No knead sourdough is a much easier way to make a true sourdough at home – this is my personal favourite, with honey, oats, and whole wheat spelt flour. The method is simple and you can use normal yeast instead of a starter if you don’t have one. Either way you end up with a beautiful crusty loaf. Skip to the recipe →
I’ve been making sourdough for the past year and a half or so but haven’t quite gotten the hang of the whole folding and shaping thing yet. I think it’s partly because I use lower gluten flours like spelt and rye, which can be a bit trickier to shape and stretch. No-knead is ideal for people without a large breadth of knowledge about sourdough but who still want the health benefits, and ideal if you want fresh bread without the effort of kneading.
I’ve started rotating between this honey and oat spelt sourdough, overnight spelt rye, and my overnight dark rye bread. For this loaf I used an old covered pyrex dish but a dutch oven is more effective if you have one, and I usually just use a plain old loaf tin. If you use a loaf tin it’s more like sandwich bread in texture as well as shape, because it doesn’t get as crusty on the outside. To make it fully vegan you just sub maple syrup or coconut sugar for the honey, no problem.
So why sourdough? This is a totally appropriate recipe for beginners, and sourdough has so many benefits. It’s much better for digestion and digestive health, can help to reduce inflammation, has a better flavour, and it’s ideal for people with some gluten sensitivity. This spelt sourdough is even better if you’re sensitive to gluten, like I am, because it’s an older grain variety and the longer fermentation time makes it much easier on your system.
There was a study done a few years ago that showed that even celiac people may be able to consume sourdough – a true sourdough degrades the gluten enough to consume, and also reduces FODMAPs, and spelt is also low in FODMAPs. You can read more about that here. Regular bread gives me crazy bloating and stomach-ache but I feel good when I eat a proper sourdough like this. It’s a good source of probiotics and although I can’t prove it, I’m sure that eating sourdough and drinking fermented drinks like ginger beer and kombucha helped to clear my eczema along with other diet changes.
There’s also some evidence showing infammation may be a cause of depression, so eating foods that reduce inflammation can help with mental illnesses like depression, and that’s been the case for me as well.
The method here is laughably simple. You just toss everything in a bowl, stir, and leave it overnight and part of the next day. So mix before bed, then bake it when you get home from work. I’ve given a couple variations on cooking – for a really crusty loaf you have to heat the baking dish along with the oven, and in a loaf tin the bread rises for another hour. Either way, super simple with great results. The crumb is good, the flavour is phenomenal, and it’s virtually impossible to find a homemade bread that’s less work!
Let’s connect! If you liked this recipe, make sure to leave a comment below, I love hearing from you! Tag me on instagram @occasionallyeggs and #occasionallyeggs so I can see what you’re making, and stay in touch via facebook, pinterest, and bloglovin.
Easy No-Knead Honey and Oat Spelt Sourdough
No knead sourdough is a much easier way to make a true sourdough at home - this is my personal favourite, with honey, oats, and whole wheat spelt flour. The method is simple and you can use normal yeast instead of a starter if you don't have one.
Ingredients
- 600 grams / 4 cups whole spelt flour
- 130 grams / 1 cup rolled oats
- 1 tablespoon sea salt
- 500 ml / 2 cups water
- 50 grams / 1/4 cup rye sourdough starter*
- 3 tablespoons honey*
- 1 tablespoon coconut oil
Instructions
- Add the flour, oats, and salt to a large bowl. Mix and make a well in the centre, then add the water, starter, and honey. Stir until fully combined, at least 30 seconds. Cover (I use a plate) and let the dough sit for 16-20 hours at room temperature.
- Once the dough has risen, place a heat-proof lidded baking dish* into the oven and preheat to 250C / 475F. Use a spatula to pull the dough away from the sides of the bowl. When the oven is hot, carefully remove the dish and place the coconut oil in it. The oil should melt instantly. Place/pour the dough into the heated dish, cover, and bake for 30 minutes, reducing the heat to 200C / 400F after 15 minutes. Remove the lid and bake for an additional 15 minutes (45 minutes total) to achieve the gold, crispy crust.
- Take the bread out of the oven and cool in the dish for 10 minutes before flipping it out onto a cooling rack, and cooling completely before cutting. I know it's hard to resist warm bread but cutting it too early can make the texture gummy. This bread keeps very well for a week on the counter, but avoid wrapping it in plastic as that ruins the crust. It's best stored in the dish that you bake it in.
Notes
• To make a regular sandwich bread, place the risen dough into a well-greased or lined bread tin. Sprinkle some flour over it, cover with a tea towel, and let it rise again for another hour. Preheat the oven to 200C / 400F and bake for 40-45 minutes, then cool for another 20 before removing from the tin. Cool completely before slicing.
• If you're unfamiliar with a sourdough starter, Nataša over at My Daily Sourdough Bread has a great step-by-step tutorial that'll show you how to make your own. I started mine a couple of years ago using her guidelines and it's still going strong.
* You have to use a minimum of 1/4 cup / 50 grams starter, but if you have some to use up, I often use a 1/2 cup / 100 grams, or even a little more. I don't find that it makes a difference in this recipe as it's not as exact as many sourdough recipes.
** I think that you can substitute normal yeast in this recipe, but I haven't yet tried it. I think 1/4 teaspoon of dry yeast or a pea-sized amount of fresh yeast in place of the starter will work. I'll update the recipe when I do try, but until then, substitute this at your own risk!
