Lately, my social media feeds have been crammed full of bread recipes...and I love it! It’s nice to see so many people embracing the idea of making things from scratch and enjoying the fruits of their kitchen labors.
Something that I’ve seen quite a bit is the dutch oven bread recipe, so I decided to try it. I have a cast iron dutch oven that worked beautifully for this. I recommend using your hands for this recipe and avoiding tools like mixers that may make the dough too tough. This recipe is slightly modified from the original posted on Buzzfeed Tasty.
You will need:
2 cups water between 90-110 F
1 envelope active dry yeast
4 cups all-purpose flour
1 ½ teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon olive oil
Stir yeast into water and allow it to bloom (about 20 minutes. You’ll see foamy bits on the top when it is ready.). In a large bowl, mix together flour and salt. Create a well in the middle of this mixture and pour in the water and yeast. Mix this together slowly until it has just come together. Cover and let rise for 1.5 hours. You can use a dish towel to cover the bowl. Uncover the dough- if it has risen properly, you will be able to poke it and the dough springs back. Fold the dough in on itself, loosening and folding in all the dough from each side. Cover and allow to rise for another 1.5 hours, or until it has doubled in size. Tip the dough out onto a floured surface and shape it into a ball. In a clean bowl, drizzle olive oil around the bowl, then place dough in it. Allow to rise for 1 hour. Meanwhile, place your dutch oven in a 450 F oven for the next hour. When the hour is up, remove the dutch oven and place the dough inside of it. If you are using cast iron, I recommend lining it with parchment paper. BE CAREFUL AS THE DUTCH OVEN WILL BE HOT. Cover the dough and pot with the lid and bake for 30 minutes. Remove the lid and bake for 15 minutes more. Remove from the pot and cool. Allow the bread to cool for at least 30 minutes before slicing.
This recipe is extremely simple but it is very time consuming. Each step itself is quick, but the rising and proofing time will eat up a good chunk of your day. Trust me, the bread at the end is worth it!
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