Dutch Oven Bread Recipe | Sur La Table (2024)

FAQs

Can you bake bread in a Le Creuset Dutch oven? ›

Why Use a Dutch Oven for Baking. A Dutch oven creates an ideal environment for bread baking and simulates a steam-injected oven typically used by artisan bakeries. Steam from the wet dough is trapped inside the heavy pot, and helps the dough to rise and form a loaf that has a crispy crust and tender interior crumb.

But the real magic comes from the cast-iron Dutch oven, the perfect vessel for baking bread. It acts like an oven-within-the-oven, maintaining a high and steady heat that transforms this sticky dough into a gorgeous round loaf with a crisp crust and excellent crumb structure.

Insulate the Dutch oven with a baking sheet or stone to avoid crust burning. Place a baking stone or sheet on a rack below the Dutch oven to help prevent burning. Most ovens have a bottom heating element that can provide far too much heat on the bottom of your dough, especially if you place the rack too close.

Le Creuset enameled cast iron is also exceptional at heat distribution and retention to keep the temperature inside the pot more constant than a regular oven, which also helps the baking process. Most no knead bread recipes call for preheating the Dutch oven while the oven heats up.

Heat oven to 450°F. Once oven is preheated, place a 6-quart Dutch oven (with cover) in oven 30 minutes before baking. Punch down dough. Generously flour a sheet of parchment paper; transfer dough to parchment and, with floured hands, quickly shape into a ball.

Be Mindful When Cooking Acidic Foods

In an enamel-coated Dutch oven, prolonged cooking with acidic ingredients may discolor the interior coating but doesn't erode it.

Dutch oven (practical joke), flatulating on someone and pulling a blanket or cover over their head, based on a slang phrase describing the mechanics of the cooking pot of the same name. The Dutch Oven, Union College's satirical newspaper.

Dutch oven means a very specific kind of farting. You fart, under some blankets, then pull the blankets over someone's head, thereby trapping them and the fart in a contained space for a short time. The Dutch Oven is also a cookpot meant to be buried in hot coals for long, slow cooking.

A classic use of parchment paper while cooking with a Dutch oven is when baking bread. You can shape your dough on a rectangular sheet of parchment paper, then use it to safely lower the dough into your Dutch oven.

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.

Should I oil my Dutch oven for bread? ›

It's generally not recommended to grease the inside of a Dutch oven for baking, since it can cause your bread to char. Instead, line the Dutch oven with parchment paper before baking.

If your bread is gummy and dense, check your oven temperature. Gummy bread is usually the result of the crust forming before the bread inside has had a chance to fully expand. Turn down the oven temperature if needed!

After 30 minutes, remove the lid, reduce the oven temperature to 375°F, and continue baking until the bread is nicely browned and cooked through. It should have an internal temperature of 200°F or so when done.

There are a few reasons why an enameled cast iron Dutch oven is ideal for baking bread: It's heavy and has a wide, flat bottom which helps it hold onto heat and distribute it more evenly.

Score/ slash the loaf so that it bursts where you want it to burst rather than at its weakest point. Place the loaf inside the Dutch oven. Put the lid on and bake for 15-20 minutes. Remove the lid.

Stoneware Baking Dish Cooking Tips

Le Creuset stoneware is oven-safe up to 500°F and freezer-safe up to -9°F, and you can also put it in the microwave and under a broiler. But note that it's not safe to use on the stovetop or on any other direct heat source.

Enter the Dutch oven. Instead of baking the bread in the “open,” you preheat the empty pot and lid in the oven, add the loaf, cover it, and return it to the oven. After half an hour or so, you remove the lid and continue baking the bread until it is sufficiently browned.