No Knead Overnight Buns

No knead overnight buns, made with spelt flour, two ways here. These low effort buns are mixed in the evening, left to ferment overnight, and baked the next day, either in a Dutch oven for crusty buns or on a baking sheet for dinner buns. Skip to the recipe →

I’ve been meaning to try no knead overnight buns for ages now. When I was back home this summer, I kept eyeing up my mom’s huge oval dutch oven and thinking about it, but never got around to it then. I recently received a Skeppshult pot and started thinking about these buns again. We got an oven in this past Saturday – finally – and here they are.

There are two methods offered here for these buns. Baking them in a dutch oven, like a no knead bread, results in a crusty roll with a crispier exterior. A baking sheet and lower temperature will result in a softer overall bun, like a dinner roll. Both are delicious, but I know many of you might not have a dutch oven and I often get questions about baking no knead loaves without one (this overnight rye bread is a good example of how to do that). 

As you can see, the difference between the two is pretty stark. You won’t have those square edges if you have a larger dutch oven to bake these in, if they have enough room not to touch during baking. If you want a crusty bun but don’t have a large covered casserole dish, you can try spraying some water in the oven before baking. I’ve never found this to be as effective but it can help a little bit.

The internal texture of the buns doesn’t differ much between methods, and both are quite light. I prefer a mix of half light spelt and half whole grain, but if you want a softer bun, choose all light. (I accidentally wrote bum first and that might also be true?) There is no fat added so these aren’t your gran’s dinner buns or ones you’d find at a prairie diner, but they’re an excellent everyday bun, and easy enough to be just that.

I know there can sometimes be some confusion about the shaping of dough like this, so I made a very low-fi video for this recipe! I hope it helps. It’s just about shaping the buns so you don’t end up with a dough puddle. Check that out below and let me know if you want more (less low-fi) videos, particularly about bread. Next up, these twisted Swedish cinnamon buns, promise.

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