Everything Bagel & Dukkah Peasant Bread
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In March, one of my dear high school friends texted me a photo of two loaves of peasant bread coated in seeds. On a whim, she had sprinkled a few tablespoons of Trader Joe’s everything bagel seasoning into her buttered Pyrex bowls before transferring the dough to them.
When the loaves baked, the seasonings clung to the loaves’ surfaces, leaving every inch covered with specks of poppy and sesame seeds, bits of toasty onion and garlic, and flakes of sea salt.
Shortly thereafter, someone sent me a photo via Instagram of her two peasant loaves coated in sesame seeds, which similarly looked so pretty, and someone else sent me a photo of her loaves coated in dukkah. It was time to give the bowl-coating method a go.
I have since tried all of these variations, and I absolutely love them. Coating the buttered bowls with seeds or seasoning takes just a wee more effort, and yet this simple step adds considerable flavor as well as an especially appealing appearance.
With sandwich season upon us, this is a fun one to add to your bread-baking repertoire. I especially love the dukkah bread for making the 44 Special. I think you’ll approve.
Let’s make it together. Gather your dough ingredients: flour, salt, sugar, instant yeast. Whisk to combine…
then add lukewarm water (1.5 cups cold water + .5 cups boiling water).
Mix to form a sticky dough ball.
Set in a warm place to rise. (Incidentally, the kitchen is nearly done… just waiting for some drawer inserts. Can’t wait to share more.)
When the dough has doubled …
deflate it with two forks.
Locate your seed mixes: dukkah on the left; everything bagel seasoning on the right.
Coat your buttered bowls with the seasoning.
Split the dough into two equal pieces.
Transfer the dough to the prepared bowls.
Let rise again for another 20 minutes or until…
it just crowns the rim of the bowls.
Bake for about 30 to 35 minutes…
then turn out onto cooling racks.
Everything Bagel and/or Dukkah Peasant Bread
- Total Time: 3 hours 35 minutes
- Yield: 2 loaves
Description
These are the ideal bowls for the bread: two 1-qt Pyrex bowls.
I used this recipe from the Food Network to make homemade everything bagel seasoning. Combine:
- 1/4 cup sesame seeds
- 1/4 cup poppy seeds
- 3 tablespoons dried onion flakes
- 3 tablespoons dried garlic flakes
- 2 tablespoons flaky sea salt
Warm spot to rise: This is how to create a slightly warm spot for your bread to rise: Turn the oven on at any temperature (350ºF or so) for one minute, then turn it off. Note: Do not allow the oven to get up to 300ºF, for example, and then heat at that setting for 1 minute — this will be too hot. Just let the oven preheat for a total of 1 minute — it likely won’t get above 100ºF. The goal is to just create a slightly warm environment for the bread.
Adapted from the master peasant bread recipe in Bread Toast Crumbs.
Ingredients
- 4 cups (512 g) unbleached all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons kosher salt
- 2 teaspoons sugar
- 2 teaspoons instant yeast
- 2 cups lukewarm water (made by mixing 1 1/2 cups cold water with 1/2 cup boiling water)
- room temperature butter for greasing the bowls
- 4 tablespoons everything bagel seasoning (see notes) or dukkah
Instructions
- Mixing the dough: If you are using instant yeast: In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, sugar, and instant yeast. Add the water. Mix until the flour is absorbed. If you are using active-dry yeast: In a small mixing bowl, dissolve the sugar into the water. Sprinkle the yeast over top. There is no need to stir it up. Let it stand for about 10 to 15 minutes or until the mixture is foamy and/or bubbling just a bit — this step will ensure that the yeast is active. Meanwhile, in a large bowl, whisk together the flour and salt. When the yeast-water-sugar mixture is foamy, stir it up, and add it to the flour bowl. Mix until the flour is absorbed.
- Cover bowl with a tea towel or plastic wrap and set aside in a warm spot (see notes above) to rise for at least an hour. (In the winter or if you are letting the bread rise in a cool place, it might take as long as two hours to rise.)
