- Always aerate your flour before measuring.
- If you don’t aerate your flour your dough will be too dry.
- Aerating is NOT the same as sifting.
- Do not sift flour before measuring unless the recipe indicates it.
- See how to aerate flour in this short video.
Wow never once heard this tip. Now I know why the rolls are always heavy… Ty Jenny
Never heard of aerating. Happy to discover it at JenyCan Cook. Fellow Candian no less.
Thanks Jenny! This is an awesome tip (from an awesome lady)!
Love you 😊
Thank you, I had no idea and I have been doing it wrong all these years. I am not a baker, but I do want to now that I have time.
I never knew this!! Thank you!
This is a great tip! Though what I do is l just leave the top on my flour container, lay it on it’s side then roll it a few times. Achieves the same result, but quicker.
Jenny, you are awesome! I have enjoyed your videos and your great recipes. The recipe for the crusted rolls was wonderful and I have made them since the lockdown. I am 84 and retired (4 times) and I enjoy cooking and baking but I have to cut back or take another job so that I can afford the expanded waistlines of my pants. Thanks for all the great shows and recipes. Oh, don’t burn your buns…
Thanks for posting the correct way to aerate flour. I thought it was going to be like sifting, so I am glad you showed the difference between aerating and sifting! Now I am going to try to create a miracle…LOL!
Hey
What about the yeast when do I mix the yeast into flour ??
Maybe I missed or misread
Thank you
I thought the same exact thing and I just got a cast iron bread oven and wanted to make my first loaf..I’m glad I saw this video because I’ve been measuring all wrong for sure..
Mine came out too dry. I used whole wheat flour because of your comment in the video that it also makes a beautiful whole wheat loaf. Then I read these faq to see if i can find out why and I see that it is too dry because I used whole wheat flour.
Please try my current whole wheat version: https://www.jennycancook.com/recipes/whole-wheat-no-knead-bread/
I use 50/50 on white flour and wheat flour. Have seen recipes wilth more white than wheat also. 50/50 works for me!
I’ve made it twice with all purpose flour and both times the dough was still runny, very sticky & not moldable
after rising. I made sure I measured correctly. Do I need to use bread flour?
I get the same results with either flour. Please look at the FAQs.
I use at least 3 cups flour. If the dough is too moist, just add a 1/4 cup more at a time.
I’ve made this recipe several times. It’s now my go-to recipe for buns or loaves. I often omit the egg wash and the sesame seeds. Plus, I also add Flaxseed Meal.
I love this bread, but it always turns out too dense. Can anyone tell me how to prevent this? Karen
Please see the FAQs.
Thank you Jenny for sharing all these treasures. I would like to know if you suggest we also aerate the flour for your no-knead bread recipes?
I recommend aerating flour before measuring for every use.
I’m new to breads so my question is, the way you aerate the flower, is that the same as using a sifter or using a mesh strainer?
Thank you
No, it’s not. Please see the video above.
Thank you so much for your youtube videos. We LOVE your bread. You are an angel!
Jenny, on YouTube you said 1/4 teaspoon yeast, is that correct? This recipe calls for a lot more. Which is correct?
You are looking at two different recipes.
Which other flours and in what proprtion can be subbed for some of the white flour?
50/50 white and wheat is what I do for bread, rolls and buns. I love the unbleached flour too when making wheat bread. It’s more dense with wheat flour. Have fun with it.
Your brilliant. I’ve shared your recipes. YOUR THE BEST
Thank you for sharing
I have a friend who is going through Chemo. We could not find a good Farmers Bread, nice and crusty, soft on the inside which he loves. I made your bread in my Dutch oven and it was a fantastic hit. The only problem is now I may have to make this on a weekly basis. Lol. My family loves it also. It makes the best grilled cheese. Thank you so much.
I have look n tried every recipe in the book about bread, it’s yours Jenny that only works for me n so so good. My family loves it,
Thank you thank you👍🥰
8 justvwant to say I will be back here often, this is a wonderful group of people, minus a few.
I like her YouTube Videos as well. You should check then out as well.
I thought I saw a Sifter in front of you & using that is more effective in loosening up and aerating the flour instead of loosening up or ‘aerating’ the flour with a fork or spoon. By using a utensil to loosen the flour may save you a minute or so, it may just catch up to you if it hasn’t been loosened enough or ‘aerated’. Sifting the bread and then using a scale would be more accurate in measuring. Still, sifting the flour and using a measuring cup would still provide you with a more accurate measure. Just sayin’ ….
Jenny clearly states not to sift flour before measuring and yet you came here to override her advice. She is right. You are wrong. And rude. Just sayin’ …
Couldn’t agree more.
Isn’t this site about baking, not bashing someone else? I am amazed that people have time to be catty over anyone’s remarks. All I want to do is bake.
Amen!
