How to Make the Best Rustic Dutch Oven Crispy Bread
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 40 minutes
- Total Time: 3 hours
- Yield: 1 loaf 1x
- Category: Baking
Description
There is nothing like homemade bread, and if you’re like me, you’ve become a bit of an expert during the pandemic. If you’re not like me, keep reading! I have honed my bread skills since March and this is hands down the best loaf of bread! Thin crispy crust with a soft, doughy center.
So, let’s start by talking about dough. Any dough you make will generally have the same basic foundation: water, yeast, flour, and salt. Many recipes you can get away without yeast and supplement it with baking soda and/or baking powder, agents that will help the dough rise ~ think naan, flatbreads, crumpets, etc. Slight adjustments to the water, yeast, flour, salt combo will give you different outcomes. Pretzels are given a hot bath of water and baking powder (check out my pretzel buns and pretzel knots). Bagels are given a hot bath of water and molasses (check out my cheddar bagel twists!). My pizza, I add olive oil and let it ferment for TWO days to have a very flavorful crust! Brioche has a ton of butter in it and its kneaded for a LONG time to develop the gluten and provide all that flaky goodness.
It’s really neat how little tweaks can drastically change the outcome! I’ve posted a couple of bread recipes already (everything bagel bread and Asiago sun-dried tomato bread). But, I figured it was time to just post a plain crusty bread recipe. So, I was checking out a recipe by Mandy Lee where she added roasted barley tea to her bread. I wanted to give it a go, but the rest of her recipe didn’t jive with the way I normally make bread. So, I just incorporated her use of the roasted barley tea into my bread recipe. If you don’t want to use it, don’t! But it does give the bread a nice flavor, kind of malty. My bread recipe, though, is delicious with or without it!
I use dry active yeast whisked in water with honey and olive oil. Two tablespoons of honey and a tablespoon of salt make this bread SO flavorful! Don’t skimp on the honey. If you want a little less sodium, no problem! But I wouldn’t cut it less than half a tablespoon, otherwise your bread will be really bland.
I find the easiest way to make bread is with a stand mixer. You can use a blender with a pizza dough attachment ~ a bit unconventional, but it would work. And if you’re really determined, you could make this by hand by blending it with a wooden spoon in a large bowl until it’s combined well enough to knead it by hand.
A lot of recipes boast that they are an no-knead bread. But, kneading the bread forms the gluten which then gives you the consistency of, well, bread! Not kneading it risks the bread not having enough strength and falling flat. You could use your stand mixer to “knead” the dough for you, but it’s not quite the same as kneading it by hand. I have an ancient, antique bread board that I love for baking. Unless I’m working with a very wet dough (like brioche), I don’t have to flour it, which is great to prevent too much flour from being added to the dough.
Speaking of flour… when I bake, I always measure my dough by weight. It’s just dead on accurate, and accuracy is the trick to baking. Some people love baking because it’s an art of precision. Others hate it for exactly that same reason. But, you really only need the fundamentals as precise. After that, you can play with it. I mean, obviously, certain things can affect the dough, like moisture from fruits or jams. But, for example, if you know the basics to bread, you can then play with it like I did with my Asiago sun-dried tomato bread or the everything bagel bread!
The dough proofs twice. What I like to do is turn my oven on for two to three minutes to make it cozy warm. I grease a large bowl with olive oil and place my ball of dough inside. Cover it and pop it in the warmed oven. After about an hour, I knead the dough again. The second time around, I sprinkle with a little flour because it’s a bit stickier, and I’ll knead it until it stops sticking to my hand. The second proof I do at room temperature. After about the 45 minute mark, I’ll turn the oven on. By the time it’s up to temperature, the dough is fully risen!
After that, I score the top to provide a means for the steam to release. A Dutch oven creates an environment similar to professional baking ovens. Since your basic home oven doesn’t have steam injectors, the Dutch oven creates a steamy environment, and that’s what forms your crispy crust! IF you don’t have a Dutch oven, that’s okay! Put a baking tray in the very bottom of your oven. Place your bread on a bread stone or the bottom of a baking pan and set it in the center of the oven. Pour hot water into the empty baking tray and it’ll create steam for you! OR, the third option is as soon as you put the bread in the oven, use a spray bottle and blast the oven with about 10 quick sprays of water.
I do make certain types of bread with the above methods, but for this bread, I do recommend using a Dutch oven! It just creates such great bread. The last eight to ten minutes, the lid is taken off so the bread can get golden brown. I love cutting off a slice right out of the oven because it is so warm and yummy. My husband loves it too because I’ll bring him a piece to taste test!
If you make this, let me know what you think! This is great for making sandwiches or pair with some of my favorite dishes:
Butternut Squash with Yellow Curry
Roasted Red Pepper and Tomato Soup
White Cheddar Pasta with Leeks & Spinach
Enjoy!
Ingredients
500 g flour (about 3½ to 4 cups)
1¼ warm water (about 110°)
2¼ tsps active dry yeast (or 1 packet)
2 TBs olive oil
2 TBs honey
1 TB salt
2 TB roasted barley tea, finely ground
Instructions
In a small bowl or measuring cup, whisk together the water, yeast, honey, and olive oil. Set aside until frothy ~ about 5 minutes.
Mix together the flour, salt, and roasted barley tea in the bowl of a stand mixer using the dough hook. When the water mixture is frothy (about an inch head), whisk and add slowly to the flour with the stand mixer on low (I like to slowly pour it in around the edges of the bowl to help push the flour down into the middle). Once the water is mostly incorporated into the flour, raise the speed to medium until all of the flour is mixed in and the dough comes cleanly off of the sides of the bowl. Continue to let the dough slap the sides of the bowl for 5 minutes to minimize the hands on kneading time.
Remove the dough and place on a bread board or lightly floured surface. Knead until it removes cleanly from your hand and it holds up to the window pane test (you can perform a window-pane test by separating out a small amount of dough; if you can spread it into a small, thin pane without it breaking, it’s ready to go) ~ 5 to 10 minutes. Form the dough into a ball.
Grease a large bowl with olive oil and place the dough in it, covering with a lid or plastic wrap. Let stand in a warm place until it doubles in size ~ about 1 hour.
Roll the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and dust lightly with flour. Knead, removing all the air bubbles, until it stops sticking to your hands ~ about 5 minutes. Form back into a ball, tucking the sides under and return to the bowl. Let stand at room temperature until it doubles in size ~ about 1 hour.
At the 45 minute mark, check the dough. If it looks like it has almost doubled in size, preheat the oven to 450°. When the oven comes up to temperature, gently roll the dough out onto a large piece of parchment paper (large enough to place into and remove from a Dutch oven). Place the parchment paper and dough in the Dutch oven and cover with a lid. Place in the oven and cook for 30 minutes. Remove the lid and continue to cook 8 to 10 minutes, or until golden brown and an internal temperature of 190° to 200°.
Slice and serve immediately, or cool and store in a ziplock bag at room temperature or in the refrigerator.
Enjoy!
Keywords: Rustic Bread, Artisan Bread, Dutch Oven Bread, Homemade Bread, Crusty Bread