- Preheat the oven to 425ºF. Grease two 1-qt oven-safe bowls (see notes, I use Pyrex) with about a tablespoon of butter each. Sprinkle 2 tablespoons of your seasoning of choice into each bowl. Turn the bowl to ensure the entire surface is coated in the seasoning. Using two forks, punch down your dough, releasing it from the sides of the bowl, which it will be clinging to. As you release the dough from the sides, pull it towards the center. Then, take your two forks and divide the dough into two equal portions — eye the center of the mass of dough, and starting from the center and working out, pull the dough apart with the two forks.
- Then scoop up each half with the forks, and place into your prepared bowls. This part can be a little messy — the dough is very wet and will slip all over the place. Using small forks or forks with short tines makes this easier — my small salad forks work best; my dinner forks make it harder. It’s best to scoop it up fast and plop it in the bowl in one fell swoop.
- Let the dough rise for about 20 to 30 minutes on the countertop near the oven or until it just crowns the rim of the bowls. (Note: Do not do the warm-oven trick for the second rise, and do not cover your bowls for the second rise.)
- Bake for 15 minutes. Reduce the heat to 375º and make for 15 to 17 minutes longer. Remove from the oven and turn the loaves onto cooling racks. If you’ve greased the bowls well, the loaves should fall right out onto the cooling racks. If the loaves look a little pale and soft when you’ve turned them out onto your cooling racks, place the loaves into the oven (outside of their bowls) and let them bake for about 5 minutes longer. Remove from oven and let cool for 10 minutes before cutting.
- Prep Time: 3 hours
- Cook Time: 35 minutes
- Category: Bread
- Method: No-Knead
- Cuisine: American
This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure policy.
81 Comments on “Everything Bagel & Dukkah Peasant Bread”
These look awesome! I’m going to make these this weekend! Thank you for sharing your recipes and helping me get over my fear of yeast. I’ve been so happy with the results I’ve had with your bread recipes!!!
Thank you for the awesome recipe! I made this last night and added sesame, flax seed, and chopped rosemary to the batter. came out lovely and was a huge hit. who knew you can have awesome bread without kneading!
Thanks agin.
Yay!! So happy to hear this, Meena!
I’ve been having a wonderful time baking my way through Bread Toast Crumbs … thank you so much! I just bought some 2-cup oven safe bowls for baking half-size loaves. Do you recommend the same oven temperature (425 then 375) for this size?
Hi Linda! I’m so happy to hear this … thank you!
I do recommend the same temperature and nearly the same timing: Once you lower the temp to 375ºF, you may not need to bake it for as long as 17 minutes. I would start checking at 10 to 15 minutes. Also know that the bread is very forgiving, so if you do bake it for as long as 17 minutes, it will be fine. Happy baking!!
Alexandra! This may be the best loaf of bread to depart my oven! My husband said I could sell it off my front porch.
Thank you so much for sharing!
So happy to hear this, Annie!!
I just made some ricotta today and was wondering if I could use the whey in place of the water in this recipe.
Love your bread recipe. I make it once a week. Wondering what the temperature/time differences would be , if any if I used a 2 quart bowl? Thank you
That’s so creative, I love the pictures and the way these came out. Thanks for sharing and keep up the good work!
Just made it, turned out great even though I didn’t have the correct sized bowls. Mine were too big. Haha. But why did no one ever tell me about instant yeast before now?!? Game changer! Wish I could post a picture! Thanks for the great recipe👍🏼😋
So happy to hear this, Toni! I know, right? Instant yeast = game changer! What size bowls are you using? 1.5 qt?
Unbelievable, it was perfect my first try, great directions I followed to a T. If I use everything bagel seasoning, when do I put it on? Thank you so much . Joe
So happy to hear this, Joe! Sorry for the delay here. With the everything bagel seasoning, you butter the bowls and sprinkle the seasoning inside the bowl so that it coats the butter in a thin layer … this eventually ends up coating the loaves 🙂
I love this recipe! My cousin makes it for all of our family events and you are right – instant crowd pleaser! I tried it today and my bread turned out fantastic. I wish I could post the pic lol!