Yes I agree we all need to get along, Billy Belly might have missed that information on aerating flour. Be kind people!
Tammy, there was NO rudeness until you said the word. It comes down to we all entitled to our own opinions ( & results) – I respect your opinion but not the rudeness, that is for you to resolve within yourself. Good day, Tammy.
rude is used too often as a way to label a person.
People who have strong personalities are wrongly labeled rude.
Giving advice like yours is the reason new cooks get confused. Jenny is an accomplished baker. She has published. She keeps a blog where she can be reached. Where YOU be when a new baker has trouble following your advice? You take someone’s recipe, and change everything about it, then complain about the recipe. Put up or shut up! Billy Belly where is YOUR last recipe printed?
I recently took a class on pasta by hand. They instilled to perfect recipes of dough, a kitchen scale is the preferred way to proceed. Actually all baking should incorporate a kitchen scale to weigh vs measure for accuracy and consistency of recipes. Aerating sifting who. cares? Our world is difficult enough these days. Let’s all get along. We do have something in common Jenny can cook.Just wish she would come back with new recipes and videos!! Try her pan pizza !!! Best recipe yet!!!
I totally agree Michelle! The question is not whether to sift, to aerate or do nothing. I am quite sure that if I took ten people who had all aerated their one cup of flour the actual weight of that one cup would still be different. Anyone notice how flour is sold by weight ( grams or ounces ) and not by volume ( cups). Figure out the weight you need, then measure that much on a scale. Sift, aerate to your heart’s content it doesn’t matter, 100g is still 100g. If you’re experienced enough to measure the right amount by eye that’s even easier
Yes Billy. It’s true. Sifting is the best way bc I have tried it and it does work. I use a big sieve bc I don’t have a sifter. I measure a cup of flour and use my sieve and shake it onto a big piece of wax paper. I pour that flour into the cup and level off. It is always surprising to see how much flour it is over by. At least a fourth of a cup. ❤️ to y’all
The right name not the iPhone preference. Butterkist was the name of a bakery I worked at. May God bless the old time bakers! And all of us 🐝🌼🥮🥧🍰
Can I exchange whole wheat flour for the white .will it be the same amount as the white flour. Will the method be the same.?
Julie
I suggest using one of my recipes that use whole wheat flour that are already tested and proven to work.
Julie, thanks for this recipe! I did use different flour, as I have discovered milling my own! I actually used one cup each of fresh milled Spelt, Hard Red Wheat and Soft White Wheat. I doubled the yeast, as I did not want to wait. The results were awesome! Hubby says Publix Sour Dough has nothing on this bread! It was a nice texture inside, though I did not get the bubbles, after the first rise, so it looked more like traditional bread. But the crust was the bomb! That crunch was perfect!
Thanks for sharing—will be helpful as I want to experiment a bit 🙂 !
Delicious and so easy.
I do everything to a T and my loaf never comes out the size it’s supposed too. Always smaller than my Moms and much smaller than the dutch oven. It rises well and tasted fantastic. density is perfect moisture too. just smaller?
Do you use the exact same flour as your mom?
Hi Jenny.
Thank you for this recipe!
I don’t have a thermometer to test the temperatures for either instant or active yeast and was wondering if there was another way to approximate the temperatures?
Thanks in advance,
Loraine
Is the only reason to aerate the flour so you won’t use too much? If you measure by weight does it matter if you aerate it?
My mother, who won contests with her baking 50 years ago, always whisked her flour with a wire whisk before measuring, claiming that it added extra air to the bread (or cake, etc) to make lighter baked goods. So, I whisk, and I weigh everything. She didn’t and she didn’t accurately measure. She just had a feel for how much flour and liquid she needed. The whisking makes a difference.
I agree Diana, some people who daily bake or cook various dishes, including breads, buns etc just develop an eye for such things. My dearly departed mom was a chef for 48 years. From age 5 as her ‘assistant’ to working in her kitchen as a 15 year old apprentice I never once seen her measure, weigh, or hesitate in adding ingredients! I once questioned my mom about this and her reply was simply this: ‘With some people who bake or cook every day they learn how to measure ingredients by look, feel, and by knowing your ingredients.” Mom admitted that she used to measure, or weigh everything until it got to the point that using a scale etc only confirmed what she had already measured by eye. To prove her point she had me pick out 5 various ingredients. I had to measure using a scale while mom measured the same ingredients by eye. I’m 60 now and still have to use a scale etc. Bake on, Diana ! Stay safe.
My mom was a natural, baking without measuring anything. She learned from her French grandmother. She sifted, but says the amount of flour to use varies with the weather. I suppose it was the humidity? Very humid here in the south. Flour is often very packed. A true cook can be flexible.
