Just about every New Zealand cookbook author worth their Marlborough flaky sea salt has a recipe for a no-knead, Vogel’s-style bread. Annabel Langbein (described here by the lovely Linda Burgess as ‘New Zealand’s blonde Nigella’) calls it her ‘Busy People’s Bread’, Ruth Pretty calls it ‘Quick Wholemeal Bread’ and Masterchef’s Nadia Lim calls hers ‘No-Knead Seed Bread’.
They’re all more or less the same thing – a porridge-y mixture that you stir together in a bowl, then scrape into a well-oiled loaf tin. The dough rises in a low oven before baking and the whole thing is done in about 90 minutes. Ruth told me that as far as she was aware the original recipe came from a 1950s Home Economics textbook – though none of the recipes I’ve seen ever go so far as to acknowledge its origins. Here then is my version – with due credit to all the above – which I have worked out to suit the dimensions of my large loaf tin (which measures about 20cm x 10cm x 8cm) and my oven (you don’t need the measurements of that, trust me).
DIY Vogel’s Bread
I knew I’d cracked this when the Small Girl saw me take some of this bread out of the freezer and said, ‘is that Mr Vogel’s bread?’ It’s a brilliant trick to have up your sleeve when you realise there’s no bread for toast in the morning but you can’t face a) going to buy some or b) staying awake to nurture an ordinary loaf. It keeps fresh for at least three days and freezes well, though I do advise slicing it before freezing for ease of thawing.
600g flour – half strong white, half wholemeal, with perhaps a little rye thrown in for luck
40g – about half a cup – rolled oats
2 tsp dried yeast
1 1/4 tsp salt
1 Tbsp sugar
750ml lukewarm liquid – a mixture of water and milk, or just water
1/2 cup sunflower seeds, optional (you can use other seeds too)
Put everything into a large bowl and mix well – it will be like porridge. Scrape into a very-well oiled loaf tin (of the dimensions listed above) and smooth the top.
Put into a cold oven and turn the dial to 50C. Leave for about 35 minutes, until the dough has risen to the top of the tin. Turn the heat to 200C and bake for another 40 minutes, until crusty on top and hollow when you tap it on the bottom.
Turn out to a rack to cool. In the morning, eat with lots of butter and peanut butter, or avocado, and dream of the day that you’ll be able to have it with Marmite again. If ever.
This sounds really simple to make. Thanks for sharing the recipe x
oooh, I love my no-knead bread but it's getting a little dull so adding the extra flour should really pep it up… great recipe, thanks for sharing… x
I wonder if the origin of this recipe is the wartime "Doris Grant Loaf". Jane Grigson describes it in English Food as causing a sensation when it was published. It is a wet slithery dough, using only wholemeal flour. I used to make it a lot, but nowadays prefer the NZ version with seeds and other grains. Never added rolled oats though – will definitely give your version a go, thank you.
No – look it up or try Elizabeth David's seminal work English Bread and Yeast Cookery – the Doris Grant is a wet wholemeal mix designed to be easy to make under wartime conditions.
now this is something i absolutely will try, we really miss vogels bread, toasted with avocado, hello heaven …. our neighbours who are also kiwis bring home loaves and loaves of it back when they visit !!
Looks very easy, which is my kind of bread. Will definitely give it a go. sorry about the spam!
Made it twice. Both times it overflowed and dropped on the bottom of the oven. I chceked the loaf tin and it is bigger than you recommend. What am i diing wrong?
Dont like the big clean up job.
Like you I had the same problem. I had to reduce everything by 20% because the dimensions of the bread tin the author here says she uses are about 20% bigger than your standard (American) bread tin. This recipe is well worth doing though.
that looks fresh and delicious. you must be very good.
This looks yummy. I usually make a no knead spelt bread. Can't imagine toast and no marmite!! Hope they get it back under production soon 🙂
At least the no wheat breads are simple mix dry-mix wet and combine recipes. No hassle and keeps for ages in the fridge. Admit I do miss eating a crusty loaf.
are you using the dried active yeast, or surebake?
Hi Mel, I use dried yeast (I think the brand is Mauripan?), that I buy from Moore Wilson's in Wellington. I don't use Surebake, partly because I went to a baking class with Dean Brettscheider once and he was very dismissive of it. He did, however, recommend the sachets that Ian describes below. Hope that helps!
Thanks! *Waves at Ian O* "Hi Dad!" LOL.
I find that for general purposes, Edmonds sachet yeast and Surebake are interchangable, even though the sachets have no additional ingredients. A slight edge for the sachets because they don't go off as Surebake may do if left in the frig too long.
Thanks so much for sharing this recipe! My husband LOVES vogels. We are moving overseas and I'm trying to find a similar bread to make once we go. He really likes this one and so does the rest of the family. I also like that it's so stinkin easy to make. Cheers!
