A shatteringly thin crust and a super light and stretchy interior is the bread most beloved by my family. This crusty bread delivers on all of it. The simple ingredients mixed with a short autolyze (just a fancy word for making a slurry of flour and water, then a quick rest), gives the bread the beautiful interior texture.
It is the baking that delivers the gorgeous crust. By baking the dough in a preheated Sublime Dutch Oven by Emile Henry, you’ll get the most exquisitely thin crust on your bread. No need to add water for steam, since the lidded pot traps the dough’s moisture and creates the perfect environment for a shiny, delicate, crisp crust that shatters when you slice it.
The Sublime Dutch Oven is super lightweight and because of its new ceramic technology it retains and conducts heat even better than cast iron or stainless steel. Not only does it bake gorgeous bread, but it is also perfect for cooking the soup I served along with it. We all need a pot that can go from high temperatures for frying to a gentle, low simmer on the stovetop, can be baked at high temperatures in the oven, and is elegant enough to serve at the table. Sublime can be used on direct flame, stovetop – gas, electric or glass, charcoal or gas BBQ grills, in the oven, microwave, and is dishwasher safe. That’s a game changer!
I served this crusty bread with a delicious, bright lentil soup! Everything from sauteeing the onions to simmering the stock was flawless. The Dutch Oven conducts heat so evenly that you never have to worry about hot spots that may burn or stick while you’re cooking. The Dutch Oven is so beautiful I used it to cook and then brought it straight to the table to serve the soup. You’ll find the recipe at Eat Something Vegan. I used the 7.5-quart Sublime Dutch Oven, but it will also fit in the 6-quart. One of the best qualities of the Sublime is that it is dishwasher safe, which sets it apart from my cast iron and metal pots.
This post was sponsored by Emile Henry, but all opinions are my own!
Ingredients
- 500 g flour I used King Arthur all-purpose flour
- 375 g water room temperature
- 1 1/2 tsp yeast I used Platinum Yeast by Red Star*, but any granulated instant yeast will work.
- 1 tbsp honey
- 1 tsp kosher salt
Instructions
- Using a spoon mix 125g flour and 100g water in the bowl of a stand mixer and allow to rest for 15 minutes.
- Add the remaining flour, salt, water, yeast, and honey to the flour/water mixture and knead with the dough hook attachment on medium-high speed until the dough is smooth and elastic, about 5 minutes.
- Cover the bowl with plastic wrap or a damp towel and allow to rest for 20 minutes.
- Reach into the bowl with a plastic bowl scraper and stretch the sides of the dough up and over the center of the dough, it may take about 5 or 6 times to move all the way around the bowl, creating a loose ball. Cover the bowl and allow to rest for 1 hour or until the dough has doubled in size.
- Turn the dough out of the bowl onto a lightly floured surface. Pull the dough into an oval with the short end closest to you. Fold the top end of the dough into the middle. Stretch the bottom end of the dough out to the sides, to create a rough triangle shape, then fold those two stretched points into the center. Flip the dough over, so the smooth side is now up and scoot the bottom of the dough in a circular motion on the counter to create a tight ball.
- Dust a proofing basket** with flour and put the dough ball, smooth side down into the basket. Cover with plastic and allow to rest about 1 hour.
- Preheat the oven to 475°F. On a rack in the middle of the oven, heat a 6-quart Sublime Dutch Oven*** for about 20 minutes before baking.
- Invert the dough onto a sheet of parchment paper. Using a knife or Lame, score the top of the dough with ½-inch-deep slashes.
- Using the parchment as a sling, gently drop the dough into the preheated pot, cover and bake for about 35 covered. Remove the cover and continue baking for 10 minutes or until the bread is deeply caramel brown.
- Carefully remove from the Sublime Dutch Oven using a spatula to help lift it out and cool to room temperature before cutting.
Rate and Review!
- If you've made this recipe, please leave a rating and review! I love to hear how you've adapted my recipes to your own tastes, so please share how it went for you. It helps other people find my recipes. Thank you!
Amazing bread!!! Thank you such a wonderful recipe!!
It truly is so good. I’m a regular sourdough boule baker but I needed bread day-of and didn’t have any ready. This was easy and lives up to the name! Thank you 🙂
Thanks so much for a fabulous recipe. I followed it exactly as written except I only have a five quart dutch oven and it turned out perfectly. I have been making many boules in the last 18 months and none of them had the interior texture I was looking for until I made this recipe.
Can sourdough starter be used in place of the yeast or with the yeast?
Hi Susie, Yes, sourdough can be used in place of the yeast, but it will depend on a few factors to know how much you should use. If you’re not an experienced sourdough baker, it’s better to start with something that you don’t have to adjust the recipe for. Zoë recommends this recipe from Heartbeet Kitchen. Cheers!
Fabulous! Easy and very forgiving. My bread slashing skills aren’t the greatest, but the boule still rose nicely. I baked it in a 5 qt. enameled cast iron dutch oven which was the perfect size. That crust is just the BEST! Thank you for introducing me to my new favorite “go to” boule recipe.
Exactly as described and foolproof if you follow the instructions. I use my 6 quart cast iron dutch oven with perfect results every time. Thanks Zoe for another favorite bread recipe.
That worked perfectly thank you. I had already made it and used 450 max which turned out great.
I’m so pleased with the result and look forward to using the remaining dough for other breads varieties.
Thanks your the link – it works.
Help.
