Recipe for Dutch Oven Bread that produces a crispy crust and a tender inside.

Once upon a time, I thought I could go low carb.

That was before I realized that I’d rather die than give up one of the greatest joys in this life: tearing into a crusty loaf of bread, slathering it with butter, and enjoying it with a glass of wine.

And what even is life without the smell of a loaf of bread baking in the oven?

The smell of this loaf cooking made my oldest daughter cry. This is not an exaggeration.

This recipe for Dutch oven bread is one of the easiest loaves I’ve ever made.

The dough does require 2 risings. However, it is pretty much all hands off – you just need to set a timer.

If you’ve never made bread before, here are a few things to look for:

When you mix the bread, use the dough hook, and mix until all the dough is in one big ball like below.

Next, there is a special tool that is sold to slit the top of the dough before you cook it.

I don’t have one of those special tools.

Instead, I just use a serrated knife. In this case, I used my steak knife.

The one kitchen tool you truly do need to make this bread is a 5 to 6-quart Dutch oven. While you can spend over $500 hundred dollars on a high-end Dutch oven, I like the prices on these.

My final tip for making a scrumptious loaf of Dutch oven bread is to start with when you want to make your bread and calculate the rising time backwords.

It looks like this:

• Bread out of oven 5:30 pm
• Bake time one hour, put in oven 4:30 pm
• Second rise takes one hour, start at 3:30 pm
• First rise takes two hours, start at 1:30 pm
• Mix ingredients 15 minutes, start making bread at 1:15 pm

So to take my bread out of the oven at 5:30 pm, I’d need to start the dough at 1:15 pm.

Make sense? If not, leave me a comment below.

Dutch Oven Bread

Yield: 1 Loaf

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 1 hour

Additional Time: 3 hours

Total Time: 4 hours 15 minutes

It is unbelievably easy to bake bread in your dutch oven that produces a loaf with a crusty outside and a tender inside.

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Ingredients

• 4 cups flour
• 1 1/2 cups water
• 1 packet active dry yeast
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• additional salt optional

Instructions

1. In a stand mixer with the dough attachment, mix together 4 cups flour, 1 1/2 cups water, 1 package active dry yeast, and 1 teaspoon salt.
2. Mix until dough forms a ball.
3. Remove bowl from mixer and cover with your dutch oven lid. Move bowl to a warm area and allow the dough to rise until doubled in size. This will require a minimum of 2 hours to a maximum of 4 hours.
4. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Knead lightly to release the gas.
5. Form dough into a tight ball.
6. Coat the bowl with a layer of oil and return the dough to the bowl. Return lid. Allow dough to rise an additional 30 minutes.
7. Coat the bottom of a 6 to 7-quart Dutch oven with oil. Turn oven on to 450 degrees to preheat. (For a crispier crust, place your Dutch oven in the oven while it preheats.)
8. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Rub top of the dough with olive oil. Slash top of the bread in an X to allow the bread to properly bake. Optional: sprinkle salt on top of the bread.
9. If you have preheated your Dutch oven, CAREFULLY remove hot dutch oven from the hot oven. Transfer dough into the dutch oven. Place lid on top.
10. Bake bread at 450 for 30 minutes.
11. After 30 minutes, remove the lid from the dutch oven. Turn oven down to 350. Bake an additional 30 minutes. Bread is done when the internal temperature is 200F.

Nutrition Information:

Yield: 6 to 8 Serving Size: 1
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 327Total Fat: 3gSaturated Fat: 0gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 2gCholesterol: 0mgSodium: 454mgCarbohydrates: 64gFiber: 3gSugar: 0gProtein: 9g

Your loaf of Dutch oven bread will keep for several days in an airtight bag.

While slathering a slice of bread with butter is my go-to, I’d also highly recommend dipping bread slices in a mixture of olive oil and Balsamic vinegar.

How will you eat your bread?