Question: Do you have a variation that uses ONLY almond flour or coconut flour? And possibly sugar free alternative to the sugar? My sister is diabetic and watches her carbs and sugar very closely and I sent her a photo (right after I took it out of the oven MMMMMM) and she asked me so I figured I would pass that along to see if you knew or had any variations that might work for diabetics.
(p.s. I tried posting this via my phone and it shows it posted but I don’t see it here when I came on my computer to print the recipe which is why I am posting it again – just in case you got it twice)
all your bread recipes seem to call for unbleached flour. I bake a lot of bread but use either all purpose flour or bread flour. Will either of these work in your recipes ?
Fantastic! Just starting to learn bread making and the instructions were very well written and easy to follow! Have made 4 loafs already!
So happy to hear this, Joanie!
I’m really excited to try this recipe!
Question — I’m a single person. I don’t need two loaves (and certainly wouldn’t know what to do with so much bread all at once!). Is it ok to just halve the recipe for one loaf? I’m assuming doing so wouldn’t affect the oven time or anything right?
Thanks so much!
Absolutely! No need to make changes to the timing. You can also freeze the second loaf.
Gotcha. And I don’t have pyrex bowls, but I have two 8-inch loaf pans. Could I substitute those? Thanks again!
Yes! But either make 1.5x the recipe and bake it in two loaf pans, or bake of 3/4 of the dough in 1 loaf pan and bake off the remaining batter in small ramekins or something similar … the mini loaves are so cute.
Please, please tell me where do you get the round bowls, so you can have the bread upside down? I only find the flat bottom bowls. Thank you and I love your bread and so does my SIL so much, that we refer to your bread as Beau’s bread after him!R
Oh I love this 🙂 🙂 🙂 OK, so the bowls have become surprisingly tricky to find. This nesting set is the best/cheapest option, which will give you one 1 quart bowl and one 1.5 qt bowl … the shape of the finished loaves will be different, but some people actually prefer the shape of the 1-qt bowl. If you want two 1-qt bowls, your best bet is to go to Pyrex itself: 1-qt bowl.
So excited to try this recipe but do you have any suggestions for making your bread at high altitude?
Thanks!
Hi Viveca!
I have some tips relayed from my friend who lives in Denver:
• The peasant bread does very well in Denver.
• Add a little bit more water because it rises fast and it is so dry: about a quarter cup for every 512 g of flour.
• Try decreasing the yeast to 1.5 teaspoons.
• If your dough is especially gooey, try decreasing the water by 1/4 cup. But, if you aren’t using a scale, my first suggestion would be to buy a scale and weigh the flour, and make the bread once as directed with the 2 cups water and 512 grams flour, etc.
• Punch the dough down twice before transferring it to the buttered Pyrex bowls. In other words, let it rise for 1-1.5 hours, punch it down, let it rise again for about an hour, punch it down, then transfer it to the buttered bowls.
Hope that helps!
Thanks, I’ll let you know how it turns out!
Hi Alexandra,
I am a bit higher altitude than Denver, at 9000 ft, but I made the recipe using your suggestions and another tweak: Since whole wheat flour has more gluten, I made it with 3 cups white flour, 1 cup plus 2 Tblsp. wheat flour. Turned out amazing, I have made it 3 times and am on my fourth today. Thanks!
Oh Yay! So wonderful to hear this, Viveca, and so helpful for others to know it can be done at high altitude. Thank you for reporting back!
How much can I sub with whole wheat or spelt flour?
Hi Alexandra,
Do you usually bake both loaves at once, or one at a time?
Thanks!
Both at once!
Hoping to make this with one big bowl, 4 qts. Any tips?
