A Sneak Peek at the Upcoming Spin Off Winter 2025/2026 Issue

In Spin Off’s Winter 2025/2026 issue featuring natural fibers, weaver and spinner Tom Knisely writes about antique grain bags, and shares a pattern for making your own miniature grain bag, useful for storing homemade bread. Tom also sent us a recipe for his favorite no-knead bread, and we just had to share it with you—plus a few more tasty options!

If you’re a current subscriber, the project for Tom Knisely’s Farmer’s Doubleweave Bread Bag will land in your inbox on November 25, 2025—don’t miss out!

Cheers! —Spin Off editors

Tom’s Easy No-Knead Bread

Ingredients

• 3 ½ cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons salt
• ½ teaspoon dry active yeast
• 1 ½ cups warm water (110 F/43 C)

Directions

1. Combine all the dry ingrediencies in a large bowl and stir to combine.
2. Add the warm water and stir to make a shaggy dough. Roll into a ball and put back into the bowl and cover the bowl with plastic clear wrap and then cover and wrap the bowl with your handwoven dish towel. Take a moment to admire your work. Good job! Now walk away and let the dough rise for 8 to 12 hours. I like to mix up the dough in the evening and let it rise over night. In the cool of the morning, you are now ready to bake your bread.
3. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. You are going to bake the bread in a cast iron, enamel Dutch Oven. I prefer the 4-quart Dutch Oven with a tight-fitting lid such as Le Creuset or equivalent Dutch Oven. Place the Dutch Oven in the oven to get hot as the oven preheats. Let it get hot for 10 minutes before placing the dough in the Dutch Oven.
4. You are going to remove the sticky dough from the bowl and place it onto a piece of parchment paper. Dust your hands with flour to help remove the dough from the bowl and place the dough in the middle of the parchment paper.
   
5. Remove the Dutch Oven from the hot oven and carefully remove the lid and then pick up the parchment paper and dough and place it into the hot Dutch Oven and replace the lid. Bake the bread on the middle rack of the oven for 30 minutes. Then remove the lid and bake for an additional 15 minutes to create a nice crust.
6. Remove the Dutch oven and carefully remove the bread and cool on a rack for at least one hour before cutting.

ENJOY!

Tom uses a Dutch Oven to bake his no-knead bread. Photo by Tom Knisely

Kate’s Half-Whole Wheat Sourdough Bread

In 2021 while researching an article about historical textiles brought to the United States by European immigrants, I came upon a note about how some families would dry sourdough starter on bits of cloth to bring with them to a new home. Enchanted, I asked a friend to put some of her starter onto cloth, dry it, and send it in the mail. When reconstituted in my kitchen, the sourdough reawakened and has been in use once or twice each week since.

Note: I use a concoction of flours, many of which are from ancient, fascinating, and nutritious varieties. However, they are not as easy to bake with as modern wheat varieties. If you try using these flours and end up with flat loaves, keep trying! It's a learning curve that I find is well worth the effort. Check out Breadtopia in Iowa if you, too, are flour-curious. Also, the amount of water needed shifts with different flours. I typically use about a 75% hydration level.

Ingredients

• 400g flour (loaf shown is 200g organic bread flour, 75g sprouted Red Spring wheat flour, 75g Khorasan wheat flour, and 50g Einkorn wheat flour)
• 300ml water
  
• 125g sourdough starter at peak activity
  
• 1 teaspoon salt
  

Instructions

1. In a large bowl, mix the starter with 250 ml of water and stir. Add the flour and mix into a shaggy dough.
   
2. After about 30 min, add the salt and remaining water, and knead a few times to incorporate.
3. Allow the dough to rise over the next few hours, folding the dough at least twice to build elasticity. When the dough has risen and has just about doubled in size, fold and shape the loaf once more. Place in a well-floured banneton and put into the fridge overnight.
   
4. Preheat the oven with baking stone to 500° F (260° C). Score the loaf and spray all over with water. Reduce the temperature to 420° F (215° C) and place loaf in the oven for 40 minutes. You can recut the expansion cut and spray with more water if needed.
5. Allow to cool for at least an hour (if you can resist).

Kate's sourdough loaf in Tom's handspun bread bag.

Pamela’s Gluten-Free Flatbread

Gluten-free baking can be a challenge. Not only does gluten taste delicious, but it also creates the texture and structure that makes bread light and airy instead of a dense brick.

No single gluten-free ingredient can make up for the qualities we’ve come to expect from our baked goods, so a combination of other ingredients needs to fill the gap. Often, this comes in the form of a combination of a leavening agent (baking powder or eggs) and a binding agent, like gums, eggs, or vegan egg substitutes. Nutritional yeast adds the savory, bready flavor often missing from gluten-free flours.

After much testing, this gluten-free flatbread recipe has become my go-to base for pizza. The flours listed here are my preference, but substitions work well. Each gluten-free flour has its own properties and subtle flavor profile, so feel free to experiment. If using a store-bought mix, check for binders like xanthan or guar gum. If these are present, you may omit the psyllium husk called for in this recipe and start out with slightly less liquid.

Note that psyllium husks are very high in fiber (not the kind you spin!) so this recipe is best enjoyed in moderation if you don’t usually consume a lot of dietary fiber.

This recipe makes enough for a pizza for two, but scales easily.

Ingredients

• ¼ cup sweet white rice flour
• ¼ cup sorghum, millet, or brown rice flour
• 2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
• 2 tablespoons psyllium husks
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• ½ teaspoon baking powder
• ½ tablespoon unflavored gelatin mixed with ¼ cup water (Alternately, use 1 egg OR 1 tablespoon vegan egg replacer mixed with ¼ cup water. If using vegan egg replace, omit the baking powder from the dry ingredients.)
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• Water as needed

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400° F (200° C). Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. Mix flours, nutritional yeast, psyllium husks, sugar, and salt in a large bowl. Create a well in center, then add egg replacer, olive oil, and a splash of water. Stir until well combined. The dough should be wetter than normal bread dough but thicker than muffin batter. It will be a little bit shaggy. Stir in additional water if needed.
3. With wet hands or a wooden spoon dipped in water, tip the dough onto the prepared baking sheet. Spread into one large disc for pizza, or several smaller discs for individual flatbreads.
4. Bake for 10–15 minutes, until the crust is golden brown. If making pizza, you can add your toppings after 5 minutes.

Pamela’s gluten-free flatbreads, wrapped in a handwoven towel. Photo by Pamela K. Schultz.

If you’re a current Spin Off subscriber, your Winter issue—and Tom’s delightful article and project—will land in your inbox on November 25. If you’re not yet a subscriber, you won’t want to miss out!