Baking bread in a Dutch oven

[pattyk]

Up to recently, I've made do with putting a tray of ice water in the bottom of my oven to create steam when my bread is baking; but now I've discovered (by researching online) that baking bread in a Dutch oven will result in a much better result.

I tried it last week, and I'm amazed at how well it turned out (picture attached). I'm a total convert now! The crust is crusty, yet soft, and the bread is light, airy, and full of holes!

Any fellow bread makers here who've tried this?

 

[ReadWriteLearnLove]

I have never tried this nor have I even heard of, but I really want to try it now! Did you use any special recipe or just a basic bread recipe? Were there any tricks to it? Thanks for sharing!

 

[missbishi]

I've never heard of baking bread this way either and I'd love to know how you did it. It looks absolutely delicious in the photo you have posted.

 

[DancingLady]

I have never heard of this either, but your picture is certainly beautiful. How does the Dutch oven specifically give you the results you are looking for? I've not had issues with needing steam in the oven, but it could be a different recipe.

 

[pattyk]

The bread I've made in the picture is my sourdough bread recipe, but you could use this method for your regular yeast bread too. The idea of baking it in the Dutch oven is to keep the moisture in the dough, and allow the crust to form into a beautiful chewiness that would otherwise be a little hard without the addition of steam. In professional bakeries they have special ovens that inject steam every so often so that the bread bakes perfectly, and stays light and moist. At home, many people put a tray of water in the bottom of the oven, or throw some ice cubes onto a pre-heated tray to create steam. But the best way to achieve a moist loaf with a good crust, and superb oven spring (good rise) is the Dutch oven.

The sourdough bread recipe is one I got from the following blog:

http://aroundtheworldin80bakes.com/2014/05/01/hot-pot-sourdough/

I use my own sourdough starter at 100% hydration and feed with just white bread flour, or spelt flour. I proved my dough in a round banneton, and pre-heated my dutch oven before sprinkling with semolina, and turning the dough out into the pot.

But you don't have to do sourdough bread to achieve this light, moist and airy bread - it works very well with all types of bread recipes.

I hope this helps! Here's one I made yesterday - it's a mixture of white wheat and sprouted spelt flour.