Hello! I'm an adopted Kiwi now living abroad and I miss Vogels soooo much! Definitely going to try this, but I have one question: Here in Sweden we use fresh yeast – I'm not even sure that you can buy dried yeast. (When I lived in Wellington I used to get fresh yeast from the bakery department at Pak'n'Save, because I just couldn't get my head around dried yeast!) Any thoughts on how to adapt this recipe/method for fresh yeast? Not so much the quantity, just how and when to add it? Cheers!
I, too miss Vogels! And am planning on making this today. My question is actually about Marmite – is there some reason I missed that says I shouldn't be eating it? Thanks, Veronica
I'm very late to the party here, but I just wanted to thank you for this recipe. I've gradually been shifting our food at home from processed store bought to home made, and I settled on trying this out with the intent of starting to make this regularly as our main home made bread.
We love Vogels, and compared to many other recipes online, yours looked the easiest by far (all the others had far too many ingredients and/or had proving times which I can do but why bother when you can make it without all those steps?).
I didn't have oats so instead of half a cup of sunflower seeds I used a full cup of mixed toasted sunflower and pumpkin seeds that I happened to have made up last week. It turned out bloody delicious and it tastes EXACTLY like Vogels (I daresay better!), I just need a taller loaf tin to make a normal size loaf (all the tins I can find are only 6cm or so tall, so I made two short loaves instead of one tall one, but I'll keep an eye out for a taller tin).
Thanks for introducing a nice easy staple to our household, unfortunately I'll probably never buy Vogels again though!
I made it. It is just poorly risen wholemeal bread, not like vogel's at all. Vogel's may be dense but it is well risen with obvious bubbles in the bread.
I have just had breakfast with 2 slices vogel bread toasted ,buttered, with 2 poached eggs, (I forgot to ask for bacon), I will get that next time. Really delicious.
a cup of tea would be nice!
I have just made 2 loaves in past 3 days as per recipie. 1st one was still very moist so slipped it out of the pan and out it back in oven for 15 mins. Was delicious but still a bit moist. 2nd one today I added tbspn each of chia, flax and mixed seeds from my regular bread making. 50 mins baking and then 15 mins without the tin. My tin is exactly the same width and depth and had to lengthen it as the pre rise was over flowing. Got a darker crust, but still moist inside. Still delish. What can I do to dry it out?
Author
Hi Niki – maybe try reducing the liquid a little, say by 50-100ml to start with? What sort of flour are you using?
I mainly make sourdough these days and haven’t made this one for ages, but I’ll try to make it in the weekend and see what happens.
I followed the recipe and the bread is just out of the oven. It looks so Vogel-ish. As soon as it cools, I’ll be eating. How exciting. I made it in a loaf tin that measures 28cm x 13cm x 7 cm and it almost overflowed after the 50C rise. The loaf tin that you mentioned is 20cm x 10cm x 8cm. I looked at a few places that sell loaf tins and this size usually called “small”. I can’t see how you can get so much flour and water in such a small tin. Now I’m thinking I misunderstood. Is this supposed to make 2 loaves? Thanks. P.S. Someone gave me the Paul Hollywood breadmaking book a few years ago. Now, I’m always making all sorts of bread. Including sourdough.
Author
Hi Allan – the tin I use is large, I think the tin you use sounds about right. It does overflow a bit, but not crazily. You could try making it in two smaller tins? Best of luck!
Thanks for your response. I just tried my first piece. It looks and tastes just like a Vogel’s loaf!!!!!
Thanks for the awesome recipe.
Thanks for this recipe. I’m just wondering if I’m able to use all whole meal flour instead of mixing it with strong white flour?
Author
Hi – yes, I think you could, but it will make the loaf heavier and denser (and it may mean you need to adjust the cooking time). Worth a try!
I am having a hard time figuring out American measurements…is the 600g by weight or cups. I use cups so could you post this recipe in American measurements? I had it when we traveled thru New Zealand, loved it and would love making it correctly. We seem to have trouble with measurements, don’t we. Thank you
Author
Hi Linda, thanks for your message. Measurements are tricky – and I’m not very consistent in what form I use because it varies on the audience (eg, for my newspaper columns I use NZ cup measurements mostly).
So, here are some revised measurements for you (please note these are just based on my conversions, I haven’t tested it this way but it should be ok). It is a very sticky, porridge-like mixture, don’t expect it to be like ‘normal’ bread dough. Let me know how you get on!
5 cups flour – half strong white, half wholemeal, with perhaps a little rye thrown in for luck
1/2 cup rolled oats
2 tsp dried yeast
1 1/4 tsp salt
1 Tbsp sugar
3 1/4 cups lukewarm liquid – a mixture of water and milk, or just water
1/2 cup sunflower seeds, optional (you can use other seeds too)
Great…thanks so much…will try it later this week and let you know.