I got everything ready to try this. On the Zoe bakes bread episode on Magnolia network when making the olive boule she never mentions the oven temp???? Preheat the dutch oven for 30 mins… no TEMP? Bake for 35. 25 with lid and 10 w/out the lid. No temp???
I’ve been trying to find it in on this site and the 5min bread site. Showing 475 degrees? Another preheat at 500 for 1.5lb artisan. This one is a 1 lb with olives.
The issue is my dutch oven with metal handle on lid shows it has a oven safe max temp of 450 – will this still work if baked at 450 in a convection gas oven?
Thank you.
Lainey
Hi Elaine, I think this is the recipe you’re looking for.
Hi Stephani,
Thanks for getting back to me so fast. I cannot open the link its says Magnolia is not available in your area. I’m in Montreal, CAN. I have made the dough and don’t want to waste it, so I already following the 910g flour, 3 cups water, 1.5 Tbsp yeast, 1 Tbsp Kosher salt. Its now rising.
Plan to use as shown 1lb of the risen dough with 1/4 cup of pitted olives. Its the bake temp that I’m concerned about. I can preheat and bake the dutch oven to a max of 450. Will that still work?
Thanks
Lainey
My dream is to buy a Le Creuset but they are $590. ouch 😉
Ahh! Let’s see if this will work for you instead. I uploaded it as a PDF so hopefully this link will work for you. Since your Dutch oven can only handle up to 450, I’d just keep the oven at that temperature, rather than starting at 500 and then reducing as it states in the recipe. You may want to extend the bake time by about 5 minutes once you’ve removed the lid, but that is at your discretion as you check the color of the loaf. I hope this helps! Enjoy!
Will never look for another quick crusty dutch oven
baked bread recipe again! Thank you Zoe! I am so happy to have found you watching your show within The Magnolia Network. I can’t wait to receive your books and look forward trying your additional recipes! I followed this recipe as stated, the only thing recommendation that would be helpful is to specify the baking time when splitting the dough in half? I have a 4 quart dutch oven and took a guess on baking time, I wished I would have weighed my finished dough prior to splitting? My first loaf I let proof as stated in step 6 – however covered on a floured parchment paper as I do not have a proofing basket. Once hour passed, I placed on heated dutch oven as instructed and baked for 30 mins. Now the second half of dough, also sat proofing in counter while I was baking the first and 20 mins into the first loaf baking I am happy that I decided to take second half, knead a couple of times and roll tighter into a boule shaped roll. I then baked that loaf 28 mins covered and 12 mins uncovered. I wished I could share photos because regardless both loaves turned out beautifully and absolutely delicious! I was faithful and waited the hour cooling period and also listened for the cracks! Can’t wait to try different variations of this recipe by adding olives, garlic, onions etc! Thank You!
I have 2 questions I have cast iron pots will they do?
Can I use Bread Flour or Wheat Flour? Will I follow the same recipe? Thanks
Converted this to fresh stone ground whole-wheat
Added additional water for the whole wheat. Turned into kneading in more flour and going to a third rise but the dough survived! The measure by weight ws a real help in the process even though I have never baked with a scale before. Now o can adjust the water back in grams to relate to weight of flour. 60 whole wheat flour to 40 water. And only 2 proofings! Cheers.
Using 500g of flour as per recipe instructions, what size loaf does this make? 1 pound? 1.5 lb? 2 lb? Thank you for your help.
Hi Jeannette, the dough weighs about 2 lbs. That won’t be exactly the weight after baking, but hopefully this approximation helps!
Made this yesterday and it was amazing! Will be making this often.
Hello. In instruction #1 are you to add yeast to the 125g of flour and 100g of water? Curious because instruction #2 says add the remaining ingredients to the flour/yeast mixture? The mixture is just flour and water.
Thank you.
Hi Madeline! Thank you for the question and sorry for the confusion. You hold off on adding the yeast until step 2 — recipe is updated now. Happy baking!
Why do you name grams in your ingredients?
It’s aggravating to have to look this up.
Hi Maggie, Zoë uses grams when baking bread because it’s the only way to get the recipe accurate. People measure flour in so many different ways and the recipes can end up vastly different when measured that way. The rest of her recipes use both cups and grams. An estimate for you would be about 3 3/4 cups flour and about 1 1/2 cups water.
I love this recipe. So good. I only wish you would publish the nutritional information as I’m watching calories
The store was completely out of instant yeast..I got the Red Star active yeast..will that work or does it have to be instant..
No problem, Debby! That will work. Happy baking!
Thanks.. I went for it with the active yeast and just took it out of the oven..it is truly sublime.
Amazingly wonderful bread, and so easy. I just can not believe this works. I have been baking breads for years, experimenting with more recipes than I can remember, sometimes with success and other times with disappointment. This bread recipe is my favorite by far, I really love it!
Turned out perfectly- and so easy! Crisp crust, tender inside. Thank you for this!
A winner once again! I have yet to be disappointed in your recipes or instructions.
Zoe, this is exciting to me as at 75 I cannot lift heavy items per lower body items falling due to gravity (if you get my drift). I could no longer lift my Challenger cast iron at 30 pounds!! Now this is only 7 pounds! I’m ordering it due to your bread baking article above. Please tell me if the sizes they state include the handles? On the 7qt. What is the internal size? The website doesn’t say if the size includes the handles.
Thanks
I know that salt inhibits yeast growth and is not always added at the start of a dough. But, you left out the salt addition to the recipe. When do you feel is the correct time to add it?
Hi Stuart, thanks for mentioning this. The recipe has been updated. The salt should be added when you add the remaining flour in step 2. Happy baking!