Twist Bread 3 Ways | No-Knead Overnight Bread | “Wurzelbrot”

This overnight twist bread is super easy to make and tastes amazing! It takes literally no time to make, requires no kneading and you can pack it with every flavour combination you want! In this post I will be sharing with you three recipe versions for this twist bread:

1. Plain Twist Bread (with seeds)
2. Black Olive Twist Bread
3. Sundried Tomato and Rosemary Twist Bread (my favourite!)

Before we get into the flavour combinations though, let´s discuss some of the basics – why am I calling it twist bread?!?!

What is Twist Bread | German “Wurzelbrot”

The reason I call it “twist bread” is because the dough is shaped and baked in a twist (wow – who would have guessed!). It´s inspired by a Germany bread known as “Wurzelbrot”. The German word “Wurzel” means “root”, and as the bread looks a bit like the gnarly root of an old tree, that´s what it was named after!

The dough for this recipe is fairly sticky, so make sure you dust the baking trays/baking paper that you are using with plenty of flour! The bread dough is then shaped into a sausage, then you grab each end and twist them in opposite directions (one towards you and one away from you) to form the twist.

This bread is great for freezing, so I like to make a lot of it at once (I tend to make three batches of dough and add a different flavouring to each) and then freeze most of them. When you are ready to eat them, simply defrost for a few hours. Then, it´s really nice to reheat them in the oven at 150°C for 10-15 minutes until warm and crisp.

How do you make the Twist Bread? A 3-in-1 recipe!

This twist bread is really easy to make – all you do is stir all the ingredients together with a fork in a plastic Tupperware, cover the lid, chill in the fridge overnight and bake the next morning! Have you ever heard of an easier bread recipe?

The basic ingredients to make this twist bread (or any bread) are flour (I use a mix of strong white and wholemeal flour), salt, yeast and water. I also add a little bit of my un-fed sourdough starter to this mix. This helps the bread rise a little bit more but is primarily for the addition of flavour! If you don´t have a sourdough starter, you can add a tiny bit more yeast to your dough and might find that you need a little less water. But hey – WHY DON´T YOU HAVE YOUR OWN SOURDOUGH STARTER?!?! Sourdough bread is the best, so you should definitely go check out this post on How To Make A Sourdough Starter and then use it to make this Crusty Sourdough Loaf.

PLAIN TWIST BREAD:

For the plain version of the twist bread, you just follow the recipe for making the dough below and leave it at that. For a little something extra, you could lightly spray the twist bread with water and sprinkle some seeds (e.g. sesame, poppy, pumpkin or sunflower seeds) over the top.

BLACK OLIVE TWIST BREAD:

I LOVE olives, and black, salty olives in bread is undoubtedly the best thing ever! The olive version of the twist bread is very similar in taste and texture to my 3-Day French Olive Baguettes, but is takes only half the time and work to make! A perfect alternative! For the best-tasting results, I´d recommend using dried olives as they are nice and salty! The ones I use are the Dried Moroccan Black Olives from Sainsbury´s.

SUNDRIED TOMATO AND ROSEMARY TWIST BREAD:

The sundried tomato and rosemary version of the twist bread is probably my favourite! And I think my friend who got to taste-test these breads would agree – we were fighting over the last few pieces of it! Sundried tomatoes in bread are an absolute classic and the combination with some freshly chopped rosemary is a real winner!

More Bread Recipes

I love baking bread, it is arguably one of the most satisfying things to bake, plus, it tastes great!!! You don´t even have to feel guilty as you can just eat it as part of your normal diet (I could have bread/sandwiches/toast etc. for breakfast, lunch and dinner), unlike cake or biscuits, which are definitely always an “extra” treat! I have loads more bread recipes on this blog, so make sure you go and check some of them out:

• Classic Irish Soda Bread
• Red Onion and Balsamic Soda Bread (No-knead, no proof)
• 3-Day French Baguettes
• “Vollkornbrot” | German Wholemeal Loaf
• Italian Rosemary Focaccia Bread
• 2-Ingredient Naan Bread
• Rye Sourdough Loaf
• Small(er) Pesto Star Bread
• Seeded Sourdough Loaf

Twist Bread 3 Ways | No-Knead Overnight Bread | “Wurzelbrot”

Recipe

Ingredients:

FOR THE DOUGH

(enough for 2 baguettes, easily doubled, tripled etc. You can also make the dough multiple times in different containers and add different flavourings to each):

• 160g strong white bread flour
• 90g wholemeal flour
• 2 tsp fast-action dried yeast
• 60g sourdough starter, unfed (check how to make a sourdough starter here)
• 10g salt
• ~ 180g lukewarm water

FOR THE PLAIN VERSION:

• 3-4 tbsp of seeds (e.g. sesame, poppy, sunflower, pumpkin or mixed seeds)

FOR THE OLIVE VERSION:

• 40g dried black olives, pitted and roughly chopped

FOR THE SUNDRIED TOMATO AND ROSEMARY VERSION:

• 70g sundried tomatoes, roughly chopped
• 3-4 sprigs of fresh rosemary, leaves removed and finely chopped

Method:

1. To make the dough, weigh all of the bread dough ingredients into a plastic container/Tupperware, making sure you keep the yeast and salt at opposite ends. Don´t add all the water at once and see if you need a little less/more than the 180g listed above. The amount of water needed will depend on the flour types you use.
2. If you are making the olive or sundried tomato version, add the additional ingredients for those to the dough ingredients. You can also make multiple flavoured loaves at once, by making two or three quantities of the dough in separate containers, and adding different flavourings to each.
3. Use a fork to mix the ingredients together until well combined, adding a little more water if necessary. You are aiming for a fairly wet and sticky dough. Cover the plastic container with a lid and leave the dough to rise in the fridge overnight (~12 hours).
4. Line a baking tray with baking paper and flour it generously. Remove the dough from the fridge and roughly half it. Just tip the two “blobs” of dough straight onto the baking paper. Flour your hands (the dough can be quite sticky) and roughly shame each piece of dough into a sausage. Take the ends of the dough and twist them in opposite directions, one towards you and one away from you to create the twist-bread effect.
5. If you are wanting to add some seeds on top, lightly brush or spray the top of the bread with water and sprinkle the seeds over the bread. Then leave the dough at room temperature whilst you preheat the oven.
6. Preheat the oven to 220°C.
7. Remove as much excess flour from the baking tray as possible, then lightly spray the tray with water (this will create some steam in the oven and help with the formation of a crust). Bake the twist bread in the preheated oven for 20 minutes, then turn down the temperature to 200°C and bake for a further 20 minutes.
8. Serve warm or transfer the bread to a wire rack to cool completely.
9. To freeze the bread, make sure it has completely cooled and then put it into a freezer bag. Defrost the bread once ready to eat and reheat the bread in the oven for 15 minutes at 150° until warm and crisp.