Sorry 2qts
Hi Julianne! Follow the recipe exactly, but instead of splitting the dough, plop it all into your butter-and-seed coated bowl. Let it rise till the dough begins to crown the rim. Bake for 15 minutes at 425ºF; lower the temp to 375ºF and bake for 30 minutes.
I needed an excuse to use some everything bagel spice that i purchased several months ago. I’m so happy to have this variation to your mother’s peasant bread. I also have some dukka that i purchased that i would like to start using. Lol. Thank you for all your inspiring ideas.
Oh yay! Wonderful to hear this, Annier! I love these two variations … the crust is irresistible!
so delicious. a great variation. my daughter is home from college and loves everything but the bagel seasoning so this was perfect. I think I need to use more butter to grease the bowls. the bread did not come out as easily as in the video. but it still tasted great and was just about gone by dinner time. I have been using bread flour with great results. how would all purpose flour change this? and can I use half white whole wheat?
Great to heat this, Michelle!
I use bread flour and ap flour interchangeably in this recipe. You may find that the dough with ap flour is a little wetter, but it’s totally fine — no need to adjust the baking times or anything. Yes, you can use half white whole wheat flour. Keep in mind, it may make the dough a slightly bit denser, but the flavor will still be great.
I have made several of your sourdough recipes and love them so much! I am curious to try this EBTB coated pyrex baking method, but with the dough from your simple sourdough bread recipe instead. Have you ever tried to apply this method to sourdough?
If not, I decided to try and find out myself anyway, so I coated a pyrex bowl just like you did
and followed your simple sourdough bread recipe. My sourdough is currently doing its second rise overnight in the fridge. I was thinking tomorrow morning I will take it out and allow it to come up to room temp for a good 3-4 hours to warm it up before I stick it in a 425 oven. Don’t want it to shatter! That is definitely a concern. I thought about turning it out into my dutch oven to avoid having to bake the cold pyrex, but I have a feeling most of the seasoning will stay in the pyrex bowl if I try to do that so I want to give the pyrex method a chance.
One more thing, I checked on the dough recently and I am pretty sure all of the salt in the seasoning kinda melted and got reabsorbed by the dough since it is so moist and it has been resting for several hours already. Did the salt also melt for you, even using quick yeast and having a much shorter rise period? I’m very curious if there is a way to avoid losing the salt flakes, but it seems inevitable due to the wet nature of dough.
I will update you tomorrow with how she turns out!
Hi Anna! Love that you are trying this out. I think your method sounds great regarding the room temperature rise in the morning.
I have never had an issue with the salt melting but that must be because of the short second rise.
Let me know they turn out!
Do you know this recipe says “room temperature butter for greasing the flower pots, plus more, if you wish, for brushing over top”
What flower pots? Hahaha
Oh my gosh, that’s hilarious! It’s from an old recipe that called for baking the peasant bread in flower pots 🙂 🙂 🙂 I’ll edit it now.
Thanks so much for sharing your Mother’s Best NO-Knead Peasant Bread recipe.
The bread came out beautifully,although I baked it in 1.5 L. bowls since I was unable to purchase the 1 L .size.
Easy to make and very good. I look forward to baking more from your book,”Bread Toast Crumbs.”
Oh yay! Sharon, so wonderful to hear this 🙂 🙂 🙂 Hope you love the other recipes. Thanks so much for writing 🙂
I have been making this bread ever since I discovered this blog. I absolutely love it and whenever I make it for company I am asked for the recipe. This is a wonderful, foolproof recipe that anyone can make! I also have the cookbook and I love it. Thank you for making bread-baking less intimidating!
Oh Melinda, it’s so nice to hear this! Thanks so much for writing and sharing this. Means the world 🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰
This bread recipe is fantastic. My entire family cannot get enough. I’m a big bread maker, and certainly like to do much harder recipes form time to time in terms of longer rises, unique starters, etc, but this bread delivers every time and is super easy to put together. Thanks for posting it!
Wonderful to hear this, Scott! I, too, love sourdough and making ciabatta with poolish, etc., but the bread I turn to most often is this peasant bread — everyone always raves.
