Nothing beats a nice crusty bread. This Dutch Oven bread recipe is easy to make and results in a beautiful crusted loaf every time.
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.
Check out a few more of my favorite bread recipes:
- A classic banana bread with pecans
- Tender and flaky homemade biscuits
- Raspberry swirl bread from do-it-all dough
What’s The Secret of Crusty Bread?
By baking the dough in a preheated Dutch oven, 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 inside, creating the perfect environment for a shiny, delicate, crisp crust that shatters when you slice it.
Another important tip — allow your bread to cool all the way before slicing in. I know it’s hard to wait, but be patient for at least an hour, perhaps even longer.
Dutch Oven Bread Video Tutorial
Crusty Bread Ingredients and Tips
- Platinum Yeast by Red Star: I found that the dough enhancers in this yeast help the rise and give the dough better stretch, but you can use any granulated yeast.
- King Arthur All Purpose Flour: You can use any AP flour, but different brands may have different protein content, which could affect the texture.
- Let The Dough Rise: Follow the instructions below for rise times. This recipe is simple, but you want to make sure the dough rises enough!
- Halve the Recipe: You can use a 4 qt Dutch Oven and cut the recipe in half.
Dutch Ovens
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!
You can also use a Bread Cloche, which works very well and doubles as a place to store your delicious crusty bread.
How to Serve Dutch Oven Bread
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.
Video
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. Score the dough: Using a knife or Lame, score the top of the dough with ½-inch-deep slashes. This helps the loaf rise and gives it is nice shape.
- 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!
This was my first attempt at bread and overall it went well. I bought a cloche recently after seeing Zoe use one. My bread did burn a little – wonder if it was my oven temp? Also could have been me mowing lawn while it baked but I did set timer. Still turned out tasty – nothing better than warm bread!!
Excellent bread! Followed the recipe exactly, except for the knead time. The recipe calls for kneading for 5 minutes in the mixer with the dough hook.
I’m a huge Alton Brown fan. He says most American bakers don’t knead long enough. So, I kneaded this in the mixer with the dough hook on speed 4 until the dough cleared the sides of the bowl. It took about 15 minutes.
I have been wanting to finally use my dough hook on my kitchenaid for years, but was intimidated by many of the complicated bread recipes out there. This does take patience but oh what fun!!! I see why in the video she gets so excited when it turns into dough. It’s quite magical. The moment I took off the lid to my Dutch oven and saw a gorgeous, loaf of crusty bread – it was all worth it. This is going to be my new favorite recipe.
Yay! We’re so glad you enjoyed the process.