There are a few tricks with home bread baking that make the difference between a lackluster loaf and a spectacular one. One of them is having a heavy duty baking surface to get a nice bottom crust, and another is creating a steamy environment for a lofty loaf. Managing these requirements might sound like a challenge, or like expensive equipment might be involved, but you can actually solve both needs with a common piece of cookware: the Dutch oven.
Why you should bake bread in a Dutch oven
A heavy duty baking surface, like a baking stone, is easy enough to come by, but a steam injected oven like the bakeries have is not as common at home. Steam is essential for a fully risen loaf of bread that cracks open exactly where you score it. The moist air allows for oven spring and it’s the last time your bread rises after all that proofing. Without moisture, the bread will immediately develop a dry skin that impedes the oven spring. This can stunt your loaf and also cause it to tear open at an unintended seam as the inside of the bread starts rising a few minutes later. Moist air in the first five to 10 minutes of baking ensures the crust doesn’t develop too early and the dough can expand as much as possible.
There’s the ol’ pan of water trick, where you add water to a hot pan in the oven in hopes that it’ll steam things up while your bread bakes, but I find that this isn’t always enough because the oven is such a large space and the steam vents out quickly. If only you had a small, enclosed space made from a heavy duty material to capture the bread’s natural moisture and evenly distribute the heat. Oh. Right.
The Dutch oven is like a baking stone and a steam keeper all rolled into one. (And if you don’t have one yet, here are some affordable options.) The Dutch oven makes a huge difference in the rise my sourdough gets compared to the baking stone and water pan method.
How to make bread in a Dutch oven
You can make any yeast-raised bread in a Dutch oven (and a ton of other stuff too), just make sure the loaf isn’t too big for the pot that you have. A round loaf of bread that’s fully proofed and ready to bake should have an inch of clearance all the way around and a few inches above. A lot of rise is what we’re counting on, so you don’t want the space to be cramped.
When your bread dough has already done the bulk proof, and it’s been shaped, place it on a large piece of parchment paper for its second proof. Then get to setting up your oven.
Credit: Allie Chanthorn Reinmann
My dutch oven is rather tall so I put the rack down to the second-to-bottom position so I have enough space. About 30 minutes before your bread is finished proofing, put a lid on your Dutch oven and put it in the oven to preheat. Set the oven to whatever temperature you need. I’ll set mine to 450°F for the sourdough. Keep in mind that most Dutch ovens are oven safe up to 500°F or higher, but sometimes the handle on the lid isn’t. Check your brand to make sure. If your lid isn’t oven safe, use a baking sheet to cover the top. It’s not perfect but it’ll do.
Credit: Allie Chanthorn Reinmann
Once the bread is ready to be baked, score the bread how you’d like. I’m partial to the square score. Carefully take the Dutch oven out of the oven with mitts on. Remove the lid. Lift the bread up by the parchment paper corners and lower it into the pot. Put the lid on (if you’re using a baking sheet “lid,” put it on once the pot is in the oven) and put the entire Dutch oven back into the conventional oven. Bake it for as long as your recipe indicates, but with 10 minutes left in the baking time, remove the lid so the bread can brown. Take the bread out of the pot carefully to cool on a wire rack.
My Dutch oven sourdough recipe
This recipe uses a sourdough starter for flavor and the leavening, of course. However, if you’re not in the business of keeping starter around (and if you want to but it keeps failing, read this) then you can just stir one teaspoon of active dry yeast into the water measurement before adding the flour and salt.
Ingredients:
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7 ounces room temperature water
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4 ounces sourdough starter
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10 ounces high-gluten flour
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0.25 ounces salt
1. Mix the water, starter, and flour together in the bowl of a stand mixer. I use the dough hook and stir things around until the dry bits have been moistened and the dough looks shaggy. Let this rest for 15 minutes. This short autolyse will help hydrate the flour and strengthen the gluten.
2. Set the dough hook and bowl onto the machine and start it on the first speed. Sprinkle in the salt as it’s stirring. Put the machine onto the second speed for three minutes, and the third speed for another three minutes. The dough may stick a bit to the bottom at first and that’s alright—it’ll gather up by the end.
Credit: Allie Chanthorn Reinmann
3. Place the dough into a lightly oiled bowl and cover it with plastic wrap, a plastic bag, or a hotel shower cap. Place this bowl in a warm area, or my favorite mug warmer proofing rig. Every 45 minutes, fold the dough in half and flip it over. This is especially helpful for sourdough, but if you’ve used active dry yeast you can leave it be.
4. Once the dough has doubled in size, usually two to three hours depending on how active your yeast is, dump it out onto a lightly floured surface. Fold the dough in half to knock out the air. Shape the dough into a square and lift the edges together to make a purse. Dust away the flour and flip the purse over. Use your hands to tighten the dough’s skin and shape a ball. Here’s my video on dough shaping. (It’s very helpful, according to me.)
5. Set the loaf onto a large piece of parchment paper and cover it with a tea towel and drape over that same piece of plastic you used before. Let this proof for about 45 minutes, or until a fingerprint springs back halfway.
6. Heat the Dutch oven in the conventional oven during this proofing time. When the bread is ready to bake, score the bread with a sharp serrated knife or a lame. Take out the pot, grab the corners of the parchment paper and lower the loaf into the pot. Cover the Dutch oven and put it into the oven to bake for 15 minutes. Remove the lid and leave the bread in the oven to finish baking for another 10 minutes. Cool the finished loaf on a wire cooling rack.