Lucy, will American whole wheat flour work in this recipe or do I need a coarse ground wheat flour and could you post the baking instructions? Guess you can tell, I really want to make the bread like we had at the B&B in NewZealand. Thank you.
Author
Hi Linda – ordinary whole wheat flour will work just fine. The baking instructions are in the recipe – the oven temp should be 120F to start with, then 400F. Happy baking!
Hi! Made the bread yesterday and although I think I let it rise a bit too long, it was great toast this morning. Will make a loaf for my walking buddy this week and just let it rise to the top of the pan instead of timing it and think it will be perfect. Thanks so much for all of your help. Will be making it often.
Lucy,
Do you think you could mix and maybe even kneed other breads an let them rise like your bread does?
Author
Hi Linda, I am not sure about that – you could always experiment!
I just might do that…really like your bread and I do know how to spell knead! Grin. If it works, will let you know. Thanks.
Hi Lucy…
I did try it with my English Muffin Bread recipe…I only used 1 tsp of yeast and so it didn’t rise as high as I had wanted but it tastes very good. Will do it again with the 2 tsps of yeast soon. Not as healthy as your Vogel Bread but it does work with yeast breads that you don’t knead.
Thanks Lucy this worked perfectly for me first time. This amount of mixture made two tins of the usual size here in the UK supermarkets. I did add a tablespoon of Chia seeds as someone else did. Is your oven a fan oven? I might dial back the temperature to 180 next time.
Hi I just bought a bread maker and new to bread making but very excited about making my own. I’ve been looking for a Vogel’s type recipe. Would your recipe work in a bread maker?
Author
Hi Sarah, I’m no expert on breadmakers so I’m not sure. It’s probably worth giving it a go but I’d seek advice from someone more knowledgeable!
Author
That’s wonderful, thank you!
I have fond memories of Vogel bread from my days as a flight attendant with layovers in Auckland. I adapted the recipe to my Texas kitchen with the electric oven and it came out great. The lowest setting I have is 170F (77C) so I warmed the oven with the bread inside for about 10 mins, then shut it off for the remaining 25 mins rise time, then baked according to directions. For me, the key to success with all bread recipes is to weigh the flours (and rolled oats in this case). Perfection! Thank you for this wonderful recipe.
Did this work in your breadmaker? Thanks
Author
Hi – I haven’t, I’m afraid – the closest I get to using a breadmaker is using my oven. Best of luck!
Do you have a gluten free option of this
Hi, I love this recipe.
It’s a good one when I don’t have time to make a knead type recipe.
Sometimes I add 2 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar to lift the flavor a bit.
The inside of the loaf was still liquid after 2 hours in the oven at 200C. I weighed the ingredients and the mix looked right going in to proof. Its not my oven – I baked my normal bread straight after this without re-setting the oven, and it came out exactly like normal. It would have also been great if the author had bothered to fix the loaf tin size in the recipe, since its acknowledged several times in the comments that it is written wrong!
I don’t see the point in me trying to fix this recipe. It was a disaster.
Hi. Just to be clear. Vogel’s changed their recipe (why- ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’??) and what they sell now in NO WAY tastes like the bread we all grew up loving! So before I embark on it, am I correct in saying this recipe is for the ORIGINAL yummy Vogel’s rather than the later insipid ‘changed’ recipe? Have various overseas friends too, who we used to take loaves to until the ‘change’ so they too are interested in getting their hands on the original recipe loaves.
What about with fresh yeast?
Author
Hi Claire – I haven’t tried this with fresh yeast but I think it would work: if you go by the principle that 10g of fresh yeast = 1 teaspoon of dry yeast, you’ll need 20g of fresh yeast for this recipe. Good luck!
Grew up eating Vogel’s (Reizenstein’s back then) growing up in NZ in the 70s. Thanks to my mum for realizing the goodness of multigrain bread at a time when everything was so processed. Moved to US in the 90s and realized how great store bought NZ bread was compared to the chemical crud in US.
Just began making bread at home (mostly from no-knead dough in my Dutch oven pot) and soon thought of the glories of Vogels toast with butter and honey which I wanted to share with my family. Went looking for recipes and found yours…
I’m so grateful for your recipe, because it’s as close as one can possibly get to the original and you make it so easy. Food and memories…it can bring tears to your eyes. Thank you thank you thank you…
I made this yesterday. I couldn’t find the rolled oats so just added extra sunflower seeds! It’s so simple and a fabulous recipe and indeed does taste like Vogels bread. Love that it is just mix and rise and cook….no kneading at all. Will definitely make it again and again. Thank you so much!