17 Cozy Bread Recipes You Can Make in a Dutch Oven (2024)

FAQs

What temperature do you bake bread in a Dutch oven? ›

Preheat your home oven to 450°F (230°C) with a Dutch oven inside for 30 to 45 minutes. Line a pizza peel, inverted baking sheet, or cutting board with parchment paper. Turn out your proofed bread dough onto the parchment paper (trim the paper to fit, if necessary) Score your dough.

You just need a lid to cover it and the proper heat-conducting cast-iron material, and your bread will come out perfectly every time. Size & Shape: Look for a 6- to 7-quart, round Dutch oven. Anything much bigger will cause the bread to spread out and go flat.

Fight the urge to grease your Dutch oven. Because of the high temperature, the fat will burn off almost immediately, giving your bread a charred taste. Splurge for high-quality ingredients—especially flour. Stay away from store brands if you can help it.

Any tips for preventing a thick, hard crust on the bottom of my bread done in a Dutch oven? Make sure you are using a heavy gauge Dutch oven and that it isn't too close to the bottom heat element in your oven. If you are still getting a thick, hard crust, you can put a pillow of foil down, like this.

Usually bread will be dense when there is too much flour. Keep in mind this dough will be sticky and shaggy, do not add any more flour than specified. Other factors that come into play are humidity and age of flour. Little yeast, long rise, sticky dough are keys to a good, light loaf.

The most common method is: Preheat Dutch oven in the oven with the lid off at 500F/260C. Many bakers will continue preheating for 10-20 minutes after the oven reaches target temperature to ensure the Dutch oven is at its hottest. Lower the loaf into the Dutch oven using a sling made of parchment or silicone.

During those first 20 minutes, your bread will rise and expand. If you would not have it inside the Dutch oven with the closed lid, a thick crust would form too soon, thereby keeping it from reaching its full potential. After the first 20 minutes, you remove the lid and continue baking for another 25 to 30 minutes.

Dutch oven bread recipes often call for a 5.5-quart pot, which makes these Dutch ovens more desirable for baking, which inspires more recipes — and the delicious cycle continues. All that to say, if you don't have a Dutch oven yet, a 5.5-quart Dutch oven will set you up for decades of baking.

Cast iron also has a natural nonstick surface that improves with use over time. Plus, it can endure high temperatures, which makes it ideal for baking bread or for use around the campfire!

You can shape your dough on a rectangular sheet of parchment paper, then use it to safely lower the dough into your Dutch oven. Once your gorgeous loaf of bread is finished cooking, the parchment paper makes removing the loaf super easy.

Why do you spray water in the oven when baking bread? ›

A small amount of steam during the last few minutes of baking or as soon as you take your bread out of the oven can give a nice shine to the surface of bread dough. Here is where that spray bottle of water comes in handy. Spritz the bread lightly and watch the surface develop a nice sheen.

because I put a baking sheet underneath the, um, Dutch oven. So pro tip, you don't need to buy any other fancy stuff. Just put a baking sheet on the rack underneath, and. you don't have a burn.

The added sweetness and protein helps bread dough rise—particularly enriched dough like brioche. It lends a more tender crumb, and actually helps these breads last longer. High-heat milk powder might be a little trickier to find, but it's certainly worth the search for its impact on baking breads.

Uneven heat in your oven can be the culprit – if you loaf is nicely golden on the outside but gummy or moist in the inside, it's baking too quickly on the outside. Trying reducing the temperature you're baking at and bake for a bit longer.

What are the best techniques for creating dark color and shine on bread crusts? To create dark, burnished crusts on their loaves, professional bakers brush milk, egg, or water onto the surface of the risen dough before baking.

Nearly all dutch oven cooking will come out ok if your dutch oven is about 350 degrees. Some things should be cooked hotter and some cooler, but that's the temperature for all recipes that fail to include a temperature suggestion.

Baking the Loaf of Bread

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Once the is heated and the dough has risen again, slash the top of the dough with a very sharp knife or razor blade (optional but pretty). Place the bread in the oven and bake 30 minutes. The bread is done when it sounds hollow when tapped with the knuckle.

If you are experienced with dutch ovens you can opt to not use parchment paper when baking the Dutch Oven Bread. Because of the high heat of the dutch oven, the bread will not stick. The parchment paper simply makes it a little easier to navigate using this extremely hot cookware.