Rustic Dutch Oven Bread

What you’ll Need to make Rustic Dutch Oven Bread

• Warm water – from the tap or heated in the microwave, 100-110 degrees F. If the water is too hot, the yeast will die and the bread will not rise.

• Sugar – white granulated sugar is our usual but brown sugar or honey can be substituted.

• Active dry yeast – One 1/4 oz package, found in the baking aisle of the grocery store.

• Kosher salt – Coarse sea salt or Himalayan Pink salt can be substituted for the Kosher salt in this recipe. If you need to use iodized (regular) table salt, use 1 teaspoon instead.

• Bread flour – you can substitute regular all purpose flour 1:1 but the dough may be a little more wet. Add some extra flour if necessary.

How to make Rustic Dutch Oven Bread

On a chilly or rainy day most of us crave comfort food. Something warm and delicious like Hearty Slow Cooker Beef Stew, New England Clam Chowder or Chili is the perfect meal on that kind of day.

Even better is when you also have some buttered fresh crusty bread to go with it. Rustic Dutch Oven Bread is an old fashioned recipe with few ingredients. It’s bread the way my Great Grandmother made it. A simple tried and true recipe!

Pour warm water into a small bowl or measuring cup. The temperature should be between 100-115 degrees F. Add the sugar and stir until dissolved. Sprinkle yeast over the top and set aside for 5-10 minutes until foamy.

Pour the yeast mixture into the bowl of a stand mixer equipped with a dough hook. Add the kosher salt to the mixture.

Begin adding the flour, 1/2 cup at a time until completely incorporated. The dough will be smooth but slightly sticky.

With lightly floured hands, remove the dough from the bowl and form into a ball.

Place back into the bowl, cover with a towel and allow to rise for an hour or until the dough has doubled in size.

Lightly flour a cutting board and tip the dough out of the bowl onto the cutting board. Don’t punch down the dough. Work the dough by pulling the sides of the dough up toward the center of the dough, forming a round loaf.

Flour the seam side and put back into the bowl, seam side down. Allow to rise for another 30 minutes.

When the rise time is getting close to being up, place a medium sized empty dutch oven and lid on the middle shelf of your oven. Preheat both the oven and the pot (with lid) to 450 degrees F.

Once the dough has completed it’s rise, place a piece of parchment paper (about 18 inches long) onto the cutting board. Tip the dough out onto the center of the parchment paper.

Very carefully, remove the preheated dutch oven from the oven to the counter and using the long edges of the parchment paper, place the parchment paper and dough into the dutch oven. Be careful not to burn yourself.

Cover with the preheated lid and place back into the oven.

Bake for 30 minutes then remove the lid and bake for an additional 15 minutes until golden brown.

Remove from oven and then remove bread from dutch oven to a cooking rack. Allow to cool for 15-20 minutes before cutting. Enjoy!