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.

If the bottom of your Dutch oven isn't enamel-coated, it's best to use the parchment paper. Mine is enamel-coated, but I find it easier to keep the round shape of the dough if I just place it in the Dutch oven with the parchment paper. Whatever works fer ya!

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.

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.

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.

Biscuits and scones started in a cold oven don't rise as high and are drier. And crusty breads made with “lean” doughs (baguettes, ciabatta, pizza crust) should bake hot and fast (read: preheated oven). One exception: crusty bread baked in a Dutch oven, which produces excellent results when started in a cold oven.

Score the dough and then put on your oven-safe gloves. Remove the deep end of the preheated Dutch oven from your oven and place it on a heatproof rack on your counter. Grab the parchment handles and lift your dough up and into the hot pot. Place the pot back into the oven and cover with the lid to bake.

What is the final rise of bread before baking called? ›

Proofing, also sometimes called final fermentation, is the specific term for allowing dough to rise after it has been shaped and before it is baked.

Don't preheat an empty dutch oven on your stovetop—this can cause your cookware to crack or break. Some bread recipes call for preheating the dutch oven in the oven. This is perfectly safe to do since the heat will be more consistently distributed across the entire dutch oven.

If you can, aim to bake your bread at 230°C (450°F). If you're baking regularly, you might consider upgrading to a Rofco oven. This baking oven is a similar size to a washing machine and can bake up to 12 loaves.

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.

For “lean” breads, which contain only the basic four ingredients, I bake them at 450 degrees F. Baguettes and rolls bake for about 20 – 25 minutes, while most other loaves bake for 35 to 45 minutes. An instant read thermometer is a big help in telling when a loaf is done.