Made this today. I made the mistake of using a nearly finished bottle of “everything but the bagel” seasoning. I did not realize that most of the salt had settled at the bottom of the jar and boy was the seedy crust of my bread salty. Next time I’ll make my own mix! My husband loved it though. I give this recipe 5 ⭐️’s, and the cook (me) 3 ⭐️’s.
Awww, bummer about the salt, but glad it wasn’t a total bust … not your fault — I feel like I do things like that all the time. Thanks for writing!
I have been making your Peasant bread for over a year, with a ho hum, from my super picky husband. I just made it with the ‘everything but the bagel’ seasoning, and he loved it! He told me he woke up in the morning thinking about having a slice.
Awwww that’s so sweet. Love this so much Teresa 🙂 🙂 🙂 Thanks for writing and sharing!
Thank you so much for this recipe! It is so easy and turns out perfectly every time! I make this at least once a week. Now everyone keeps asking me to make it for them! 🙂
Although I didn’t have the proper size bowls I just make them on a baking sheet with parchment paper, brush on an egg wash and then put the bagel seasoning on top and they still turn out perfect every time! I am baking 4 loaves as I type this!
Thanks again!
Wow, amazing! I love this idea so much. So great for people who don’t have the “proper” bowls. Thanks for writing and sharing your notes/method.
Hi Alexandra.
I’ve been making your Peasant Bread with EBTB seasoning coating the bowls. So easy, and a big hit with the family. The husband loves it when I use a few slices to make his lunch sandwich. I’ve been using two1-quart Pyrex bowls, but as I’m making sandwiches so often, I want to try your recommendation of making 1.5 times the base recipe and using two 8.5×4.5 loaf pans. I have 2 questions I’m hoping you can help me with: – – Am I interpreting the basic recipe correctly; for 1.5x the recipe in two 8.5×4.5 loaf pans I should bake at 375° for 45 min? – – And I’d still like to use EBTB Seasoning to top the loaves. I’m thinking I’ll just sprinkle it on the tops after I put the dough in the loaf pans, and then brush with melted butter. Or do you think the butter will brown/burn and I should skip that? Thanks ever so much! Regards, Julie
Hi Julie! Great to read all of this. I am making this today — love it for sandwiches as well 🙂
OK, regarding your questions:
for 1.5x the recipe in two 8.5×4.5 loaf pans I should bake at 375° for 45 min?
Yes!
And I’d still like to use EBTB Seasoning to top the loaves. I’m thinking I’ll just sprinkle it on the tops after I put the dough in the loaf pans, and then brush with melted butter. Or do you think the butter will brown/burn and I should skip that?
When I add seeds on top of bread, as here, I brush the surface lightly with water. But butter sounds so tasty. I don’t think it will burn, and I think the seeds will protect it. You could try one loaf brushed with water and the other brushed with butter and see which you like better.
Just made these this evening !! DEE-licious!! I am sharing your recipe and now that I’m re-reading I see that my bake was off…I baked them for 30 minutes at 425 (not lowering the temp)! They were light and so good! (Wondering if I could freeze one?)
Great to hear, Carol! Yes, it freezes beautifully.
After a few years of 2 day sour doughs, I’m kind of done w the hassle…. so this recipe rocked my world and I just ordered the book via amazon- 2 friends have made this bread and they are as excited as I am, although I gotta use some self control- ( I usually don’t eat my bread due to calories & I tend go nuts). Little loaves, and I found a 2.5 Qt anchor hocking bowl at homegoods today I think will work for the whole batch. Nice to have the options- the #322 is adorable- love the size, but made a 10×6 loaf too. Salted butter to grease bowl. Seeds. Gonna try some recipes in the book. Way to go.
Thank you so much Teresa 🙂 🙂 🙂 It’s so nice to read all of this. I love sourdough but it is indeed a hassle. My mother’s peasant bread and its many variations is the recipe I turn to most often over and over again for its ease of preparation and reliably delicious flavor. THanks for writing!