grains in there. Although she advises against using whole wheat flour, I found a ratio that still produces a soft, light loaf. (I have tried using all whole wheat flour and the resulting bread was dense and flat.)

You might also like: What I LOVE About the Instant Pot (And What I Don’t!)

I also added a technique I picked up from the Instant Pot Facebook Community that saves serious time: proofing the dough in the Instant Pot!

A few notes:

• A 1.4-L Pyrex bowl fits perfectly inside the Instant Pot Duo. If you don’t have one, you can get one on Amazon here or here or find a similar-sized bowl that will fit inside your Instant Pot (with the trivet set on the bottom).
• If you don’t have an Instant Pot, you can still make this bread. Just follow her instructions for proofing the dough at room temperature. You’ll just have to wait a little longer.
• If you don’t have a Dutch oven, you can find a list of alternate bakeware that work just as well in her Notes.

 

Here’s how to make Whole Wheat No Knead Bread

Whisk together both kinds of flour, yeast, and salt.

Stir in the lukewarm water until the dough comes together in a shaggy mass (you may not use all of the water called for). Only stir just until it comes together. The more you stir and work the dough, the fewer air pockets you’ll get inside the loaf (and air pockets are a good thing!).

Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and set the bowl inside the Instant Pot on top of the trivet.

Place the lid on Instant Pot and set on the Yogurt setting. This will take 3.5 hours.

When it’s done, it will look like this (a bit bubbly and sticky-looking). Place your Dutch oven (or other oven-safe bakeware) in the cold oven and set the oven at 450 degrees F.

Turn the dough out onto a floured surface. It will be very sticky, and you may need a spatula to scrape all the dough from the bowl. Using floured hands, shape into a ball and cover loosely with plastic wrap until the oven reaches 450 degrees F.

Carefully take your pot out of the oven. Place a small piece of parchment at the bottom of the pot and place the dough on top.

Cover the pot with an oven-safe lid and bake for 30 minutes. Uncover the pot and bake an additional 7-15 minutes until the bread becomes nice and brown. I use a thermometer to make sure the internal temperature is at least 190-200 degrees F (this is the kind of thermometer I use). Here’s what it looks like when it’s done.

Gorgeous!

This bread is best on the first day (preferably slathered with soft, salted butter). Store any leftovers in an airtight container or bag and use within two days.

Note: One reader found that activating the yeast first helped her loaf become much lighter and airier. She added the yeast and salt to the warm water (temperature of the water was 110 degrees). She let it sit a while until she saw some bubbles and then added the flour, stirring just enough to mix it. Then she followed the rest of the directions as written. If your loaves are too dense, give that a try! 

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