Super Easy Dutch Oven Bread

It’s winter in Canada. Officially. Cold and dark and bitter. Sometimes I wonder why I live in a place where going outside hurts my face, and then I remember hot climates to that too. Gotta love being ginger. However, one of the things that are great about winter? Comfort food. Soup, chilli, bread. You name it, and if it’ll warm you up, it’s game. And this bread, hot from the oven, is the epitome of comfort. For a very long time, I was scared of bread. My only real recipes were from Thomas Keller’s Bouchon Bakery and the simplest of which involved around ten pounds of boulders and a super soaker water gun. Not exactly conducive to trying something new. Until I discovered you could make bread in a dutch oven. And it would take less than three hours, including rising time?? Sign me up! Guys, this bread is fantastic. Trust me. And you can definitely make it, even if you’ve never really ventured into making homemade bread before. It’s so easy- only five ingredients and five steps. Mix, rest, shape, proof, bake. So easy.

This is currently my set up for baking. I have a dorm kitchen, so nothing fancy regarding the oven, but I did bring my stand mixer with me. And oh, I’m so happy I did. You can make this by hand, but with a mixer? The actual amount of time is diminished significantly, and you get consistent results. Magic.

Mix: First, you put the yeast and sugar and water in the bowl of the mixer, and wait for it to get all foamy. It’ll look like this after five minutes or so.

Turn on the mixer to low with the dough hook attachment, and add in the flour bit by bit. It should all come together into a ball and add water/flour to get it to hold together. Step 1 done!

Rest: Flour both sides of the dough, put it in the bowl and cover with a tea towel for an hour. Preferably, leave in an out of the way, warm space-I like the top of my fridge.

Look at that! The dough will have doubled in size after an hour.

Shape: turn the dough out onto a floured surface CAREFULLY. You don’t want to knock the air out of it. Pull the outer edges inward, pinch them together, and flip over. You should end up with a nice lil round loaf. If not, just shape with your hands to get a sorta-round loaf. Don’t stress too much, it still needs to proof.

Proof: put your round loaf into a bowl to sit in a warm place covered by a tea towel for another half hour or so.

This is the real star of the show. The heavy metal pot maintains a steadier heat than our ovens typically do, and it also seals in the moisture that escapes the bread as its baking. That’s what allows the beautiful crust and texture. While the bread is proofing, put your dutch oven in the oven, and set it to preheat to 460. Preheat with the pot in the oven.

Heres the loaf after proofing. Beautiful!

 Bake: Pull the hot dutch oven out of the oven, and plop the dough in.

Ta-da! Put the lid on, and put back into the oven for half an hour. After the half hour is up, take the top off and let bake for another 15 minutes. The crust should be golden, and your house should smell a-m-a-z-i-n-g by the end.

Look at that!

Mmmmm. Cut yourself a chunk and eat while still hot with butter. You’re welcome.

Dutch Oven French Bread

Recipe from Life as a Strawberry

Ingredients

2 1/4 tsp dry active yeast

1 tsp sugar

1 1/4 cup warm water

1 tsp salt

300 grams of Flour

Instructions

1. Combine the sugar, yeast and water in the bowl of a mixer. Let sit for five minutes, until foamy.
2. Turn the mixer on low, with the dough hook attachment on. Add the salt. Add the flour, and wait for it to come together. You might have to scrape the sides down.
3. Take the bowl out of the mixer, and flour the top of the loaf. Flip it, and flour the other side. Let sit to rise for an hour.
4. After rising, CAREFULLY turn the dough out on a floured surface. Be careful not to beat the air out of it. Take the four cardinal points on the dough, pull them up and pinch them together. Flip the dough, and shape into a circle with your hands.
5. Put the loaf into a well-floured bowl and set aside to allow to proof.
6. Meanwhile, put your dutch oven into your oven. Preheat it to 460.
7. When the bread is finished proofing, and the oven is finished preheating, carefully remove the dutch oven. Put your little loaf inside, and put the lid back on
8. Put the dutch oven back in the oven. Bake for half an hour.
9. Remove the lid of the dutch oven, and bake for 15 minutes more.
10. Take the pot out of the oven, and remove the bread from the oven, be careful not to burn yourself. Let it rest for 10 minutes at least(otherwise, you’ll burn the life out of your hands), and then help yourself.
11. Feel like a pro. Look at that amazing bread! You made that! Good job!