August 15, 2013 - 9:58am
Question regarding dutch oven baking
Hi! I'm new here but not new to bread baking. I've been baking on and off for many years. I recently discovered the world of no knead bread and have enjoyed the rustic loafs that this method produces.
My question is...can a regular bread dough recipe (meaning not a no knead bread) be baked in a dutch oven with good results? I have been searching online for days and can't seem to find the answer so maybe someone here can help me with this.
Thank you! I'm looking forward to reading through the forums on here.
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Of course you can use your DO. Nicely illustrated book by Ken Forkish - Flour, Water, Salt, Yeast - has all you want to know.
Happy baking!
Yes it can. It's similar to baking in hearth oven you just have to make sure you shape the loaf to the size of the dutch oven.
lean breads in the DO, but find there's little to no point doing it with enriched breads. That's just me though, DO baking is a very good way to achieve good steam and thus good crust in a home oven, even an off-brand cheap toaster oven like I have to bake in, so go for it!
Thank you! I'm going to give it a try tomorrow. I didn't want to ruin a beautiful dough so I thought it would be best to ask others.
I bake all my breads in DO and have for 4 years so I have a lot of experience. Preheat your DO at 500 for 30 min after oven reaches temp...meaning put DO in cold oven and leave for 30 min after reaches 500. Take out and lower the loaf in to the DO with parchment. I tear the outline of the loaf before I lower it so there are no flaps of paper to prevent browning. Cover the pot and place in oven and immediately lower temp to 460. Bake for 15 min. remove cover from pot and bake 15 min. Check bread temp..should be 212 or close...place back in oven without pot if need another few minutes. I use a 7.5 qt pot and a 5 qt pot. There is no reason to size loaf to pot...all loaves fit all pots unless you are using unusually large miche sizes. A 700 gram loaf will take 30-35 min. at 460.
Please post back with pics. Good Luck
I made the ciabatta today and am somewhat satisfied with the results but not overly happy. The crust looked beautiful but the inside lacked the moist texture that the no knead doughs yield. I think this has more to do with the higher water content in the raw dough than with anything else. I let the dough ferment overnight but the flavor was ordinary. I still have the other half of the raw dough in the refrigerator so maybe the flavor will become more developed. I'm using the bread for eggplant panini tonight.
Edited to add: My husband loved the bread and it was very nice with the eggplant.