*** Maple syrup is an ideal substitute but you could also use date syrup, coconut sugar, etc.
Nutrition Information:
Yield:
20Serving Size:
1 sliceAmount Per Serving: Calories: 138 Total Fat: 2g Saturated Fat: 1g Unsaturated Fat: 1g Sodium: 321mg Carbohydrates: 28g Fiber: 4g Sugar: 5g Protein: 5g
I’m unfamiliar with rye starter… do I need to special order something like this?
Hi Carole! It's a normal sourdough starter, what's needed to bake a true sourdough. I make it myself, just adding 2 tbsp each water and rye flour to a jar and mixing, adding every day, until it's bubbling. Nataša from mydailysourdoughbread.com has a great step-by-step tutorial for it. It's really easy to make yourself! I think you can buy starters online but I'm not sure – it'll be about a week from starting that yours will be ready to go if you make it yourself 🙂
I don’t have spelt- but I have rye, amaranth, coconut, almond and whole wheat flours. Thoughts?! Can I sub all rye?
Hi Rebecca! I would suggest doing a mix of rye and whole wheat in this case – a bit more like my overnight rye bread, but keep everything else the same.
Just curious if you’ve used a shorter proof time… I’ve just made it but realized I only have 13 proof window before I wanted to use it… I’ve also used 150g of starter.
Hi Emma! I have, just added a little extra starter and kept the dough in a warm-ish spot. I’m sure it’ll be fine with 13 hours proofing.
Hi there! So I’m very interested in making this loaf…however, I have never made a sourdough before so I am very unfamiliar with starters. Is there a particular recipe you used for this one that you could walk us through? It would be super helpful!
Hi Courtney! Happy to hear that you’d like to make this bread 🙂 I recommend following this tutorial if you’re completely unfamiliar, it should set you in the right direction!
I only have whole wheat flour and oats at the moment, will this bread work if i just sub wheat for the spelt?
That’ll be totally fine, go for it!
Can I just use my regular 100% hydration white starter? I already have two staters in my fridge (100% hydration and a drier 67% hydration) and being a single senior, bread lasts a long time. I keep a variety in my freezer, but it does mean feeding and discarding a lot of starter.
Yes, I’m sure that’ll be fine. I’m going to update the recipe to reflect that any starter can be used – I just always use a full rye starter as I find it easiest, but it won’t matter.
I finally bought a bunch of spelt flour and I want to make this loaf. I think I’ll use more starter because I don’t have a rye starter (or any rye flour and I have too many different flours to buy yet another kind).
If I make it in a loaf tin, would I need to divide the dough into 2 tins? The amount of flour seems to be more than normally called for in a loaf recipe. How does it turn out when you make it in a loaf tin?
Hi Grace! Depending on the size of your loaf tin, you probably don’t have to split it into two. A standard bread tin will be fine, but if you find that your dough is a bit much, then it’s no problem to split it into two. It doesn’t turn out as crusty as it does in a dutch oven, but it makes a very good sandwich bread when baked in a tin. You can see my overnight dark rye as an example (though the honey oat bread tends to have a bit more oven spring).
I’m excited to use this recipe for my first sourdough, I’m going to use 3 cups of Spelt and 1 cup of Rye along with my rye starter, I’m curious if the same recipe will all work without the rolled oats.
Hi Matt, I hope it worked out! It sounds much like my overnight spelt rye bread and that’s a great everyday recipe : )
I made your recipe this weekend, using my spelt starter and freshly ground organic spelt berries. It fermented at RT for 19 hours. I shaped it and placed it in a banneton for 40 minutes, then baked it as instructed.
I was very happy with the result, a tasty loaf, so easy to make.
I used half organic full fat yogurt and half water.
I intend to try your other 2 loaves and shared your recipe in our FB group, Whole Grain Sourdough Baker, so hopefully more will try it.
Thank you for the lovely recipe.
Thanks for the great recipe! Can I use regular unbleached white flour instead of spelt flour? Or could I use oat flour instead of spelt flour?
Hi Olivia! You can definitely use white flour here and it’ll work very well. I don’t recommend switching the spelt out for oat in this recipe because it doesn’t have gluten. Hope that helps!
Thanks Alexandra!! I can’t wait to try this in a few weeks!
HI! I’m so excited to make my own bread! I’ve never done it before. If I chose to do a loaf for sandwich bread, do you still add the starter?
That’s great! Yes, you still add the starter – it’s the leavening agent in this recipe, and without it your bread won’t rise at all. You can also take a peek at this recipe, which is similar but uses a little yeast instead of starter.
Thank you so very much!! Your blog is beautiful! : ) : )
Thank you! I hope you love the recipe : )
Hello! Do I really need to use a rye starter? Could I also use a wheat or a spelt one?
Also, what % hydration does the starter have to be?
Thank you!
Hi Melanie! Any starter should work well, I just only ever use rye. Mine is 100% hydration. It’s a bit of a loose recipe as far as sourdough goes!
Hi! Thank you so much for this recipe. I’m trying to figure what sized Dutch oven I should use? Do you know what size your Pyrex dish is? Thanks!
I prefer a smaller Dutch oven for this recipe to keep the dough from spreading much – the one I used is about 9 inches, but you can go a little bigger or smaller : )
Great! Thanks – I have that size. Can’t wait to make it!
Made it yesterday – IT IS FANTASTIC! Thank you sooooooooo much!