Can I Grind Up The Seeds Used In The No-Knead Black Bread?

Asked by S-Bouqui. Answered on 21st January 2024

Full question

Can I grind up the seeds used in the No-Knead Black Bread? I love rye type breads, but my body can’t process seeds. I love the flavor of fennel and caraway seeds, so I would love to make this recipe. Hopefully there’s a way around putting the seeds in the dough whole. Thinking maybe I would have to reduce the amount of seeds since the powdered form might be too strong? Thanks for any help on this.

No-Knead Black Bread

By Nigella

Our answer

Nigella's No-Knead Black Bread (from COOK, EAT, REPEAT) is a no-knead bread influenced by the flavours of Eastern European breads and is flavoured with caraway, fennel and nigella seeds. The seeds provide pops of flavour in the bread. It is probably possible to flavour the bread with ground seeds, though the flavour will be more uniform.

As grinding seeds does tend to release flavour, you should reduce the amount of seeds used and we would suggest halving the quantities, so use 2 teaspoons of each seed for the dough. Though if you are worried that the flavour will be overpowering then It may be better to try with only one teaspoon of each. We would also suggest omitting the nigella seed topping rather than use ground seeds as we are not sure if the ground seeds could become too toasted while the bread bakes.