This simple overnight spelt rye bread is made with just 5 ingredients, including water and salt. It’s a basic bread with an excellent flavour thanks to a long fermentation time and no need for a sourdough starter. Skip to the recipe →
Overnight bread is a staple in my house and has been for years now. This version is a simplified recipe based off one of my most popular recipes, an overnight dark rye bread that’s common here in northern Europe.
Instead of including oats and cocoa powder to make it darker and denser, I’ve kept the ingredients list very short – just whole spelt flour, rye flour, water, salt, and yeast. Equal parts of spelt and rye give a great flavour without being overwhelming.
I killed my sourdough starter early on in the summer by leaving it in the sun and haven’t started a new one yet. We’re currently house hunting in the Netherlands and I don’t want to move it around too much, so for now, overnight bread is the best option. And it’s a good one, too. Baking the bread in a heavy pot creates steam and results in a crusty loaf reminiscent of what you’ll see in just about every bakery here, especially when you use hearty flours like spelt and rye.
Most long ferment bread recipes will tell you that you need a Dutch oven or another heavy covered pot to make the breads, and you do if you want a crusty, bakery style bread like this one. But in general, you don’t.
In fact, this overnight spelt rye bread is great for sandwiches (see this post for instructions on how to do an overnight bread in a loaf pan). I’ve been making it in a normal bread pan since moving to Germany because I don’t have a heavy enamel pot here and it’s great. You don’t get the same crust necessarily but it still has a great flavour and it’s even easier.
Using parchment paper in the pot makes the process easier in a few ways. You don’t need to worry about catching a hand on the very hot inner edge as you drop the bread in, or sticking if your pot is old, not enamelled, or you’re just a little worried about it.
You also don’t need to flour a kitchen towel, which invariably sticks to the dough and refuses to wash out. If you have a banneton it’s great to let the dough rise in there, then place it on the paper before dropping that into the pot. Otherwise I usually put the paper in a bowl, then scoop the dough out onto that, then drop it into the hot Dutch oven.
I also have a no knead honey & oat sourdough recipe if you’re looking to branch out a bit. If you’re looking for a whole grain, healthier option to a standard no-knead bread, this easy overnight spelt rye bread is it. I’ve shared several bread recipes over the years and you guys always seem to like them (are there not so many alternative bread recipes out there?) so I hope you like this one just as much!
And wish us luck – we’re meeting with a realtor in Groningen tomorrow! Fingers crossed we find a house very soon.
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• Storing the bread wrapped in a tea towel will keep the crust from softening after a day. This bread does keep longer than normal yeasted bread before becoming stale but will quickly go bad if left in a warm, humid environment. * You can use either light or whole grain spelt flour, both work well.Easy Overnight Spelt Rye Bread
Ingredients
Instructions
Notes
I love It! It looks amazing and I can’t wait to try it thanks for all the amazing recipes Alexandra, every time I open your website I get excited when I see a new recipe.
Good luck with your house hunt in Groningen! The Netherlands are a great place to live once you actually find a place yo stay!
Thank you, that makes me so happy to hear! And thank you for your good wishes 🙂
I cannot wait to try this! I was just thinking of starting up a sourdough starter but it just seemed like too much commitment at the moment. Thank you!
I totally get that! You’re so welcome, I hope you love it 🙂
So the hardest part of this recipe turned out to be waiting for the bread to be cooled down so we could try it 🙂
It’s so amazing how a not very attractive blob of sticky dough turns into such a beautiful and tasty loaf of bread! Mine looked almost exactly the same as yours. I didn’t have a fancy Dutch oven, so I baked it in a pie dish and just covered it with a baking sheet. Maybe the crust could be a bit more crunchy, but it was already really good. I’ll definitely be making this again!
Also, good luck with your house hunt in Groningen! I’m a Dutchie, currently living in Belgium and I know how hard it can be to find a nice and affordable house in the Netherlands. It should be easier up north, but I guess Groningen is quite a popular city, even though it is so far away from everything (or that’s how we perceive it ;).
All the best from Belgium!
Daphne
Hi Alexandra, this bread looks delicious. I was wondering, since I am very fond of the taste of sourdough, if I could use sourdough in this recipe. I guess in order to do that I would have combine it to the water before stirring with the flours. But then would you change the resting time or anything else?
Thanks, I love your web site and recipes.
(I hope the comment is not too confusing since english is not my first langage).
Hi Simon, thanks for your note – I would recommend following the amounts and instructions in a similar recipe I have for this overnight dark rye bread if you’d like to try this as a sourdough. I’m afraid I killed my starter a little while back and can’t try it myself but I think it would work well. Thank you so much and I hope you love the bread!
Thanks! I’ll try it today!
Looks so yummy!
Can I use this recipe in bread machine/maker?
Hi Maria – this recipe won’t work in a bread machine. As you don’t have to knead it, and it has alternate steps to a normal bread, it’ll only work mixed in a regular bowl and baked in the oven. Hope that helps!
Just made this beautiful loaf of bread! It is absolutely delicious. I baked mine with a few pumpkin seeds on top and drizzled some wild honey over the top when I took it out of the oven. Thank you for the wonderful recipe!
Hi! Just checking that it’s really only only 1/4 teaspoon of active dry yeast as opposed to the normal 2 1/4, packet sized measurement? (And I’m really wondering why that little? ☺️)
It’s correct, don’t worry! That’s a standard amount for an overnight bread as it has such a long proofing time.