Jenny – nice instructions and videos. I have some suggestions for you to share with your followers:
there are two basic kinds of yeast – those that should be blended with dry ingredients, and those which should be blended with the water before mixing in the flour – read the label on the yeast jar or packet
don’t use warm tap water – that’s dangerous – should never cook or drink warm tap water as it attracts ionic metals from the pipes in older homes – instead, use cold water and heat it up to 110-120 f
when covering the dough, cover it tightly with the parchment paper then put plastic over the top of the bowl to keep out critters. Hours later, when ready to bake, just remove the plastic and turn over the bowl – the dough will fall onto the parchment paper. Scrape any extra flour from sides of the bowl and put onto the sticky dough. Pick up the parchment paper and drop the dough into the preheated Dutch oven – no need to add flour to the dough so saves time – and you are ready to bake.
When removing from the oven, leave loaf in the hot Dutch oven for around ten minutes as continues to cook, then roll that over to drop the loaf onto a wire rack and remove parchment paper for cooling, otherwise the bread gets soggy
instead of 30 minutes, it is best to wait at least 60-90 minutes (or more) before slicing the bread as it is still cooking inside
Thank you for taking time to share all this with everyone.
Pancho Piedra- thank you so much for the info. VERY helpful!
OMG I don’t have critters that would get into my food. LOL
Thank you for the extra tips! I can’t wait to try them out.
Nice i will alwats do this is future
Hi Jenny,
Just purchades an Amazonbasics Dout h oven. The instructions say that the pot is oven safe up to 400 F! Most bread recipes call for 450 F. Can I still follow these no knead bread recipes but bake at 400 F? Or how do I adjust the length of baking if necessary?
I bake my no knead bread at 400 all the time. I let it bake with the lid on for 35 mins & extra 5 mins with lid off. It always comes out perfect.
Jenny,Jenny,…why did you leave the TV land? I watched you often!!!
BTW, I loved your no knead bread, i bake it often.
I was surprised when i saw your face on youtube baking the beautiful, delicious bread!!! I didnt realize it was you but you did look familiar and then it hit me in the face?
I love to make this bread. It’s very easy. No fuss no muss. Thanks Jenny
Since the pandemic I could not buy bread flour in my store. Hence I used all purpose flour but my dough was just too wet. I’ve added flour and the crust came out very hard. I was able to eat it and still tasty. What adjustment should I make to the recipe using all purpose flour
how do i make bread flour out of all purpose flour
There is no way to make bread flour out of all purpose flour. Please see my flour basics: https://www.jennycancook.com/flour-basics/
I picked up gluten flour from bulk barn. I use about 250gm all purpose and about 120 gm of gluten flour. The all purpose is delicious but try adding the gluten flour. It’s wonderfully chewy the way Italian bread should be. The difference is amazing.
BTW get a scale if you can. Better to weigh than measure. Every little change makes a difference.
You add 1 tsp vital wheat gluten to each 1 cup of all purpose flour, to make it bread flour…
I don’t believe that using all purpose flour is the problem. I have made no knead breads with both bread flour and all purpose flour with good results. I think your problem lies elsewhere. Please see the FAQs for a solution.
Hi Jenny
I use my bread machine to make my dough the problem I’ve been having is that it’s either really sticky or has a lot of air pockets. I do sift my flour not sure if I’m suppose, but I do do that if you could please let me know what I’m doing wrong I sure would appreciate it.
Thanks so much : )
Jenny said do NOT sift it. But just aerate the flour. That means stirring the flour to introduce air to it.
My husband and I are so glad we found you! Your recipes are fantastic and you are always so positive and funny. And we like all the colorful and, sometimes, silly, kitchen stuff. Keep on and keep doing you, Jenny. We will keep watching.
Hi Jennie, I just got my Dutch Oven and they say not to put an empty Dutch oven in an oven………why?
I believe that means not to preheat it empty on the stove top. Just make sure it’s rated safe for 450F.
I’ve put my Le Creuset Dutch oven empty into a cold oven and heated it to 450F. After a few times, there are lots of spots on it, inside and out. It hasn’t affected the function, but it doesn’t look as nice. Now I useda clay baker without any ceramic coating. I soak it first, as required, then slide my proofed dough in and put it into the cold oven, turning the temperature to 460F. My results vary—which is probably me, not my tools, but my loaf usually gets its oven lift.
Thanks for explaining this! I have made the mistake of not aerating my flour before and was disappointed with my results. Love all of your videos and your recipes. Thanks again!
Wendy
Okanagan, British Columbia, Canada
Cynthia If a measurement is by weight, 1 gram is 1gram aerated or not. 120g per cup is the normal agreement and it will produce the same results always, aerated or not. If you are using cups(volume) it MUST be aerated to give the same results every time. In volume there is room for a difference, but a gram is always a gram.
Jenny, i love your personality and recipes. I have cooked a lot of them and have not been disappointed in any
Would you please explain the reasoning behind your warning not too sift flour before measuring? Just curious. Thanks!
