Homemade No-Knead 100% Whole Wheat Sandwich Thins (ovenight method)

Course: Baked Buns

Cuisine: American

Prep Time: 40

Cook Time: 12

Proof the dough twice and chill in the fridge overnight:: 8 30

Total Time: 9 22

Servings: sandwich thins

Calories: 187kcal

Author: Marvellina

I can't be more excited to share with you this easy, soft, wholesome, and delicious 100% whole wheat sandwich thin bread. It is so easy to make and it doesn't have to be kneaded.

Print Recipe

US Customary - Metric

Equipment

Ingredients

Wet ingredients:

170 g milk I use 2% milk. See notes
150 g Plain Greek yogurt I use 2% plain Greek yogurt
30 g brown sugar
30 g olive oil or oil of your choice

Dry ingredients:

325 g whole wheat flour
5 g fine sea salt
4 g instant yeast

Toppings (optional):

Oats

Instructions

Prepare the dough:

Combine all the wet ingredients in a mixing bowl. Add the dry ingredients and use a spatula to stir and combine into a dough that is more at a wet side and sticky to the touch. Scrape the side of the bowl clean with a dough scraper or spatula. Cover and rest the dough at 20 minutes at room temperature. My room temperature is about 80 F (27 C)

After the first 20-minute rest:

Use a sturdy spatula and scoop the bottom edge of the dough and fold it to the center. Do this all around the dough, about 12-15 times. You will notice the dough start to get a bit smoother but still sticky. This is normal. Cover again and let the dough rest for another 20 minutes

After the second 20-minute rest:

Use the same saptula and repeat the same motion again, scooping the bottom edge of the dough and fold it to the center. Do this all around the dough, about 10-12 times. This time you will notice the dough definitely has gotten a lot more smoother, but still sticky to the touch
Lightly oil your palms and the clean up the side of the bowl and lightly oil it too. You can move it to a new container that has a tight-fitting lid too. I like to use a straight-sided container so I can see when the dough doubles in volume. Pick up the dough with your oiled palms and give it a bit of kneading to round it up into a dough ball

First proofing:

I usually like to mark the side of the container so I know when the dough has risen and double in volume.
Cover the dough. Let it proof at a warm place, anywhere between 80-82 F (27-28 C) is good. The dough will double. Once it doubles, punch down the dough and round it up into a dough ball with your lightly oiled palms to prevent sticking. You will notice the dough is a bit less sticky and smoother

Cold retard in the fridge:

Put the dough ball back into the container seal with the lid. Put in the coldest part of your fridge. This helps to develop really nice flavor and the dough is so much easier to work with after this. I recommend minimum of 8 hours but no more than 24 hours
I highly recommend not to skip the cold retard part, but if you really want to bake it on the same day, read my post below "can I skip the overnight process"

Shaping:

The next day, remove the dough from the fridge. You will notice that the dough may have risen again in the fridge and the dough won't be sticky because it's cold at this point. Deflate the dough gently and divide the dough into 9 equal pieces in weight. I usually weigh them, but you can eyeball them.
Flatten the dough slightly with your palm and then fold the edge towards the center to form a tight dough ball. Repeat this with the rest of the dough
Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper. Take one dough ball and use a rolling pin to flatten it into about 5-inch disc. Place it on the baking sheet, giving about 1-inch gap in between dough

Second proofing:

Cover the dough with a lightly oiled cling wrap (or use non-stick spray). Let them proof again at a warm place around 80-82 F (27-28 C). This round may take a bit longer because the dough started out cold. It may take about 1-2 hours depending on your room temperature
The dough should be about 3/4-1 inch puffy. When you gently poke it with your finger, it bounces back slowly and leaves indentation on the dough. The dough is done proofing
10 minutes before end of the second proofing, start preheating the oven to 375 F (190 C) for conventional oven, 350 F (180 C) for convection oven. Position the oven racks, one at the upper 1/3 and another on at the lower 1/3. You can also bake one tray at a time if you oven only allow you to bake one tray at a time

Poke the dough (do not skip):

Brush the dough with a bit of milk, sprinkle with some oats if you wish. Use the tines of the fork to gently poke the dough on the surface, about 4-5 is sufficient. The purpose of doing this is so that the dough won't balloon up, creating empty large holes on the crumbs later

Baking:

Place one tray on top and another tray on the bottom if you bake two trays at a time. Bake for 6 minutes, rotate the tray front to back, up to bottom so the buns bake more evenly. Then continue baking the buns for another 6-7 minutes or until the buns are golden brown
If you bake one tray at a time, bake for 12-13 minutes or until they are golden brown.

Cool down:

Remove them from the baking tray to a cooling rack to let them cool down completely before storing or using them for sandwich

To serve:

Once they have cooled down completely, use a serrated bread knife and cut them into half in the middle horizontally and use them for whatever you want to

Storing:

Once they have cooled down completely, transfer them to a bread bag or zipper bag, push all the air out and seal it. You can also store them in an air-tight container. They can be kept at room temperature for 3 days
For a longer storage, store them in a freezer bag, push all the air out and seal the bag. They can be kept frozen for one month. Simply thaw at room temperature before use

Notes

If you use white whole wheat flour instead of regular whole wheat flour, start with 150 grams of milk instead

Nutrition