Please see Flour Basics in the FAQs.
No reply necessary Just wanted to say I love your recipes and presentation. A few years ago I went on a roll with your stuffed cabbage rolls, could NOT stop making them – so delicious!!! (And relatively easy.) I’m a recovering Talk Show producer, myself, and have always found cooking and baking to be much more enjoyable ? You look happy and I’m very happy for you.
(Or – as THEY say – “Love You, Love Your Show!”)
I would prefer to make all my baked goods by weight. I tried a bread recipe that did everything by weight and it was perfect!
After several do so attempts. I tried your recipe! It came out perfect! I used a Dutch oven this time, which helped a lot. I used bread flour. The only thing I changed up…..I put year in warm water , stirred and let set a few minutes. Then I added to dry mixture. I want to try your quicker recipe next time( more yeast less proofing time) I cannot thank you enough! What a feeling of accomplishment. My friend made your bread , she added a teaspoon of oil to your recipe, and then brushed a bit on top of loaf, after it cooked. She is thrilled with her loaf. Thanks again!
Jenny, my oven/range is electric. I have used the thermometer to double check its accuracy. It actually heats cooler than the actual temp. I know a lot of you bread and other recipes call for 425/350 degrees. Since mine does not accurately maintain a temp do you have a suggestion as to some help in remedies the problem. I know I can adjust the guage but I would rather get it fixed. Any suggestion will be greatly appreciated. Jim
Thank you ?
First loaf is beautiful and delicious!
Jenny, Jenny, Jenny. Oh my freaking goodness. I followed your recipe step by step and the results were absolutely amazing. It’s gone! My family ate the entire loaf. Bake, eat and repeat!!!
Jenny thank u . U have given us all wonderful doable recipes.
Made your dutch oven bread it was reall good nice and crunchy….
THANKS
I just discovered you and your wonderful videos! My first loaf of bread came out great and I sprinkled on the -Everything seeds and seasoning on top. It came out of oven and I shared with neighbors , a smear of butter and drinking a glass of wine! They loved it! I love your humor and your colorful sets. You really do a nice job and fun to watch! Please stay in good health so we can watch more of you!
How do you freeze the No Knew Bread recipes?
Thank you,
Cindy
Great video, great recipe, great bread. My best loaf was left covered on the counter for 8 hours before baking. A slit on top before baking adds a nice touch. Using the mixer with the paddle also is faster, cleaner and more consistent. Thanks, Jen!
Hi Jenny! Sorry you got in trouble for washing that dirty ball…lol. Unfortunately I watched your video about airaiting the flour before I mixed 2 bowls of the No Knead Bread mixture. After mixing my first bowl I couldn’t understand why my mixture wasn’t fluffy like yours so I mixed a second bowl with a different flour, but same results.? Is there anything I can do with these 2 bowls of bread mixture to make them not so dry before baking my bread?
These doughs are very flexible. You can just add a little more water.
JENNY YOU HAVE OPENED UP SUCH A TREASURE FOR ME…… NO KNEAD BREAD AND ROLLS. Soooooooooo wonderful. My question is…. what is the best shelf to use for making the rolls………… and what self is the best for all the beads ? I’m wondering if I would get better results using a different level…………….. You are amazing and so wonderful to visit. <3
Louise
I bake everything on the middle rack in the oven.
I am attempting cinnamon buns for the second time and I think I am going to have the same problems as last time. I end up with just 2 and a bit turns. The dough doesn’t role out as big as it shoukd. Also, I am new at baking “75 yrs”and don’t know house to aerate my flour. May that is the problem. Helps!
Aerating just means to stir the flour around to lighten it up before measuring as I show in the video above. As for your problems, please look at these tips for baking: https://www.jennycancook.com/problems-with-yeast-baking/
Jenny, I made the cinnamon rolls using the refrigerate overnight version. This morning I put them in same warm place I use for bread and they have not risen after two hours. Yeast and flour same as I used yesterday for bread which was perfect so I know those are fine. What happened? Thanks!
I aerate mine with a rubber whisk, but I like your method too! And by the way, Miss Jenny, you rock!! I was so happy when I discovered you. We’ve been making your no knead bread like crazy and we all fell in love with your orange chicken! I’m making the bread tonight to go along a roasted garlic soup. Thank you for all your recipes!
If you get a chance, could you include the amounts of flour, sugar, etc. in grams or ounces, as well as cups and teaspoons? I’ve found that using weight rather than volume gives me a more consistent product.
Thanks for the fine set of videos.
Hi Tony, I noticed under Jenny’s No Kneed Bread Solutions page she mentioned in one of the comments that a cup of flour is about 4.5-5 ounces. I hope this helps.
A cup is 4 1/4 ounces and here is the best I can offer: https://www.jennycancook.com/category/metric-conversion-chart/